Empower Act of 2021

II 117TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION S. 428 To amend chapters 95 and 96 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to reform the system of public financing for Presidential election campaigns, and for other purposes. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES FEBRUARY 24, 2021 Mr. VAN HOLLEN (for himself and Mr. LUJA´N) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance A BILL To amend chapters 95 and 96 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to reform the system of public financing for Presidential election campaigns, 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; TABLE OF CONTENTS. 3 (a) SHORT TITLE.—This Act may be cited as the 4 ‘‘Empower Act of 2021’’. 5 (b) TABLE OF CONTENTS.—The table of contents of 6 this Act is as follows: 7 Sec. 1. Short title; table of contents. TITLE I—PRIMARY ELECTIONS Sec. 101. Increase in and modifications to matching payments. VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:45 Mar 18, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6211 E:\BILLS\S428.IS S428 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 2 •S 428 IS Sec. 102. Eligibility requirements for matching payments. Sec. 103. Repeal of expenditure limitations. Sec. 104. Period of availability of matching payments. Sec. 105. Examination and audits of matchable contributions. Sec. 106. Modification to limitation on contributions for Presidential primary candidates. Sec. 107. Use of Freedom From Influence Fund as source of payments. TITLE II—GENERAL ELECTIONS Sec. 201. Modification of eligibility requirements for public financing. Sec. 202. Repeal of expenditure limitations and use of qualified campaign con- tributions. Sec. 203. Matching payments and other modifications to payment amounts. Sec. 204. Increase in limit on coordinated party expenditures. Sec. 205. Establishment of uniform date for release of payments. Sec. 206. Amounts in Presidential Election Campaign Fund. Sec. 207. Use of general election payments for general election legal and ac- counting compliance. Sec. 208. Use of Freedom From Influence Fund as source of payments. TITLE III—FREEDOM FROM INFLUENCE FUND Sec. 301. Freedom From Influence Fund. Sec. 302. Assessments against fines and penalties. TITLE IV—EFFECTIVE DATE Sec. 401. Effective date. TITLE I—PRIMARY ELECTIONS 1 SEC. 101. INCREASE IN AND MODIFICATIONS TO MATCHING 2 PAYMENTS. 3 (a) INCREASE AND MODIFICATION.— 4 (1) IN GENERAL.—The first sentence of section 5 9034(a) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 is 6 amended— 7 (A) by striking ‘‘an amount equal to the 8 amount of each contribution’’ and inserting ‘‘an 9 amount equal to 600 percent of the amount of 10 each matchable contribution (disregarding any 11 amount of contributions from any person to the 12 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:45 Mar 18, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S428.IS S428 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 3 •S 428 IS extent that the total of the amounts contributed 1 by such person for the election exceeds $200)’’; 2 and 3 (B) by striking ‘‘authorized committees’’ 4 and all that follows through ‘‘$250’’ and insert- 5 ing ‘‘authorized committees’’. 6 (2) MATCHABLE CONTRIBUTIONS.—Section 7 9034 of such Code is amended— 8 (A) by striking the last sentence of sub- 9 section (a); and 10 (B) by adding at the end the following new 11 subsection: 12 ‘‘(c) MATCHABLE CONTRIBUTION DEFINED.—For 13 purposes of this section and section 9033(b)— 14 ‘‘(1) MATCHABLE CONTRIBUTION.—The term 15 ‘matchable contribution’ means, with respect to the 16 nomination for election to the office of President of 17 the United States, a contribution by an individual to 18 a candidate or an authorized committee of a can- 19 didate with respect to which the candidate has cer- 20 tified in writing that— 21 ‘‘(A) the individual making such contribu- 22 tion has not made aggregate contributions (in- 23 cluding such matchable contribution) to such 24 candidate and the authorized committees of 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:45 Mar 18, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S428.IS S428 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 4 •S 428 IS such candidate in excess of $1,000 for the elec- 1 tion; 2 ‘‘(B) such candidate and the authorized 3 committees of such candidate will not accept 4 contributions from such individual (including 5 such matchable contribution) aggregating more 6 than the amount described in subparagraph 7 (A); and 8 ‘‘(C) such contribution was a direct con- 9 tribution. 10 ‘‘(2) CONTRIBUTION.—For purposes of this 11 subsection, the term ‘contribution’ means a gift of 12 money made by a written instrument which identi- 13 fies the individual making the contribution by full 14 name and mailing address, but does not include a 15 subscription, loan, advance, or deposit of money, or 16 anything of value or anything described in subpara- 17 graph (B), (C), or (D) of section 9032(4). 18 ‘‘(3) DIRECT CONTRIBUTION.— 19 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—For purposes of this 20 subsection, the term ‘direct contribution’ 21 means, with respect to a candidate, a contribu- 22 tion which is made directly by an individual to 23 the candidate or an authorized committee of the 24 candidate and is not— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:45 Mar 18, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S428.IS S428 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 5 •S 428 IS ‘‘(i) forwarded from the individual 1 making the contribution to the candidate 2 or committee by another person; or 3 ‘‘(ii) received by the candidate or com- 4 mittee with the knowledge that the con- 5 tribution was made at the request, sugges- 6 tion, or recommendation of another person. 7 ‘‘(B) OTHER DEFINITIONS.—In subpara- 8 graph (A)— 9 ‘‘(i) the term ‘person’ does not include 10 an individual (other than an individual de- 11 scribed in section 304(i)(7) of the Federal 12 Election Campaign Act of 1971), a polit- 13 ical committee of a political party, or any 14 political committee which is not a separate 15 segregated fund described in section 16 316(b) of the Federal Election Campaign 17 Act of 1971 and which does not make con- 18 tributions or independent expenditures, 19 does not engage in lobbying activity under 20 the Lobbying Disclosure Act of 1995 (2 21 U.S.C. 1601 et seq.), and is not estab- 22 lished by, controlled by, or affiliated with 23 a registered lobbyist under such Act, an 24 agent of a registered lobbyist under such 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:45 Mar 18, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S428.IS S428 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 6 •S 428 IS Act, or an organization which retains or 1 employs a registered lobbyist under such 2 Act; and 3 ‘‘(ii) a contribution is not ‘made at 4 the request, suggestion, or recommendation 5 of another person’ solely on the grounds 6 that the contribution is made in response 7 to information provided to the individual 8 making the contribution by any person, so 9 long as the candidate or authorized com- 10 mittee does not know the identity of the 11 person who provided the information to 12 such individual.’’. 13 (3) CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.— 14 (A) Section 9032(4) of such Code is 15 amended by striking ‘‘section 9034(a)’’ and in- 16 serting ‘‘section 9034’’. 17 (B) Section 9033(b)(3) of such Code is 18 amended by striking ‘‘matching contributions’’ 19 and inserting ‘‘matchable contributions’’. 20 (b) MODIFICATION OF PAYMENT LIMITATION.—Sec- 21 tion 9034(b) of such Code is amended— 22 (1) by striking ‘‘The total’’ and inserting the 23 following: 24 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The total’’; 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:45 Mar 18, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S428.IS S428 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 7 •S 428 IS (2) by striking ‘‘shall not exceed’’ and all that 1 follows and inserting ‘‘shall not exceed 2 $250,000,000.’’; and 3 (3) by adding at the end the following new 4 paragraph: 5 ‘‘(2) INFLATION ADJUSTMENT.— 6 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—In the case of any ap- 7 plicable period beginning after 2029, the dollar 8 amount in paragraph (1) shall be increased by 9 an amount equal to— 10 ‘‘(i) such dollar amount, multiplied by 11 ‘‘(ii) the cost-of-living adjustment de- 12 termined under section 1(f)(3) for the cal- 13 endar year following the year which such 14 applicable period begins, determined by 15 substituting ‘calendar year 2028’ for ‘cal- 16 endar year 1992’ in subparagraph (B) 17 thereof. 18 ‘‘(B) APPLICABLE PERIOD.—For purposes 19 of this paragraph, the term ‘applicable period’ 20 means the 4-year period beginning with the 21 first day following the date of the general elec- 22 tion for the office of President and ending on 23 the date of the next such general election. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:45 Mar 18, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S428.IS S428 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 8 •S 428 IS ‘‘(C) ROUNDING.—If any amount as ad- 1 justed under subparagraph (1) is not a multiple 2 of $10,000, such amount shall be rounded to 3 the nearest multiple of $10,000.’’. 4 SEC. 102. ELIGIBILITY REQUIREMENTS FOR MATCHING 5 PAYMENTS. 6 (a) AMOUNT OF AGGREGATE CONTRIBUTIONS PER 7 STATE; DISREGARDING OF AMOUNTS CONTRIBUTED IN 8 EXCESS OF $200.—Section 9033(b)(3) of the Internal 9 Revenue Code of 1986 is amended— 10 (1) by striking ‘‘$5,000’’ and inserting 11 ‘‘$25,000’’; and 12 (2) by striking ‘‘20 States’’ and inserting the 13 following: ‘‘20 States (disregarding any amount of 14 contributions from any such resident to the extent 15 that the total of the amounts contributed by such 16 resident for the election exceeds $200)’’. 17 (b) CONTRIBUTION LIMIT.— 18 (1) IN GENERAL.—Paragraph (4) of section 19 9033(b) of such Code is amended to read as follows: 20 ‘‘(4) the candidate and the authorized commit- 21 tees of the candidate will not accept aggregate con- 22 tributions from any person with respect to the nomi- 23 nation for election to the office of President of the 24 United States in excess of $1,000 for the election.’’. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:45 Mar 18, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S428.IS S428 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 9 •S 428 IS (2) CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.— 1 (A) Section 9033(b) of such Code is 2 amended by adding at the end the following 3 new flush sentence: 4 ‘‘For purposes of paragraph (4), the term ‘contribution’ 5 has the meaning given such term in section 301(8) of the 6 Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971.’’. 7 (B) Section 9032(4) of such Code, as 8 amended by section 101(a)(3)(A), is amended 9 by striking ‘‘section 9034’’ and inserting ‘‘sec- 10 tion 9033(b) or 9034’’. 11 (c) PARTICIPATION IN SYSTEM FOR PAYMENTS FOR 12 GENERAL ELECTION.—Section 9033(b) of such Code is 13 amended— 14 (1) by striking ‘‘and’’ at the end of paragraph 15 (3); 16 (2) by striking the period at the end of para- 17 graph (4) and inserting ‘‘, and’’; and 18 (3) by inserting after paragraph (4) the fol- 19 lowing new paragraph: 20 ‘‘(5) if the candidate is nominated by a political 21 party for election to the office of President, the can- 22 didate will apply for and accept payments with re- 23 spect to the general election for such office in ac- 24 cordance with chapter 95.’’. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:45 Mar 18, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S428.IS S428 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 10 •S 428 IS (d) PROHIBITION ON JOINT FUNDRAISING COMMIT- 1 TEES.—Section 9033(b) of such Code, as amended by sub- 2 section (c), is amended— 3 (1) by striking ‘‘and’’ at the end of paragraph 4 (4); 5 (2) by striking the period at the end of para- 6 graph (5) and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 7 (3) by inserting after paragraph (5) the fol- 8 lowing new paragraph: 9 ‘‘(6) the candidate will not establish a joint 10 fundraising committee with a political committee 11 other than another authorized committee of the can- 12 didate, except that candidate established a joint 13 fundraising committee with respect to a prior elec- 14 tion for which the candidate was not eligible to re- 15 ceive payments under section 9037 and the can- 16 didate does not terminate the committee, the can- 17 didate shall not be considered to be in violation of 18 this paragraph so long as that joint fundraising 19 committee does not receive any contributions or 20 make any disbursements during the election cycle for 21 which the candidate is eligible to receive payments 22 under such section.’’. 23 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:45 Mar 18, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S428.IS S428 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 11 •S 428 IS SEC. 103. REPEAL OF EXPENDITURE LIMITATIONS. 1 (a) IN GENERAL.—Subsection (a) of section 9035 of 2 the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 is amended to read 3 as follows: 4 ‘‘(a) PERSONAL EXPENDITURE LIMITATION.—No 5 candidate shall knowingly make expenditures from his per- 6 sonal funds, or the personal funds of his immediate family, 7 in connection with his campaign for nomination for elec- 8 tion to the office of President in excess of, in the aggre- 9 gate, $50,000.’’. 10 (b) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—Paragraph (1) of 11 section 9033(b) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 is 12 amended to read as follows: 13 ‘‘(1) the candidate will comply with the per- 14 sonal expenditure limitation under section 9035,’’. 15 SEC. 104. PERIOD OF AVAILABILITY OF MATCHING PAY- 16 MENTS. 17 Section 9032(6) of the Internal Revenue Code of 18 1986 is amended by striking ‘‘the beginning of the cal- 19 endar year in which a general election for the office of 20 President of the United States will be held’’ and inserting 21 ‘‘the date that is 6 months prior to the date of the earliest 22 State primary election’’. 23 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:45 Mar 18, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00011 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S428.IS S428 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 12 •S 428 IS SEC. 105. EXAMINATION AND AUDITS OF MATCHABLE CON- 1 TRIBUTIONS. 2 Section 9038(a) of the Internal Revenue Code of 3 1986 is amended by inserting ‘‘and matchable contribu- 4 tions accepted by’’ after ‘‘qualified campaign expenses of’’. 5 SEC. 106. MODIFICATION TO LIMITATION ON CONTRIBU- 6 TIONS FOR PRESIDENTIAL PRIMARY CAN- 7 DIDATES. 8 Section 315(a)(6) of the Federal Election Campaign 9 Act of 1971 (52 U.S.C. 30116(a)(6)) is amended by strik- 10 ing ‘‘calendar year’’ and inserting ‘‘four-year election 11 cycle’’. 12 SEC. 107. USE OF FREEDOM FROM INFLUENCE FUND AS 13 SOURCE OF PAYMENTS. 14 (a) IN GENERAL.—Chapter 96 of subtitle H of the 15 Internal Revenue Code of 1986 is amended by adding at 16 the end the following new section: 17 ‘‘SEC. 9043. USE OF FREEDO [Text truncated for display. Full text available on Congress.gov.]