[Congressional Bills 115th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 658 Introduced in House (IH)]

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115th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 658

To amend the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 to prohibit criminal 
 corporations from making disbursements of funds in connection with a 
       campaign for election for Federal, State, or local office.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            January 24, 2017

Mr. Ellison (for himself and Mr. Swalwell of California) introduced the 
     following bill; which was referred to the Committee on House 
                             Administration

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To amend the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 to prohibit criminal 
 corporations from making disbursements of funds in connection with a 
       campaign for election for Federal, State, or local office.

    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 ``Protect Democracy From Criminal 
Corporations Act''.

SEC. 2. PROHIBITING POLITICAL SPENDING BY CRIMINAL CORPORATIONS.

    (a) Prohibition.--Title III of the Federal Election Campaign Act of 
1971 (52 U.S.C. 30101 et seq.) is amended by adding at the end the 
following new section:

``SEC. 325. PROHIBITING POLITICAL SPENDING BY CRIMINAL CORPORATIONS.

    ``(a) Prohibition.--
            ``(1) In general.--To the extent that corporations are 
        permitted under law to make a disbursement of funds in 
        connection with a campaign for election for Federal, State, or 
        local office, including a disbursement consisting of a 
        contribution or donation of money or other thing of value, an 
        independent expenditure, or a disbursement for an 
        electioneering communication (as defined in section 304(f)(3)), 
        it shall be unlawful for a corporation which is a criminal 
        corporation, or for any separate segregated fund established 
        under section 316(b)(2)(C) by a criminal corporation, to make 
        such a disbursement during the applicable period described in 
        paragraph (2).
            ``(2) Applicable period described.--In paragraph (1), the 
        `applicable period' with respect to a criminal corporation is 
        the 6-year period which begins--
                    ``(A) in the case of a criminal corporation 
                described in paragraph (1) of subsection (b), on the 
                date on which the corporation is finally convicted of 
                the offense described in such paragraph; or
                    ``(B) in the case of a criminal corporation 
                described in paragraph (2) of subsection (b), on the 
                date on which the corporation enters into an agreement 
                described in such paragraph.
    ``(b) Criminal Corporation Defined.--In this section, the term 
`criminal corporation' means a corporation--
            ``(1) which has been convicted of violating section 371 of 
        title 18, United States Code (relating to conspiracy to commit 
        offense or to defraud the United States), or any other felony 
        involving dishonesty or a breach of trust; or
            ``(2) which has been charged with violating section 371 of 
        such title or with another felony involving dishonesty or a 
        breach of trust and has entered into a nonprosecution 
        agreement, a deferred prosecution agreement, or any other 
        agreement with the Attorney General to resolve the charge, if 
        the terms and conditions of the agreement include a requirement 
        that the corporation make a payment equal to or greater than 
        $1,000,000.''.
    (b) Effective Date.--The amendment made by subsection (a) shall 
apply with respect to a corporation which is convicted of the offense 
described in paragraph (1) of section 325(b) of the Federal Election 
Campaign Act of 1971 (as added by subsection (a)), or which enters into 
an agreement described in paragraph (2) of such section, on or after 
the date of the enactment of this Act.
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