Corporate Political Disclosure Act of 2019

I 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 1053 To amend the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 to direct the Securities and Exchange Commission to issue regulations to require public corpora- tions to disclose political expenditures, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES FEBRUARY 7, 2019 Mr. CARBAJAL (for himself and Ms. LOFGREN) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Financial Services A BILL To amend the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 to direct the Securities and Exchange Commission to issue regula- tions to require public corporations to disclose political expenditures, 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 ‘‘Corporate Political 4 Disclosure Act of 2019’’. 5 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:52 Feb 20, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1053.IH H1053 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 1053 IH SEC. 2. DISCLOSURE OF CORPORATE EXPENDITURES FOR 1 POLITICAL ACTIVITIES. 2 (a) AMENDMENT TO REPORTING REQUIREMENTS.— 3 Section 13 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (15 4 U.S.C. 78m) is amended by adding at the end the fol- 5 lowing: 6 ‘‘(s) REPORTING REQUIREMENTS RELATED TO EX- 7 PENDITURES FOR POLITICAL ACTIVITIES.— 8 ‘‘(1) REPORTS REQUIRED.—Each issuer re- 9 quired to file an annual report under this section 10 shall disclose in that report, and publish on an inter- 11 net website accessible to the shareholders of such 12 issuer and to the public, a summary of expenditures 13 for political activities made during the preceding 14 year. 15 ‘‘(2) EXPENDITURE FOR POLITICAL ACTIVITIES 16 DEFINED.—In this subsection, the term ‘expenditure 17 for political activities’ means any— 18 ‘‘(A) independent expenditure (as defined 19 in section 301(17) of the Federal Election Cam- 20 paign Act of 1971); 21 ‘‘(B) electioneering communication (as de- 22 fined in section 304(f)(3) of that Act) and any 23 other public communication (as defined in sec- 24 tion 301(22) of that Act) that would be an elec- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:52 Feb 20, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1053.IH H1053 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 1053 IH tioneering communication if it were a broad- 1 cast, cable, or satellite communication; or 2 ‘‘(C) dues or other payments to trade asso- 3 ciations or organizations described in section 4 501(c) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 5 and exempt from tax under section 501(a) of 6 that Code that are, or could reasonably be an- 7 ticipated to be, used or transferred to another 8 association or organization for a use described 9 in paragraphs (1), (2), or (4) of such section 10 501(c).’’. 11 (b) RULEMAKING.—Not later than 90 days after the 12 enactment of this Act, the Securities and Exchange Com- 13 mission shall issue regulations to carry out the amend- 14 ment made by subsection (a). 15 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:52 Feb 20, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H1053.IH H1053 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS