[Congressional Bills 106th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 3243 Introduced in House (IH)]







106th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 3243

     To amend the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 to provide 
meaningful campaign finance reform through requiring better reporting, 
     decreasing the role of soft money, and increasing individual 
              contribution limits, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            November 5, 1999

  Mr. Terry introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
Committee on House Administration, and in addition to the Committees on 
Commerce, and the Judiciary, for a period to be subsequently determined 
 by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as 
        fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
     To amend the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 to provide 
meaningful campaign finance reform through requiring better reporting, 
     decreasing the role of soft money, and increasing individual 
              contribution limits, and for other purposes.

    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 ``Open and Accountable Campaign 
Financing Act of 2000''.

                          TITLE I--DISCLOSURE

SEC. 101. ADDITIONAL MONTHLY AND QUARTERLY DISCLOSURE REPORTS.

    (a) Principal Campaign Committees.--
            (1) Monthly reports.--Section 304(a)(2)(A) of the Federal 
        Election Campaign Act of 1971 (2 U.S.C. 434(a)(2)(A)) is 
        amended by striking clause (iii) and inserting the following:
                    ``(iii) additional monthly reports, which shall be 
                filed not later than the 20th day after the last day of 
                the month and shall be complete as of the last day of 
                the month, except that monthly reports shall not be 
                required under this clause in November and December and 
                a year end report shall be filed not later than January 
                31 of the following calendar year.''.
            (2) Quarterly reports.--Section 304(a)(2)(B) of such Act is 
        amended by striking ``the following reports'' and all that 
        follows through the period and inserting ``the treasurer shall 
        file quarterly reports, which shall be filed not later than the 
        15th day after the last day of each calendar quarter, and which 
        shall be complete as of the last day of each calendar quarter, 
        except that the report for the quarter ending December 31 shall 
        be filed not later than January 31 of the following calendar 
        year.''.
    (b) National Committee of a Political Party.--Section 304(a)(4) of 
the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 (2 U.S.C. 434(a)(4)) is 
amended by adding at the end the following flush sentence: 
``Notwithstanding the preceding sentence, a national committee of a 
political party shall file the reports required under subparagraph 
(B).''.
    (c) Conforming Amendments.--
            (1) Section 304.--Section 304(a) of the Federal Election 
        Campaign Act of 1971 (2 U.S.C. 434(a)) is amended--
                    (A) in paragraph (3)(A)(ii), by striking 
                ``quarterly reports'' and inserting ``monthly 
                reports''; and
                    (B) in paragraph (8), by striking ``quarterly 
                report under paragraph (2)(A)(iii) or paragraph 
                (4)(A)(i)'' and inserting ``monthly report under 
                paragraph (2)(A)(iii) or paragraph (4)(A)''.
            (2) Section 309.--Section 309(b) of the Federal Election 
        Campaign Act of 1971 (2 U.S.C. 437g(b)) by striking ``calendar 
        quarter'' and inserting ``month''.

SEC. 102. REPORTING BY NATIONAL POLITICAL PARTY COMMITTEES.

    Section 304 of the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 (2 U.S.C. 
434) is amended by adding at the end the following:
    ``(d) Political Committees.--
            ``(1) National and congressional political committees.--The 
        national committee of a political party, any national 
        congressional campaign committee of a political party, and any 
        subordinate committee of either, shall report all receipts and 
        disbursements during the reporting period.
            ``(2) Itemization.--If a political committee has receipts 
        or disbursements to which this subsection applies from any 
        person aggregating in excess of $200 for any calendar year, the 
        political committee shall separately itemize its reporting for 
        such person in the same manner as required in paragraphs 
        (3)(A), (5), and (6) of subsection (b).
            ``(3) Reporting periods.--Reports required to be filed 
        under this subsection shall be filed for the same time periods 
        required for political committees under subsection (a).''.

SEC. 103. INCREASED ELECTRONIC DISCLOSURE.

    Section 304 of the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 (2 U.S.C. 
434), as amended by section 102, is amended by adding at the end the 
following:
    ``(e) Internet Availability.--The Commission shall make the 
information contained in the reports submitted under this section 
available on the Internet and publicly available at the offices of the 
Commission as soon as practicable (but in no case later than 24 hours) 
after the information is received by the Commission.''.

SEC. 104. PUBLIC ACCESS TO BROADCASTING RECORDS.

    Section 315 of the Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 315) is 
amended by redesignating subsections (c) and (d) as subsections (d) and 
(e), respectively, and inserting after subsection (b) the following:
    ``(c) Political Record.--
            ``(1) In general.--A licensee shall maintain, and make 
        available for public inspection, a complete record of a request 
        to purchase broadcast time that--
                    ``(A) is made by or on behalf of a legally 
                qualified candidate for public office; or
                    ``(B) communicates a message relating to any 
                political matter of national importance, including--
                            ``(i) a legally qualified candidate;
                            ``(ii) any election to Federal office; or
                            ``(iii) a national legislative issue of 
                        public importance.
            ``(2) Contents of record.--A record maintained under 
        paragraph (1) shall contain information regarding--
                    ``(A) whether the request to purchase broadcast 
                time is accepted or rejected by the licensee;
                    ``(B) the rate charged for the broadcast time;
                    ``(D) the date and time that the communication is 
                aired;
                    ``(E) the class of time that is purchased;
                    ``(F) the name of the candidate to which the 
                communication refers and the office to which the 
                candidate is seeking election, the election to which 
                the communication refers, or the issue to which the 
                communication refers (as applicable);
                    ``(G) in the case of a request made by, or on 
                behalf of, a candidate, the name of the candidate, the 
                authorized committee of the candidate, and the 
                treasurer of such committee; and
                    ``(H) in the case of any other request, the name of 
                the person purchasing the time, the name, address, and 
                phone number of a contact person for such person, and a 
                list of the chief executive officers or members of the 
                executive committee or of the board of directors of 
                such person.
            ``(3) Time to maintain file.--The information required 
        under this subsection shall be placed in a political file as 
        soon as possible and shall be retained by the licensee for a 
        period of not less than 2 years.''.

  TITLE II--SOFT MONEY OF NATIONAL POLITICAL PARTIES AND CONTRIBUTION 
                                 LIMITS

SEC. 201. LIMIT ON SOFT MONEY OF NATIONAL POLITICAL PARTY COMMITTEES.

    Title III of the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 (2 U.S.C. 
431 et seq.) is amended by adding at the end the following:

``SEC. 324. LIMIT ON SOFT MONEY OF NATIONAL POLITICAL PARTY COMMITTEES.

    ``(a) Limitation.--A national committee of a political party, a 
congressional campaign committee of a national party, or an entity 
directly or indirectly established, financed, maintained, or controlled 
by such committee shall not accept a donation, gift, or transfer of 
funds of any kind (not including transfers from other committees of the 
political party or contributions), during a calendar year, from a 
person (including a person directly or indirectly established, 
financed, maintained, or controlled by such person) in an aggregate 
amount in excess of $60,000.
    ``(b) Indexing.--In the case of any calendar year after 1999--
            ``(1) the $60,000 amount under subsection (a) shall be 
        increased based on the increase in the price index determined 
        under section 315(c), except that the base period shall be 
        calendar year 1999; and
            ``(2) the amount so increased shall be the amount in effect 
        for the calendar year.''.

SEC. 202. JUDICIAL REVIEW.

    (a) Expedited Review.--Any Member of Congress, candidate, national 
committee of a political party, or any person adversely affected by 
section 324 of the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971, as added by 
section 201, may bring an action, in the United States District Court 
for the District of Columbia, for declaratory judgment and injunctive 
relief on the ground that such section 324 violates the Constitution.
    (b) Appeal to Supreme Court.--Notwithstanding any other provision 
of law, any order of the United States District Court for the District 
of Columbia granting or denying an injunction regarding, or finally 
disposing of, an action brought under subsection (a) shall be 
reviewable by appeal directly to the Supreme Court of the United 
States. Any such appeal shall be taken by a notice of appeal filed 
within 10 calendar days after such order is entered; and the 
jurisdictional statement shall be filed within 30 calendar days after 
such order is entered.
    (c) Expedited Consideration.--It shall be the duty of the District 
Court for the District of Columbia and the Supreme Court of the United 
States to advance on the docket and to expedite to the greatest 
possible extent the disposition of any matter brought under subsection 
(a).
    (d) Enforceability.--The enforcement of any provision of section 
324 of the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971, as added by section 
201, shall be stayed, and such section 324 shall not be effective, for 
the period--
            (1) beginning on the date of the filing of an action under 
        subsection (a), and
            (2) ending on the date of the final disposition of such 
        action on its merits by the Supreme Court of the United States.
    (e) Applicability.--This section shall apply only with respect to 
any action filed under subsection (a) not later than 30 days after the 
effective date of this Act.

SEC. 203. INCREASE IN CONTRIBUTION LIMITS.

    (a) Increase in Individual and Political Committee Contribution 
Limits.--Section 315(a) of the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 (2 
U.S.C. 441a(a)) is amended--
            (1) in paragraph (1)--
                    (A) in subparagraph (A), by striking ``$1,000'' and 
                inserting ``$3,000'';
                    (B) in subparagraph (B), by striking ``$20,000'' 
                and inserting ``$60,000''; and
                    (C) in subparagraph (C), by striking ``$5,000'' and 
                inserting ``$15,000''; and
            (2) in paragraph (3)--
                    (A) by striking ``$25,000'' and inserting 
                ``$75,000''; and
                    (B) by striking the second sentence.
    (b) Increase in Multicandidate Limits.--Section 315(a)(2) of the 
Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 (2 U.S.C. 441a(a)(2)) is 
amended--
            (1) in subparagraph (A), by striking ``$5,000'' and 
        inserting ``$7,500'';
            (2) in subparagraph (B), by striking ``$15,000'' and 
        inserting ``$30,000''; and
            (3) in subparagraph (C), by striking ``$5,000'' and 
        inserting ``$7,500''.
    (c) Indexing.--Section 315(c) of the Federal Election Campaign Act 
of 1971 (2 U.S.C. 441a(c)) is amended--
            (1) in paragraph (1)--
                    (A) by striking the second and third sentences;
                    (B) by inserting ``(A)'' before ``At the 
                beginning''; and
                    (C) by adding at the end the following:
    ``(B) Except as provided in subparagraph (C), in any calendar year 
after 2000--
            ``(i) a limitation established by subsection (a), (b), or 
        (d) shall be increased by the percent difference determined 
        under subparagraph (A); and
            ``(ii) each amount so increased shall remain in effect for 
        the calendar year.
    ``(C) In the case of limitations under paragraphs (1)(A) and (2)(A) 
of subsection (a), each amount increased under subparagraph (B) shall 
remain in effect for the 2-year period beginning on the first day 
following the date of the last general election in the year preceding 
the year in which the amount is increased and ending on the date of the 
next general election.''; and
            (2) in paragraph (2)(B), by striking ``means the calendar 
        year 1974'' and inserting ``means--
                    ``(i) for purposes of subsections (b) and (d), 
                calendar year 1974; and
                    ``(ii) for purposes of subsection (a), calendar 
                year 2000''.
    (d) Effective Date.--The amendments made by this section shall 
apply to calendar years beginning after December 31, 1999.

                  TITLE III--MISCELLANEOUS PROVISIONS

SEC. 301. PROHIBITION OF SOLICITATION OF POLITICAL PARTY SOFT MONEY IN 
              FEDERAL BUILDINGS.

    (a) In General.--Section 607 of title 18, United States Code, is 
amended--
            (1) in subsection (a), by striking ``within the meaning of 
        section 301(8) of the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971''; 
        and
            (2) by adding at the end the following:
    ``(c) Definition of Contribution.--In this section, the term 
`contribution' means a gift, subscription, loan, advance, or deposit of 
money or anything of value made by any person in connection with--
            ``(1) any election or elections for Federal office;
            ``(2) any political committee (as defined in section 301 of 
        the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971); or
            ``(3) any State, district, or local committee of a 
        political party.''.
    (b) Amendment of Title 18 To Include Prohibition of Donations.--
Section 602(a)(4) of title 18, United States Code, is amended by 
striking ``within the meaning of section 301(8)'' and inserting ``(as 
defined in section 607(c))''.

SEC. 302. UPDATE OF PENALTY AMOUNTS.

    Section 309 of the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 (2 U.S.C. 
437g) is amended by adding at the end the following:
    ``(e) Adjustment of Dollar Amounts for Inflation.--In the case of 
any calendar year after 1999--
            ``(1) each dollar amount under this section shall be 
        increased based on the increase in the price index determined 
        under section 315(c); and
            ``(2) each amount so increased shall be the amount in 
        effect for the calendar year.
The preceding sentence shall not apply to any amount under subsection 
(d) other than the $25,000 amount under paragraph (1)(A) of such 
subsection.''.
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