Inaugural Fund Integrity Act

I 117TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 422 To amend the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 to prohibit certain donations to Inaugural Committees, to establish limitations on donations to Inaugural Committees, to require certain reporting by Inaugural Com- mittees, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES JANUARY 21, 2021 Ms. SCANLON introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Com- mittee on House Administration, and in addition to the Committee on Oversight and Reform, 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 prohibit certain donations to Inaugural Committees, to establish limitations on donations to Inaugural Commit- tees, to require certain reporting by Inaugural Commit- tees, and for other purposes. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Inaugural Fund Integ- 4 rity Act’’. 5 VerDate Sep 11 2014 17:27 Feb 12, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H422.IH H422 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 422 IH SEC. 2. LIMITATIONS AND DISCLOSURE OF CERTAIN DONA- 1 TIONS TO, AND DISBURSEMENTS BY, INAU- 2 GURAL COMMITTEES. 3 (a) REQUIREMENTS FOR INAUGURAL COMMIT- 4 TEES.—Title III of the Federal Election Campaign Act 5 of 1971 (52 U.S.C. 30101 et seq.) is amended by adding 6 at the end the following new section: 7 ‘‘SEC. 325. INAUGURAL COMMITTEES. 8 ‘‘(a) PROHIBITED DONATIONS.— 9 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—It shall be unlawful— 10 ‘‘(A) for an Inaugural Committee— 11 ‘‘(i) to solicit, accept, or receive a do- 12 nation from a person that is not an indi- 13 vidual; or 14 ‘‘(ii) to solicit, accept, or receive a do- 15 nation from a foreign national; 16 ‘‘(B) for a person— 17 ‘‘(i) to make a donation to an Inau- 18 gural Committee in the name of another 19 person, or to knowingly authorize his or 20 her name to be used to effect such a dona- 21 tion; 22 ‘‘(ii) to knowingly accept a donation 23 to an Inaugural Committee made by a per- 24 son in the name of another person; or 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 17:27 Feb 12, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H422.IH H422 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 422 IH ‘‘(iii) to convert a donation to an In- 1 augural Committee to personal use as de- 2 scribed in paragraph (2); and 3 ‘‘(C) for a foreign national to, directly or 4 indirectly, make a donation, or make an express 5 or implied promise to make a donation, to an 6 Inaugural Committee. 7 ‘‘(2) CONVERSION OF DONATION TO PERSONAL 8 USE.—For purposes of paragraph (1)(B)(iii), a do- 9 nation shall be considered to be converted to per- 10 sonal use if any part of the donated amount is used 11 to fulfill a commitment, obligation, or expense of a 12 person that would exist irrespective of the respon- 13 sibilities of the Inaugural Committee under chapter 14 5 of title 36, United States Code. 15 ‘‘(3) NO EFFECT ON DISBURSEMENT OF UN- 16 USED FUNDS TO NONPROFIT ORGANIZATIONS.— 17 Nothing in this subsection may be construed to pro- 18 hibit an Inaugural Committee from disbursing un- 19 used funds to an organization which is described in 20 section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code of 21 1986 and is exempt from taxation under section 22 501(a) of such Code. 23 ‘‘(b) LIMITATION ON DONATIONS.— 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 17:27 Feb 12, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H422.IH H422 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 422 IH ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—It shall be unlawful for an 1 individual to make donations to an Inaugural Com- 2 mittee which, in the aggregate, exceed $50,000. 3 ‘‘(2) INDEXING.—At the beginning of each 4 Presidential election year (beginning with 2028), the 5 amount described in paragraph (1) shall be in- 6 creased by the cumulative percent difference deter- 7 mined in section 315(c)(1)(A) since the previous 8 Presidential election year. If any amount after such 9 increase is not a multiple of $1,000, such amount 10 shall be rounded to the nearest multiple of $1,000. 11 ‘‘(c) DISCLOSURE OF CERTAIN DONATIONS AND DIS- 12 BURSEMENTS.— 13 ‘‘(1) DONATIONS OVER $1,000.— 14 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—An Inaugural Com- 15 mittee shall file with the Commission a report 16 disclosing any donation by an individual to the 17 committee in an amount of $1,000 or more not 18 later than 24 hours after the receipt of such do- 19 nation. 20 ‘‘(B) CONTENTS OF REPORT.—A report 21 filed under subparagraph (A) shall contain— 22 ‘‘(i) the amount of the donation; 23 ‘‘(ii) the date the donation is received; 24 and 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 17:27 Feb 12, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H422.IH H422 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 422 IH ‘‘(iii) the name and address of the in- 1 dividual making the donation. 2 ‘‘(2) FINAL REPORT.—Not later than the date 3 that is 90 days after the date of the Presidential in- 4 augural ceremony, the Inaugural Committee shall 5 file with the Commission a report containing the fol- 6 lowing information: 7 ‘‘(A) For each donation of money or any- 8 thing of value made to the committee in an ag- 9 gregate amount equal to or greater than 10 $200— 11 ‘‘(i) the amount of the donation; 12 ‘‘(ii) the date the donation is received; 13 and 14 ‘‘(iii) the name and address of the in- 15 dividual making the donation. 16 ‘‘(B) The total amount of all disburse- 17 ments, and all disbursements in the following 18 categories: 19 ‘‘(i) Disbursements made to meet 20 committee operating expenses. 21 ‘‘(ii) Repayment of all loans. 22 ‘‘(iii) Donation refunds and other off- 23 sets to donations. 24 ‘‘(iv) Any other disbursements. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 17:27 Feb 12, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H422.IH H422 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 6 •HR 422 IH ‘‘(C) The name and address of each per- 1 son— 2 ‘‘(i) to whom a disbursement in an ag- 3 gregate amount or value in excess of $200 4 is made by the committee to meet a com- 5 mittee operating expense, together with 6 date, amount, and purpose of such oper- 7 ating expense; 8 ‘‘(ii) who receives a loan repayment 9 from the committee, together with the date 10 and amount of such loan repayment; 11 ‘‘(iii) who receives a donation refund 12 or other offset to donations from the com- 13 mittee, together with the date and amount 14 of such disbursement; and 15 ‘‘(iv) to whom any other disbursement 16 in an aggregate amount or value in excess 17 of $200 is made by the committee, to- 18 gether with the date and amount of such 19 disbursement. 20 ‘‘(d) DEFINITIONS.—For purposes of this section: 21 ‘‘(1)(A) The term ‘donation’ includes— 22 ‘‘(i) any gift, subscription, loan, advance, 23 or deposit of money or anything of value made 24 by any person to the committee; or 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 17:27 Feb 12, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H422.IH H422 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 7 •HR 422 IH ‘‘(ii) the payment by any person of com- 1 pensation for the personal services of another 2 person which are rendered to the committee 3 without charge for any purpose. 4 ‘‘(B) The term ‘donation’ does not include the 5 value of services provided without compensation by 6 any individual who volunteers on behalf of the com- 7 mittee. 8 ‘‘(2) The term ‘foreign national’ has the mean- 9 ing given that term by section 319(b). 10 ‘‘(3) The term ‘Inaugural Committee’ has the 11 meaning given that term by section 501 of title 36, 12 United States Code.’’. 13 (b) CONFIRMING AMENDMENT RELATED TO RE- 14 PORTING REQUIREMENTS.—Section 304 of the Federal 15 Election Campaign Act (52 U.S.C. 30104) is amended— 16 (1) by striking subsection (h); and 17 (2) by redesignating subsection (i) as subsection 18 (h). 19 (c) CONFORMING AMENDMENT RELATED TO STATUS 20 OF COMMITTEE.—Section 510 of title 36, United States 21 Code, is amended to read as follows: 22 VerDate Sep 11 2014 17:27 Feb 12, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H422.IH H422 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 8 •HR 422 IH ‘‘§ 510. Disclosure of and prohibition on certain dona- 1 tions 2 ‘‘A committee shall not be considered to be the Inau- 3 gural Committee for purposes of this chapter unless the 4 committee agrees to, and meets, the requirements of sec- 5 tion 325 of the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971.’’. 6 (d) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by 7 this Act shall apply with respect to Inaugural Committees 8 established under chapter 5 of title 36, United States 9 Code, for inaugurations held in 2025 and any succeeding 10 year. 11 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 17:27 Feb 12, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H422.IH H422 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS