I 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 2353 To amend the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 to require candidates for election for public office to refuse offers of assistance from foreign powers and to report such offers to the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES APRIL 25, 2019 Ms. JACKSON LEE (for herself and Mr. JOHNSON of Georgia) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on House Administration A BILL To amend the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 to require candidates for election for public office to refuse offers of assistance from foreign powers and to report such offers to the Federal Bureau of Investigation, 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 ‘‘Duty to Refuse and 4 Report Foreign Interference in American Elections Act of 5 2019’’. 6 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:04 Apr 25, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2353.IH H2353 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 2353 IH SEC. 2. REQUIRING CANDIDATES TO REFUSE OFFERS OF 1 ASSISTANCE FROM FOREIGN POWERS AND 2 TO REPORT OFFERS TO FBI. 3 (a) REQUIREMENTS DESCRIBED.—Section 319 of the 4 Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 (52 U.S.C. 5 30121) is amended by adding at the end the following new 6 subsection: 7 ‘‘(c) REQUIREMENTS FOR CANDIDATES RECEIVING 8 OFFERS OF ASSISTANCE FROM FOREIGN POWERS.— 9 ‘‘(1) DUTY TO REFUSE ASSISTANCE AND RE- 10 PORT OFFER TO FBI.—If a candidate or any indi- 11 vidual affiliated with a campaign of a candidate 12 knowingly receives an offer for assistance with the 13 campaign from a source the candidate or individual 14 knows is a foreign power or an agent of a foreign 15 power, the candidate or individual shall— 16 ‘‘(A) refuse the offer for such assistance; 17 and 18 ‘‘(B) notify the Federal Bureau of Inves- 19 tigation of the offer not later than 72 hours 20 after receiving the offer. 21 ‘‘(2) CERTIFICATION REQUIREMENT FOR FED- 22 ERAL CANDIDATES.—Not later than 10 days after 23 the expiration of each calendar quarter, each author- 24 ized committee of a candidate for election for Fed- 25 eral office shall file a report with the Commission 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:04 Apr 25, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2353.IH H2353 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 2353 IH certifying that the candidate and the individuals af- 1 filiated with the candidate’s campaign are in compli- 2 ance with the requirements of paragraph (1). 3 ‘‘(3) PENALTY.—Whoever fails to comply with 4 subsection (a) shall be fined not more than 5 $250,000, or imprisoned not more than 5 years, or 6 both. 7 ‘‘(4) DEFINITIONS.—In this section, the fol- 8 lowing definitions apply: 9 ‘‘(A) The term ‘agent of a foreign power’ 10 and the term ‘foreign power’ each has the 11 meaning given such term in section 101 of the 12 Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978 13 (50 U.S.C. 1801). 14 ‘‘(B) The term ‘candidate’ means an indi- 15 vidual who seeks nomination for, or election to, 16 any Federal, State, or local public office. 17 ‘‘(C) The term ‘individual affiliated with a 18 campaign’ means, with respect to a candidate, 19 an employee of any organization legally author- 20 ized under Federal, State, or local law to sup- 21 port the candidate’s campaign for nomination 22 for, or election to, any Federal, State, or local 23 public office, as well as any independent con- 24 tractor of such an organization and any indi- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:04 Apr 25, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2353.IH H2353 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 2353 IH vidual who performs services for the organiza- 1 tion on an unpaid basis (including an intern or 2 volunteer).’’. 3 (b) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendment made by 4 subsection (a) shall take effect 90 days after the date of 5 the enactment of this Act. 6 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:04 Apr 25, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H2353.IH H2353 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS