[Congressional Bills 106th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 1778 Introduced in House (IH)]







106th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 1778

 To prohibit certain election-related activities by foreign nationals.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                              May 12, 1999

 Mr. Gillmor (for himself, Mr. Tanner, Mrs. Kelly, Mr. Price of North 
   Carolina, Mr. Duncan, Mr. Etheridge, Mr. Chabot, Mr. Clement, Mr. 
   Hobson, Mrs. Tauscher, Mr. Franks of New Jersey, Mr. Gordon, Mr. 
Frelinghuysen, Mr. Minge, Mr. Taylor of North Carolina, Mr. Berry, Mr. 
 Oxley, Mr. Pastor, Mr. Bryant, Mr. Kildee, Mr. Walden of Oregon, Mr. 
 Goode, Mr. Houghton, Mr. Smith of Washington, Mr. Hefley, Mr. Phelps, 
 Mr. Tancredo, and Ms. Stabenow) introduced the following bill; which 
         was referred to the Committee on House Administration

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To prohibit certain election-related activities by foreign nationals.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION. 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Federal Election Law Integrity Act 
of 1999''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND DECLARATIONS.

    Congress finds and declares that--
            (1) Congress does not intend, and has never intended, to 
        permit foreign nationals to make political contributions or 
        donations to any candidate for local, state, or Federal public 
        office in the United States or to any political party in the 
        United States, directly or indirectly, or to support or 
        participate in the activities of political committees 
        established pursuant to the Federal Election Campaign Act of 
        1971;
            (2) to this end, section 319 of the Federal Election 
        Campaign Act of 1971 (2 U.S.C. 441e) makes it ``unlawful for a 
        foreign national directly or through another person to make any 
        contribution of money or other thing of value . . . in 
        connection with'' any election to political office or 
        proceeding to select a political candidate;
            (3) despite this statutory prohibition, its applicability 
        to certain donations by foreign nationals to accounts of 
        political parties has recently been questioned;
            (4) on October 9, 1998, the United States District Court 
        for the District of Columbia Circuit dismissed portions of a 
        criminal indictment against Yah Lin Trie, in United States v. 
        Yah Lin Trie, based on a judicial determination that the 
        prohibition on political contributions by foreign nationals 
        established by section 319 of the Federal Election Campaign Act 
        does not clearly prohibit all political contributions by 
        foreign nationals, particularly, donations by foreign nationals 
        to United States political party accounts not made ``in 
        connection with'' an election or primary; and
            (5) it is the intent of Congress and this Act to reaffirm 
        that foreign nationals may not make any donation of money or 
        other thing of value to any United States candidate, political 
        committee or party account, directly or indirectly and whether 
        or not made ``in connection with'' an election or primary.

SEC. 3. PROHIBITION OF CERTAIN ELECTION-RELATED ACTIVITIES BY FOREIGN 
              NATIONALS.

    Section 319 of the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 (2 U.S.C. 
441e) is amended--
            (1) by redesignating subsection (b) as subsection (h);
            (2) by amending subsection (a) to read as follows:
    ``(a) It shall be unlawful for a foreign national directly or 
through any other person to make any contribution or donation, or to 
promise expressly or impliedly to make any such contribution or 
donation, to any candidate for political office, any political 
committee, or any organization or account created or controlled by any 
United States political party or candidate, including but not limited 
to contributions or donations made in connection with any election to 
any political office or in connection with any primary election, 
convention, or caucus held to select candidates for any political 
office.''; and
            (3) by inserting after subsection (a) the following new 
        subsections:
    ``(b) It shall be unlawful for any person to solicit, accept, or 
receive any contribution or donation prohibited under subsection (a).
    ``(c) It shall be unlawful for any person organized under or 
created by the laws of the United States or of any State or other place 
subject to the jurisdiction of the United States to make any 
contribution to any candidate for political office, or to make any 
contribution or donation to any political committee or to any 
organization or account created or controlled by any United States 
political party, unless such contribution or donation (as the case may 
be) is derived solely from funds generated from such person's own 
business activities in the United States.
    ``(d) A foreign national shall not direct, dictate, control, or 
directly or indirectly participate in the decisionmaking process of any 
person organized under or created by the laws of the United States or 
any State or other place subject to the jurisdiction of the United 
States with regard to--
            ``(1) any decisionmaking concerning the administration of a 
        political committee;
            ``(2) the making of any contributions or expenditures to or 
        on behalf of any candidate for political office; or
            ``(3) the making of any contributions, donations, or 
        expenditures to or on behalf of any political committee, or to 
        or on behalf of any organization or account created or 
        controlled by any United States political party.
    ``(e) Nothing in this Act may be construed to prohibit any 
individual eligible to vote in an election for Federal office from 
making contributions, donations, or expenditures in support of a 
candidate for such an election (including voluntary contributions or 
expenditures made through a separate segregated fund established by the 
individual's employer or labor organization) or otherwise participating 
in any campaign for such an election in the same manner and to the same 
extent as any other individual eligible to vote in an election for such 
office.
    ``(f) As used in this section, the term `donation' means money or 
any other thing of value (other than a contribution) which is given to 
a candidate for public office, political committee, or organization or 
account created or controlled by any United States political party.''.
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