CLEAN Elections Act

I 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 163 To require the use of independent nonpartisan commissions to carry out congressional redistricting and to require States to hold open primaries for elections for Federal office. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES JANUARY 3, 2019 Mr. FITZPATRICK introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on House Administration, and in addition to the Committee on the Judiciary, 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 require the use of independent nonpartisan commissions to carry out congressional redistricting and to require States to hold open primaries for elections for Federal office. 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 ‘‘Citizen Legislature 4 Anti-Corruption Reform of Elections Act’’ or the 5 ‘‘CLEAN Elections Act’’. 6 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:04 Jan 16, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H163.IH H163 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 163 IH SEC. 2. REQUIRING USE OF INDEPENDENT NONPARTISAN 1 COMMISSIONS TO CARRY OUT REDIS- 2 TRICTING. 3 (a) REQUIREMENT.— 4 (1) CONGRESSIONAL REDISTRICTING.—Each 5 State shall conduct Congressional redistricting (be- 6 ginning with the redistricting carried out pursuant 7 to the decennial census conducted during 2020) in 8 accordance with a redistricting plan developed by a 9 nonpartisan independent redistricting commission. 10 (2) REDISTRICTING FOR STATE LEGISLATIVE 11 DISTRICTS.—Notwithstanding any other provision of 12 law, a State may not use any funds provided by the 13 Federal Government directly for election administra- 14 tion purposes unless the State certifies to the Elec- 15 tion Assistance Commission that the State conducts 16 redistricting for State legislative districts in the 17 State (beginning with the first such redistricting 18 carried out after the date of the enactment of this 19 Act) in accordance with a redistricting plan devel- 20 oped by a nonpartisan independent redistricting 21 commission. 22 (b) NONPARTISAN INDEPENDENT STATUS.—For 23 purposes of this section, a commission shall be considered 24 to be a nonpartisan independent commission if— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:04 Jan 16, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H163.IH H163 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 163 IH (1) the number of its members who are affili- 1 ated with the political party with the largest percent- 2 age of the registered voters in the State who are af- 3 filiated with a political party (as determined with re- 4 spect to the most recent Statewide election for Fed- 5 eral office held in the State for which such informa- 6 tion is available) is equal to the number of its mem- 7 bers who are affiliated with the political party with 8 the second largest percentage of the registered vot- 9 ers in the State who are affiliated with a political 10 party (as so determined); and 11 (2) none of its members is an elected public of- 12 ficial. 13 (c) STATE DEFINED.—In this section, the term 14 ‘‘State’’ means each of the several States. 15 SEC. 3. REQUIRING OPEN PRIMARIES. 16 (a) IN GENERAL.— 17 (1) ELECTIONS FOR FEDERAL OFFICE.—Each 18 State shall hold open primaries for elections for Fed- 19 eral office held in the State. 20 (2) ELECTIONS FOR STATE AND LOCAL OF- 21 FICE.—Notwithstanding any other provision of law, 22 a State may not use any funds provided by the Fed- 23 eral Government directly for election administration 24 purposes unless the State certifies to the Election 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:04 Jan 16, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H163.IH H163 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 163 IH Assistance Commission that the State holds open 1 primaries for elections for State and local office. 2 (b) OPEN PRIMARIES DESCRIBED.—For purposes of 3 this section, a State holds open primaries for an election 4 for an office if any individual who is registered to vote 5 in a general election for such office in the State may cast 6 a ballot in any primary election (including a primary elec- 7 tion held for the selection of delegates to a national nomi- 8 nating convention of a political party and a primary elec- 9 tion held for the expression of a preference for the nomina- 10 tion of individuals for election to the office of President) 11 held by any political party to nominate candidates for elec- 12 tion for that office, including a convention or caucus of 13 a political party which has authority to nominate a can- 14 didate. 15 (c) STATE DEFINED.—In this section, the term 16 ‘‘State’’ has the meaning given such term in section 901 17 of the Help America Vote Act of 2002 (52 U.S.C. 21141). 18 (d) EFFECTIVE DATE.—Subsection (a) shall apply 19 with respect to elections held after the date of the enact- 20 ment of this Act. 21 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:04 Jan 16, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H163.IH H163 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS