Political Accountability and Transparency Act

I 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 679 To amend the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 to apply the restric- tions on the use of campaign funds for personal use to the funds of leadership PACs and other political committees, to clarify the treat- ment of certain coordinated expenditures as contributions to candidates, to require the sponsors of certain political advertisements to identify the source of funds used for the advertisements, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES JANUARY 17, 2019 Miss RICE of New York (for herself, Mr. KILMER, and Mr. GALLAGHER) in- troduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on House Administration A BILL To amend the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 to apply the restrictions on the use of campaign funds for personal use to the funds of leadership PACs and other political committees, to clarify the treatment of certain coordinated expenditures as contributions to can- didates, to require the sponsors of certain political adver- tisements to identify the source of funds used for the advertisements, 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 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:18 Jan 31, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H679.IH H679 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 2 •HR 679 IH SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 1 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Political Accountability 2 and Transparency Act’’. 3 SEC. 2. APPLYING PERSONAL USE RESTRICTIONS TO LEAD- 4 ERSHIP PACS AND OTHER POLITICAL COM- 5 MITTEES. 6 (a) APPLYING RESTRICTIONS.—Section 313(b) of the 7 Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 (52 U.S.C. 8 30114(b)) is amended— 9 (1) in paragraph (1), by inserting ‘‘or a receipt 10 of any other political committee’’ after ‘‘subsection 11 (a)’’; 12 (2) in paragraph (2), by striking ‘‘contribution 13 or donation’’ and inserting ‘‘contribution, donation, 14 or receipt’’; and 15 (3) in paragraph (2), by striking ‘‘campaign or 16 individual’s duties as a holder of Federal office’’ and 17 inserting ‘‘campaign, the individual’s duties as a 18 holder of Federal office, or the political committee’s 19 political activities.’’. 20 (b) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by 21 this section shall apply with respect to contributions and 22 donations received on or after the date of the enactment 23 of this Act. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:18 Jan 31, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H679.IH H679 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 3 •HR 679 IH SEC. 3. CLARIFICATION OF TREATMENT OF COORDINATED 1 EXPENDITURES AS CONTRIBUTIONS. 2 (a) TREATMENT AS CONTRIBUTION.—Section 3 301(8)(A) of the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 4 (52 U.S.C. 30101(8)(A)) is amended— 5 (1) by striking ‘‘or’’ at the end of clause (i); 6 (2) by striking the period at the end of clause 7 (ii) and inserting ‘‘; or’’; and 8 (3) by adding at the end the following new 9 clause: 10 ‘‘(iii) any payment made by any person for 11 a coordinated expenditure (as such term is de- 12 fined in section 324) which is not otherwise 13 treated as a contribution under clause (i) or 14 clause (ii).’’. 15 (b) DEFINITIONS.—Section 324 of such Act (52 16 U.S.C. 30126) is amended to read as follows: 17 ‘‘SEC. 324. PAYMENTS FOR COORDINATED EXPENDITURES. 18 ‘‘(a) COORDINATED EXPENDITURES.— 19 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—For purposes of section 20 301(8)(A)(iii), the term ‘coordinated expenditure’ 21 means, with respect to a candidate, authorized com- 22 mittee, or political party— 23 ‘‘(A) any payment for any communication 24 which republishes, disseminates, or distributes, 25 in whole or in substantial part, any video, 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:18 Jan 31, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H679.IH H679 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 4 •HR 679 IH audio, written, graphic, or other form of cam- 1 paign material created or prepared by the can- 2 didate, an authorized committee of a candidate, 3 or a committee of a political party, but does not 4 include— 5 ‘‘(i) any payment made by the can- 6 didate, the authorized committee, or the 7 political party which created or prepared 8 the material involved; or 9 ‘‘(ii) any payment for the republica- 10 tion, dissemination, or distribution of the 11 material involved for purposes of opposing 12 the candidate, authorized committee, or 13 political party which created or prepared 14 the material involved; or 15 ‘‘(B) any payment for a covered expendi- 16 ture described in subsection (c) which is made 17 in cooperation, consultation, or concert with, or 18 at the request or suggestion of, a candidate, an 19 authorized committee of a candidate, or a polit- 20 ical committee of a political party, as defined in 21 subsection (b). 22 ‘‘(2) CLARIFICATION OF INDIVIDUALS TREATED 23 AS CANDIDATES.—For purposes of this section, an 24 individual shall be treated as a candidate if the indi- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:18 Jan 31, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H679.IH H679 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 5 •HR 679 IH vidual is a candidate at the time of a coordinated ex- 1 penditure, without regard to whether the individual 2 was a candidate at the time the coordination oc- 3 curred, as described in subsection (b). 4 ‘‘(3) TREATMENT OF EMPLOYEES, INDE- 5 PENDENT CONTRACTORS, AND AGENTS.—For pur- 6 poses of this section, any reference to a candidate, 7 committee, officeholder, or political party includes— 8 ‘‘(A) an employee or independent con- 9 tractor of the candidate, committee, office- 10 holder, or party, if such employee or contractor 11 has executive or managerial authority (or acts 12 under the direction or control of an employee or 13 contractor who has such executive or manage- 14 rial authority) for the candidate, committee, of- 15 ficeholder, or political party at any time during 16 the election cycle in which the expenditure is 17 made (in the case of a candidate or committee 18 for an election for the office of President) or 19 during the 2-year period ending on the date the 20 expenditure is made (in the case of a candidate 21 or committee for an election for any other Fed- 22 eral office or any political party); or 23 ‘‘(B) an agent (including an authorized 24 fundraiser), whether paid or unpaid, of the can- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:18 Jan 31, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H679.IH H679 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 6 •HR 679 IH didate, committee, officeholder, or party at any 1 time during the election cycle in which the ex- 2 penditure is made (in the case of a candidate 3 or committee for an election for the office of 4 President) or during the 2-year period ending 5 on the date the expenditure is made (in the 6 case of a candidate or committee for an election 7 for any other Federal office or any political 8 party), without regard to whether the individual 9 was such an agent at the time any of the co- 10 ordination described in subsection (b) occurred. 11 ‘‘(4) EXCEPTIONS.—A payment shall not be 12 treated as a coordinated expenditure under this sec- 13 tion if— 14 ‘‘(A) the payment is for a communication 15 which appears in a news story, commentary, or 16 editorial distributed through the facilities of any 17 broadcasting station, newspaper, magazine, or 18 other periodical publication, unless such facili- 19 ties are owned or controlled by any political 20 party, political committee, or candidate; or 21 ‘‘(B) the payment is for a candidate debate 22 or forum conducted pursuant to regulations 23 adopted by the Commission pursuant to section 24 304(f)(3)(B)(iii), or is for a communication 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:18 Jan 31, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H679.IH H679 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 7 •HR 679 IH which solely promotes such a debate or forum 1 and is made by or on behalf of the person spon- 2 soring the debate or forum. 3 ‘‘(b) COORDINATION DESCRIBED.—For purposes of 4 this section, a covered expenditure is made ‘in cooperation, 5 consultation, or concert with, or at the request or sugges- 6 tion of,’ a candidate, an authorized committee of a can- 7 didate, or a political committee of a political party if any 8 of the following apply: 9 ‘‘(1) The covered expenditure is not made to- 10 tally independently of the candidate, committee, or 11 political party. For purposes of the previous sen- 12 tence, a covered expenditure not made totally inde- 13 pendently of the candidate or committee includes 14 any expenditure made pursuant to any express or 15 implied agreement with, or any general or particular 16 understanding with, or pursuant to any request by 17 or communication with, the candidate, committee, or 18 political party about the expenditure. 19 ‘‘(2) During the 2-year period ending on the 20 date the covered expenditure is made (in the case of 21 a candidate or committee for an election for any 22 other Federal office or any political party) or during 23 the election cycle in which the covered expenditure 24 is made (in the case of a candidate or committee for 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:18 Jan 31, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H679.IH H679 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 8 •HR 679 IH an election for the office of President), the person 1 making the covered expenditure was directly or indi- 2 rectly established, maintained, controlled, or prin- 3 cipally funded by the candidate, an immediate family 4 member of the candidate, the committee, or party. 5 For purposes of the previous sentence, an ‘imme- 6 diate family member’ means, with respect to a can- 7 didate, a father, mother, son, daughter, brother, sis- 8 ter, spouse, domestic partner, father-in-law, or 9 mother-in-law. 10 ‘‘(3) During the 2-year period ending on the 11 date the covered expenditure is made (in the case of 12 a candidate or committee for an election for any 13 other Federal office or any political party) or during 14 the election cycle in which the covered expenditure 15 is made (in the case of a candidate or committee for 16 an election for the office of President), the can- 17 didate, the committee, or political party solicited 18 funds for, provided nonpublic fundraising informa- 19 tion or strategy to, appeared as a speaker or fea- 20 tured guest at a fundraiser for, or gave permission 21 to be featured in fundraising efforts for, the person 22 making the covered expenditure. The previous sen- 23 tence does not apply if the person making the cov- 24 ered expenditure is an organization described in sec- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:18 Jan 31, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H679.IH H679 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 9 •HR 679 IH tion 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 1 and exempt from taxation under section 501(a) of 2 such Code. 3 ‘‘(4) The covered expenditure is made on the 4 basis of non-public information about the can- 5 didate’s, committee’s, or political party’s campaign 6 needs or plans that the candidate, committee, or po- 7 litical party provided directly or indirectly to the per- 8 son making the covered expenditure, including infor- 9 mation about campaign messaging, strategy, fund- 10 raising, planned expenditures, or polling data. The 11 previous sentence does not apply to communications 12 between the person making the covered expenditure 13 and the candidate, committee, or political party sole- 14 ly for the purpose of either engaging in discussions 15 regarding the person’s position on a policy matter or 16 regarding whether the person will endorse the can- 17 didate or party, so long as such communications do 18 not include any nonpublic information about the 19 candidate’s, committee’s, or party’s campaign needs 20 or plans. 21 ‘‘(5)(A) During the 2-year period ending on the 22 date the covered expenditure is made (in the case of 23 a candidate or committee for an election for any 24 other Federal office or any political party) or during 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:18 Jan 31, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H679.IH H679 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 10 •HR 679 IH the election cycle in which the covered expenditure 1 is made (in the case of a candidate or committee for 2 an election for the office of President), the person 3 making the covered expenditure employed or other- 4 wise retained the services (other than accounting or 5 legal services) of a person who, at any point during 6 that cycle or two-year period— 7 ‘‘(i) had executive or managerial authority 8 for the candidate, committee, or party, whether 9 paid or unpaid; 10 ‘‘(ii) was authorized to raise or expend 11 funds for the candidate, committee, or party 12 and had nonpublic information from the can- 13 didate, committee, or party about the can- 14 didate’s, committee’s or party’s campaign’s 15 needs or plans; or 16 ‘‘(iii) provided the candidate, committee, or 17 party with professional services (other than ac- 18 counting or legal services) related to campaign 19 or fundraising strategy. 20 ‘‘(B) Subparagraph (A) does not apply with re- 21 spect to a person employed or otherwise retained by 22 a person making a covered expenditure if, at the 23 time the person who was so employed or retained ex- 24 ercised the authority or provided the services de- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:18 Jan 31, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H679.IH H679 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 11 •HR 679 IH scribed in clauses (i) through (iii) of such subpara- 1 graph, the person making the covered expenditure 2 had in effect a firewall policy which meets the re- 3 quirements of subsection (d). 4 ‘‘(c) COVERED EXPENDITURES.— 5 ‘‘(1) CANDIDATES AND AUTHORIZED COMMIT- 6 TEES.—For purposes of this section, the term ‘cov- 7 ered expenditure’ means, with respect to a candidate 8 or an authorized committee of a candidate, any of 9 the following: 10 ‘‘(A) An expenditure for a public commu- 11 nication (as defined in section 301(22)) 12 which— 13 ‘‘(i) expressly advocates for the nomi- 14 nation or election of the candidate or for 15 the defeat of an opponent of the candidate 16 (or contains the functional equivalent of 17 express advocacy); 18 ‘‘(ii) promotes or supports the can- 19 didate, or attacks or opposes an opponent 20 of the candidate (regardless of whether the 21 communication expressly advocates the 22 election or defeat of a candidate or con- 23 tains the functional equivalent of express 24 advocacy); or 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:18 Jan 31, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00011 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H679.IH H679 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 12 •HR 679 IH ‘‘(iii) refers to the candidate or an op- 1 p [Text truncated for display. 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