CLEAR Act

II 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION S. 547 To amend the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 to require certain reports filed under such Act to include the disclosure of persons who are registered lobbyists under the Lobbying Disclosure Act of 1995, and for other purposes. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES FEBRUARY 25, 2019 Mrs. GILLIBRAND introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Rules and Administration A BILL To amend the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 to require certain reports filed under such Act to include the disclosure of persons who are registered lobbyists under the Lobbying Disclosure Act of 1995, 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 ‘‘Connecting Lobbyists 4 and Electeds for Accountability and Reform Act’’ or the 5 ‘‘CLEAR Act’’. 6 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:14 Mar 01, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S547.IS S547 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 2 •S 547 IS SEC. 2. REQUIRING DISCLOSURE IN CERTAIN REPORTS 1 FILED WITH FEDERAL ELECTION COMMIS- 2 SION OF PERSONS WHO ARE REGISTERED 3 LOBBYISTS. 4 (a) REPORTS FILED BY POLITICAL COMMITTEES.— 5 Section 304(b) of the Federal Election Campaign Act of 6 1971 (52 U.S.C. 30104(b)) is amended— 7 (1) by striking ‘‘and’’ at the end of paragraph 8 (7); 9 (2) by striking the period at the end of para- 10 graph (8) and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 11 (3) by adding at the end the following new 12 paragraph: 13 ‘‘(9) if any person identified in subparagraph 14 (A), (E), (F), or (G) of paragraph (3) is a registered 15 lobbyist under the Lobbying Disclosure Act of 1995, 16 a separate statement that such person is a reg- 17 istered lobbyist under such Act.’’. 18 (b) REPORTS FILED BY PERSONS MAKING INDE- 19 PENDENT EXPENDITURES.—Section 304(c)(2) of such 20 Act (52 U.S.C. 30104(c)(2)) is amended— 21 (1) by striking ‘‘and’’ at the end of subpara- 22 graph (B); 23 (2) by striking the period at the end of sub- 24 paragraph (C) and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:14 Mar 01, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S547.IS S547 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 3 •S 547 IS (3) by adding at the end the following new sub- 1 paragraph: 2 ‘‘(D) if the person filing the statement, or a 3 person whose identification is required to be dis- 4 closed under subparagraph (C), is a registered lob- 5 byist under the Lobbying Disclosure Act of 1995, a 6 separate statement that such person is a registered 7 lobbyist under such Act.’’. 8 (c) REPORTS FILED BY PERSONS MAKING DIS- 9 BURSEMENTS FOR ELECTIONEERING COMMUNICA- 10 TIONS.—Section 304(f)(2) of such Act (52 U.S.C. 11 30104(f)(2)) is amended by adding at the end the fol- 12 lowing new subparagraph: 13 ‘‘(G) If the person making the disburse- 14 ment, or a contributor described in subpara- 15 graph (E) or (F), is a registered lobbyist under 16 the Lobbying Disclosure Act of 1995, a sepa- 17 rate statement that such person or contributor 18 is a registered lobbyist under such Act.’’. 19 (d) REQUIRING COMMISSION TO ESTABLISH LINK TO 20 WEBSITES OF THE CLERK OF THE HOUSE AND THE SEC- 21 RETARY OF THE SENATE.—Section 304 of such Act (52 22 U.S.C. 30104) is amended by adding at the end the fol- 23 lowing new subsection: 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:14 Mar 01, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S547.IS S547 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 4 •S 547 IS ‘‘(j) REQUIRING INFORMATION ON REGISTERED 1 LOBBYISTS TO BE LINKED TO WEBSITES OF THE CLERK 2 OF THE HOUSE AND THE SECRETARY OF THE SENATE.— 3 ‘‘(1) LINKS TO WEBSITES.—The Commission 4 shall ensure that the Commission’s public database 5 containing information described in paragraph (2) is 6 linked electronically to the websites maintained by 7 the Secretary of the Senate and the Clerk of the 8 House of Representatives containing information 9 filed pursuant to the Lobbying Disclosure Act of 10 1995. 11 ‘‘(2) INFORMATION DESCRIBED.—The informa- 12 tion described in this paragraph is each of the fol- 13 lowing: 14 ‘‘(A) Information disclosed under para- 15 graph (9) of subsection (b). 16 ‘‘(B) Information disclosed under subpara- 17 graph (D) of subsection (c)(2). 18 ‘‘(C) Information disclosed under subpara- 19 graph (G) of subsection (f)(2).’’. 20 SEC. 3. EFFECTIVE DATE. 21 The amendments made by this Act shall apply with 22 respect to reports required to be filed under the Federal 23 Election Campaign Act of 1971 on or after the expiration 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:14 Mar 01, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S547.IS S547 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 5 •S 547 IS of the 90-day period which begins on the date of the enact- 1 ment of this Act. 2 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:14 Mar 01, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S547.IS S547 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS