Democracy Dollars Act

I 117TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 1572 To direct the Federal Election Commission to carry out a voucher pilot program under which individuals may use vouchers to make small dollar contributions to qualified candidates for election for the office of Rep- resentative in, or Delegate or Resident Commissioner to, the Congress, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES MARCH 3, 2021 Ms. JAYAPAL (for herself and Ms. DELBENE) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on House Administration A BILL To direct the Federal Election Commission to carry out a voucher pilot program under which individuals may use vouchers to make small dollar contributions to quali- fied candidates for election for the office of Representa- tive in, or Delegate or Resident Commissioner to, the Congress, 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 ‘‘Democracy Dollars 4 Act’’. 5 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:47 Apr 17, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1572.IH H1572 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 1572 IH SEC. 2. ESTABLISHMENT OF PILOT PROGRAM. 1 (a) ESTABLISHMENT.—The Federal Election Com- 2 mission (hereafter in this Act referred to as the ‘‘Commis- 3 sion’’) shall establish a pilot program under which the 4 Commission shall select 3 eligible States to operate a 5 voucher pilot program which is described in section 3 dur- 6 ing the program operation period. 7 (b) ELIGIBILITY OF STATES.—A State is eligible to 8 be selected to operate a voucher pilot program under this 9 Act if, not later than 180 days after the beginning of the 10 program application period, the State submits to the Com- 11 mission an application containing— 12 (1) information and assurances that the State 13 will operate a voucher program which contains the 14 elements described in section 3(a); 15 (2) information and assurances that the State 16 will establish fraud prevention mechanisms described 17 in section 3(b); 18 (3) information and assurances that the State 19 will establish a commission to oversee and implement 20 the program as described in section 3(c); 21 (4) information and assurances that the State 22 will carry out a public information campaign as de- 23 scribed in section 3(d); 24 (5) information and assurances that the State 25 will submit reports as required under section 4; and 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:47 Apr 17, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1572.IH H1572 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 1572 IH (6) such other information and assurances as 1 the Commission may require. 2 (c) SELECTION OF PARTICIPATING STATES.— 3 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 1 year after 4 the beginning of the program application period, the 5 Commission shall select the 3 States which will oper- 6 ate voucher pilot programs under this Act. 7 (2) CRITERIA.—In selecting States for the oper- 8 ation of the voucher pilot programs under this Act, 9 the Commission shall apply such criteria and metrics 10 as the Commission considers appropriate to deter- 11 mine the ability of a State to operate the program 12 successfully, and shall attempt to select States in a 13 variety of geographic regions and with a variety of 14 political party preferences. 15 (3) NO SUPERMAJORITY REQUIRED FOR SELEC- 16 TION.—The selection of States by the Commission 17 under this subsection shall require the approval of 18 only half of the Members of the Commission. 19 (d) DUTIES OF STATES DURING PROGRAM PREPARA- 20 TION PERIOD.—During the program preparation period, 21 each State selected to operate a voucher pilot program 22 under this Act shall take such actions as may be necessary 23 to ensure that the State will be ready to operate the pro- 24 gram during the program operation period, and shall com- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:47 Apr 17, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1572.IH H1572 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 1572 IH plete such actions not later than 90 days before the begin- 1 ning of the program operation period. 2 (e) TERMINATION.—Each voucher pilot program 3 under this Act shall terminate as of the first day after 4 the program operation period. 5 (f) REIMBURSEMENT OF COSTS.—Upon receiving the 6 report submitted by a State under section 4(a) with re- 7 spect to an election cycle, the Commission shall transmit 8 a payment to the State in an amount equal to the reason- 9 able costs incurred by the State in operating the voucher 10 pilot program under this Act during the cycle. 11 SEC. 3. VOUCHER PROGRAM DESCRIBED. 12 (a) GENERAL ELEMENTS OF PROGRAM.— 13 (1) ELEMENTS DESCRIBED.—The elements of a 14 voucher pilot program operated by a State under 15 this Act are as follows: 16 (A) The State shall provide each qualified 17 individual upon the individual’s request with a 18 voucher worth $25 to be known as a ‘‘My Voice 19 Voucher’’ during the election cycle which will be 20 assigned a routing number and which at the op- 21 tion of the individual will be provided in either 22 paper or electronic form. 23 (B) Using the routing number assigned to 24 the My Voice Voucher, the individual may sub- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:47 Apr 17, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1572.IH H1572 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 1572 IH mit the My Voice Voucher in either electronic 1 or paper form to qualified candidates for elec- 2 tion for the office of Representative in, or Dele- 3 gate or Resident Commissioner to, the Congress 4 and allocate such portion of the value of the My 5 Voice Voucher in increments of $5 as the indi- 6 vidual may select to any such candidate. 7 (C) If the candidate transmits the My 8 Voice Voucher to the Commission, the Commis- 9 sion shall pay the candidate the portion of the 10 value of the My Voice Voucher that the indi- 11 vidual allocated to the candidate, which shall be 12 considered a contribution by the individual to 13 the candidate for purposes of the Federal Elec- 14 tion Campaign Act of 1971. 15 (2) DESIGNATION OF QUALIFIED INDIVID- 16 UALS.—For purposes of paragraph (1)(A), a ‘‘quali- 17 fied individual’’ with respect to a State means an in- 18 dividual— 19 (A) who is a resident of the State; 20 (B) who will be of voting age as of the 21 date of the election for the candidate to whom 22 the individual submits a My Voice Voucher; and 23 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:47 Apr 17, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1572.IH H1572 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 6 •HR 1572 IH (C) who is not prohibited under Federal 1 law from making contributions to candidates 2 for election for Federal office. 3 (3) TREATMENT AS CONTRIBUTION TO CAN- 4 DIDATE.—For purposes of the Federal Election 5 Campaign Act of 1971, the submission of a My 6 Voice Voucher to a candidate by an individual shall 7 be treated as a contribution to the candidate by the 8 individual in the amount of the portion of the value 9 of the Voucher that the individual allocated to the 10 candidate. 11 (b) FRAUD PREVENTION MECHANISM.—In addition 12 to the elements described in subsection (a), a State oper- 13 ating a voucher pilot program under this Act shall permit 14 an individual to revoke a My Voice Voucher not later than 15 2 days after submitting the My Voice Voucher to a can- 16 didate. 17 (c) OVERSIGHT COMMISSION.—In addition to the ele- 18 ments described in subsection (a), a State operating a 19 voucher pilot program under this Act shall establish a 20 commission or designate an existing entity to oversee and 21 implement the program in the State, except that no such 22 commission or entity may be comprised of elected officials. 23 (d) PUBLIC INFORMATION CAMPAIGN.—In addition 24 to the elements described in subsection (a), a State oper- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:47 Apr 17, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1572.IH H1572 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 7 •HR 1572 IH ating a voucher pilot program under this Act shall carry 1 out a public information campaign to disseminate aware- 2 ness of the program among qualified individuals. 3 SEC. 4. REPORTS. 4 (a) PRELIMINARY REPORT.—Not later than 6 5 months after the first election cycle of the program oper- 6 ation period, a State which operates a voucher pilot pro- 7 gram under this Act shall submit a report to the Commis- 8 sion analyzing the operation and effectiveness of the pro- 9 gram during the cycle and including such other informa- 10 tion as the Commission may require. 11 (b) FINAL REPORT.—Not later than 6 months after 12 the end of the program operation period, the State shall 13 submit a final report to the Commission analyzing the op- 14 eration and effectiveness of the program and including 15 such other information as the Commission may require. 16 (c) REPORT BY COMMISSION.—Not later than the 17 end of the first election cycle which begins after the pro- 18 gram operation period, the Commission shall submit a re- 19 port to Congress which summarizes and analyzes the re- 20 sults of the voucher pilot program, and shall include in 21 the report such recommendations as the Commission con- 22 siders appropriate regarding the expansion of the pilot 23 program to all States and territories, along with such 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:47 Apr 17, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1572.IH H1572 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 8 •HR 1572 IH other recommendations and other information as the Com- 1 mission considers appropriate. 2 SEC. 5. DEFINITIONS. 3 (a) ELECTION CYCLE.—In this Act, the term ‘‘elec- 4 tion cycle’’ means the period beginning on the day after 5 the date of the most recent regularly scheduled general 6 election for Federal office and ending on the date of the 7 next regularly scheduled general election for Federal of- 8 fice. 9 (b) DEFINITIONS RELATING TO PERIODS.—In this 10 Act, the following definitions apply: 11 (1) PROGRAM APPLICATION PERIOD.—The term 12 ‘‘program application period’’ means the first elec- 13 tion cycle which begins after the date of the enact- 14 ment of this Act. 15 (2) PROGRAM PREPARATION PERIOD.—The 16 term ‘‘program preparation period’’ means the first 17 election cycle which begins after the program appli- 18 cation period. 19 (3) PROGRAM OPERATION PERIOD.—The term 20 ‘‘program operation period’’ means the first 2 elec- 21 tion cycles which begin after the program prepara- 22 tion period. 23 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:47 Apr 17, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H1572.IH H1572 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS