[Congressional Record Volume 158, Number 120 (Monday, September 10, 2012)]
[House]
[Pages H5743-H5744]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
{time} 1700
DESIGNATION OF INDIVIDUAL AUTHORIZED TO MAKE CAMPAIGN COMMITTEE
DISBURSEMENTS IN EVENT OF DEATH OF CANDIDATE
Mr. DANIEL E. LUNGREN of California. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend
the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 406) to amend the Federal Election
Campaign Act of 1971 to permit candidates for election for Federal
office to designate an individual who will be authorized to disburse
funds of the authorized campaign committees of the candidate in the
event of the death of the candidate.
The Clerk read the title of the bill.
The text of the bill is as follows:
H.R. 406
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of
the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. DESIGNATION OF INDIVIDUAL AUTHORIZED TO MAKE
CAMPAIGN COMMITTEE DISBURSEMENTS IN EVENT OF
DEATH OF CANDIDATE.
(a) In General.--Section 302 of the Federal Election
Campaign Act of 1971 (2 U.S.C. 432) is amended by adding at
the end the following new subsection:
``(j)(1) Each candidate may, with respect to each
authorized committee of the candidate, designate an
individual who shall be responsible for disbursing funds in
the accounts of the committee in the event of the death of
the candidate, and may also designate another individual to
carry out the responsibilities of the designated individual
under this subsection in the event of the death or incapacity
of the designated individual or the unwillingness of the
designated individual to carry out the responsibilities.
``(2) In order to designate an individual under this
subsection, the candidate shall file with the Commission a
signed written statement (in a standardized form developed by
the Commission) that contains the name and address of the
individual and the name of the authorized committee for which
the designation shall apply, and that may contain the
candidate's instructions regarding the disbursement of the
funds involved by the individual. At any time after filing
the statement, the candidate may revoke the designation of an
individual by filing with the Commission a signed written
statement of revocation (in a standardized form developed by
the Commission).
``(3) Upon the death of a candidate who has designated an
individual for purposes of paragraph (1), funds in the
accounts of each authorized committee of the candidate may be
disbursed only under the direction and in accordance with the
instructions of such individual, subject to the terms and
conditions applicable to the disbursement of such funds under
this Act or any other applicable Federal or State law (other
than any provision of State law which authorizes any person
other than such individual to direct the disbursement of such
funds).
``(4) Nothing in paragraph (3) may be construed to grant
any authority to an individual who is designated pursuant to
this subsection other than the authority to direct the
disbursement of funds as provided in such paragraph, or may
be construed to affect the responsibility of the treasurer of
an authorized committee for which funds are disbursed in
accordance with such paragraph to file reports of the
disbursements of such funds under section 304(a).''.
(b) Inclusion of Designation in Statement of Organization
of Committee.--Section 303(b) of the Federal Election
Campaign Act of 1971 (2 U.S.C. 433(b)) is amended--
(1) in paragraph (5), by striking ``and'' at the end;
(2) in paragraph (6), by striking the period at the end and
inserting ``; and''; and
(3) by adding at the end the following new paragraph:
``(7) in the case of an authorized committee of a candidate
who has designated an individual under section 302(j)
(including a second individual designated to carry out the
responsibilities of that individual under such section in the
event of that individual's death or incapacity or
unwillingness to carry out the responsibilities) to disburse
funds from the accounts of the committee in the event of the
death of the candidate, a copy of the statement filed by the
candidate with the Commission under such section (as well as
a copy of any subsequent statement of revocation filed by the
candidate with the Commission under such section).''.
SEC. 2. EFFECTIVE DATE.
The amendments made by this Act shall apply with respect to
authorized campaign committees which are designated under
section 302(e)(1) of the Federal Election Campaign Act of
1971 before, on, or after the date of the enactment of this
Act.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from
California (Mr. Daniel E. Lungren) and the gentleman from Pennsylvania
(Mr. Brady) each will control 20 minutes.
The Chair recognizes the gentleman from California.
General Leave
Mr. DANIEL E. LUNGREN of California. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous
consent that all Members have 5 legislative days to revise and extend
their remarks on this bill.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the
gentleman from California?
There was no objection.
Mr. DANIEL E. LUNGREN of California. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such
time as I may consume.
Mr. Speaker, this legislation was introduced by our colleague,
Congressman Walter Jones. It simply amends the Federal Elections
Campaign Act of 1971 to permit candidates for election for Federal
office to designate an individual who would be authorized to disburse
campaign funds in the event of the death of the candidate.
Every private citizen who decides to become a candidate for public
office is driven by issues that inspire and motivate them to want to
serve. Often those issues outlive the individuals who champion their
ideals.
This bill will ensure that every Federal candidate will have the
opportunity to appoint a trusted individual to distribute campaign
funds in the event they die.
I urge my colleagues to support H.R. 406, and I reserve the balance
of my time.
Mr. BRADY of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I
may consume.
Mr. Speaker, I support this bill to allow a candidate for Federal
office to designate someone to disburse his or her unspent campaign
funds in the event of the candidate's death. Under this bill, a Federal
candidate could designate another person by filing the appropriate form
with the FEC and could revoke or change the designation at any time.
The bill allows the candidate to designate a second individual to
carry out the duties and wishes of the candidate, within the limits of
the law, should the first designee die or become unable to perform
these duties. H.R. 406 further allows candidates to provide
instructions for distribution of campaign funds as allowed by law.
H.R. 406 is designed to help campaign treasurers facing conflicting
State laws in cases where Federal candidates die leaving unspent
balances in their campaign treasuries, which happens from time to time.
This measure offers a commonsense improvement to the Federal Election
Campaign Act to deal with this situation.
The House has passed similar legislation before, and I urge our
Members to support it again. I pledge to my friend, Mr. Jones from
North Carolina, that I will do whatever I can in my power, and I know
my chairman will, too, to make sure the Senate does take this up so we
can pass it into law.
I yield back the balance of my time.
Mr. DANIEL E. LUNGREN of California. Mr. Speaker, at this time, I
would yield 4 minutes to the gentleman from North Carolina (Mr. Jones),
a distinguished member on the Committee on Armed Services and the
Committee on Financial Services.
Mr. JONES. Thank you, Mr. Chairman and Ranking Member Brady. I want
to thank you all for bringing this bill back to the floor of the House.
This came to my attention--I would not have had any idea that if a
candidate or an incumbent running as a candidate would die in office
that their family would not decide how to disburse the money. It would
go back to the treasurer of the campaign. And in cases, many times,
that is probably what the family would want anyway.
But what I found out with my own father who served here 26 years, and
he died in office, was that it does create a problem. If the family has
the authority to make the recommendation as to how to disburse the
proceeds, it just makes for a very satisfactory time in a very
difficult time when a family member dies.
So to Mr. Lungren and Mr. Brady, thank you very much for bringing
this bill to the floor of the House again. All this is is a simple
change so that the candidate for Federal office can determine that he
would like to have or she would like to have a person other than the
treasurer to disburse the funds.
If we pass this bill today, I want to ask my friend, Mr. Brady, to
help me
[[Page H5744]]
with the Senate, and I'll reach out to the Republicans and maybe he can
reach out to the Democrats and get this bill through because it is the
right thing to do for the family in that tragic situation that can
happen to any of us.
Mr. DANIEL E. LUNGREN of California. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such
time as I may consume.
Mr. Speaker, I want to make it very, very clear: this does not change
the law that the campaign funds would have to be used for a charitable
purpose or for a political purpose, that is, to a party or candidate.
It doesn't change that at all. It just changes the person who would
have the decisionmaking responsibility. And since this is a situation
where a Member or someone running for office would die, those funds, in
some cases, would probably--the candidate would have wished them to go
to a particular charity or series of charities. And this would ensure
that those people who know best the candidate and know what his or her
desires would be would make that determination.
But it does not in any way change it so that it could be used for
personal purposes by the family or anybody else designated. It would
still have to go to those legitimate legal purposes for which campaign
funds are limited. It would do nothing more than change the person who
would make that determination, and we have a real-life experience of
that occurring, and that is why I support this very strongly. It has
been supported strongly in the House before; and if we can get the
attention of our friends on the other side of the Capitol, we can make
this happen, and I think it would be a good, good thing.
So with that, I would urge my colleagues to support this legislation,
and I yield back the balance of my time.
Mr. GINGREY of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of H.R.
406, a bill to amend the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 to
permit candidates for Federal office to designate an individual to
disburse the campaign funds of the candidate in the event of the
candidate's death, authored by my colleague from North Carolina, Walter
Jones.
Unfortunately, he has personally experienced the situation that this
legislation is attempting to remedy when his father--a 14 term member
of this body--passed away and questions arose as to what to do with
remaining campaign funds.
Current law authorizes the campaign treasurer to disperse campaign
funds but does not give instruction on how those funds should be spent
in the event of a candidate's death.
Mr. Speaker, H.R. 406 is a common-sense solution to resolving this
potentially complex issue. I was proud to support the legislation when
it came before the Committee on House Administration, and I urge all of
my colleagues to support it today.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the motion offered by the
gentleman from California (Mr. Daniel E. Lungren) that the House
suspend the rules and pass the bill, H.R. 406.
The question was taken; and (two-thirds being in the affirmative) the
rules were suspended and the bill was passed.
A motion to reconsider was laid on the table.
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