117 S4822 PCS: Democracy Is Strengthened by Casting Light On Spending in Elections Act of 2022 U.S. Senate 2022-09-13 text/xml EN Pursuant to Title 17 Section 105 of the United States Code, this file is not subject to copyright protection and is in the public domain.

IICalendar No. 484117th CONGRESS2d SessionS. 4822IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATESSeptember 12, 2022Mr. Whitehouse (for himself, Mr. Wyden, Mr. Schumer, Mr. Van Hollen, Mr. Leahy, Mrs. Feinstein, Mrs. Murray, Mr. Durbin, Mr. Reed, Mr. Carper, Ms. Stabenow, Ms. Cantwell, Mr. Menendez, Mr. Cardin, Mr. Sanders, Mr. Brown, Mr. Casey, Ms. Klobuchar, Mr. Tester, Mrs. Shaheen, Mr. Warner, Mr. Merkley, Mr. Bennet, Mrs. Gillibrand, Mr. Coons, Mr. Blumenthal, Mr. Schatz, Ms. Baldwin, Mr. Murphy, Ms. Hirono, Mr. Heinrich, Mr. King, Mr. Kaine, Ms. Warren, Mr. Markey, Mr. Booker, Mr. Peters, Ms. Duckworth, Ms. Hassan, Ms. Cortez Masto, Ms. Smith, Ms. Rosen, Mr. Luján, Mr. Hickenlooper, Mr. Padilla, Mr. Ossoff, Mr. Warnock, Mr. Manchin, Mr. Kelly, and Ms. Sinema) introduced the following bill; which was read the first timeSeptember 13, 2022Read the second time and placed on the calendarA BILLTo amend the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 to provide for additional disclosure requirements for corporations, labor organizations, Super PACs and other entities, and for other purposes.

1.

Short title; table of contents

(a)

Short title

This Act may be cited as the Democracy Is Strengthened by Casting Light On Spending in Elections Act of 2022 or the DISCLOSE Act of 2022.(b)

Table of contents

The table of contents of this Act is as follows:Sec. 1. Short title; table of contents.Sec. 2. Findings.TITLE I—Closing Loopholes Allowing Spending by Foreign Nationals in ElectionsSec. 101. Clarification of application of foreign money ban to certain disbursements and activities.Sec. 102. Study and report on illicit foreign money in Federal elections.Sec. 103. Prohibition on contributions and donations by foreign nationals in connection with ballot initiatives and referenda.Sec. 104. Disbursements and activities subject to foreign money ban.Sec. 105. Prohibiting establishment of corporation to conceal election contributions and donations by foreign nationals.TITLE II—Reporting of Campaign-Related DisbursementsSec. 201. Reporting of campaign-related disbursements.Sec. 202. Reporting of Federal judicial nomination disbursements.Sec. 203. Coordination with FinCEN.Sec. 204. Application of foreign money ban to disbursements for campaign-related disbursements consisting of covered transfers.Sec. 205. Effective date.TITLE III—Other Administrative ReformsSec. 301. Petition for certiorari.Sec. 302. Judicial review of actions related to campaign finance laws.Sec. 303. Effective date.TITLE IV—Stand by every adSec. 401. Short title.Sec. 402. Stand by every ad.Sec. 403. Disclaimer requirements for communications made through prerecorded telephone calls.Sec. 404. No expansion of persons subject to disclaimer requirements on internet communications.Sec. 405. Effective date.TITLE V—SeverabilitySec. 501. Severability.

2.

Findings

Congress finds the following:(1)Campaign finance disclosure is a narrowly tailored and minimally restrictive means to advance substantial government interests, including fostering an informed electorate capable of engaging in self-government and holding their elected officials accountable, detecting and deterring quid pro quo corruption, and identifying information necessary to enforce other campaign finance laws, including campaign contribution limits and the prohibition on foreign money in U.S. campaigns. To further these substantial interests, campaign finance disclosure must be timely and complete, and must disclose the true and original source of money given, transferred, and spent to influence Federal elections. Current law does not meet this objective because corporations and other entities that the Supreme Court has permitted to spend money to influence Federal elections are subject to few if any transparency requirements.(2)As the Supreme Court recognized in its per curiam opinion in Buckley v. Valeo, 424 U.S. 1, (1976), disclosure requirements certainly in most applications appear to be the least restrictive means of curbing the evils of campaign ignorance and corruption that Congress found to exist.Buckley, 424 U.S. at 68. In Citizens United v. FEC, the Court reiterated that disclosure is a less restrictive alternative to more comprehensive regulations of speech. 558 U.S. 310, 369 (2010).(3)No subsequent decision has called these holdings into question, including the Court’s decision in Americans for Prosperity Foundation v. Bonta, 141 S. Ct. 2373 (2021). That case did not involve campaign finance disclosure, and the Court did not overturn its longstanding recognition of the substantial interests furthered by such disclosure.(4)Campaign finance disclosure is also essential to enforce the Federal Election Campaign Act’s prohibition on contributions by and solicitations of foreign nationals. See section 319 of the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 (52 U.S.C. 30121).(5)Congress should close loopholes allowing spending by foreign nationals in domestic elections. For example, in 2021, the Federal Election Commission, the independent Federal agency charged with protecting the integrity of the Federal campaign finance process, found reason to believe and conciliated a matter where an experienced political consultant knowingly and willfully violated Federal law by soliciting a contribution from a foreign national by offering to transmit a $2,000,000 contribution to a super PAC through his company and two 501(c)(4) organizations, to conceal the origin of the funds. This scheme was only unveiled after appearing in a The Telegraph UK article and video capturing the solicitation. See Conciliation Agreement, MURs 7165 & 7196 (Great America PAC, et al.), date June 28, 2021; Factual and Legal Analysis, MURs 7165 & 7196 (Jesse Benton), dated Mar. 2, 2021.

September 13, 2022Read the second time and placed on the calendar