Foreign Influence Reporting in Elections Act

I 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 3873 To amend the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 to clarify the obligation to report acts of foreign election influence and require implementation of compliance and reporting systems by Federal campaigns to detect and report such acts. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES JULY 22, 2019 Ms. SLOTKIN (for herself and Ms. UNDERWOOD) 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 clarify the obligation to report acts of foreign election influence and require implementation of compliance and reporting systems by Federal campaigns to detect and report such acts. 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 ‘‘Foreign Influence Re- 4 porting in Elections Act’’. 5 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:26 Jul 30, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3873.IH H3873 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 2 •HR 3873 IH SEC. 2. FEDERAL CAMPAIGN REPORTING OF FOREIGN CON- 1 TACTS. 2 (a) INITIAL NOTICE.— 3 (1) REQUIREMENT TO PROVIDE NOTICE.—Sec- 4 tion 304 of the Federal Election Campaign Act of 5 1971 (52 U.S.C. 30104) is amended by adding at 6 the end the following new subsection: 7 ‘‘(j) DISCLOSURE OF REPORTABLE FOREIGN CON- 8 TACTS.— 9 ‘‘(1) COMMITTEE OBLIGATION.—Not later than 10 1 week after a reportable foreign contact, each au- 11 thorized committee shall notify the Commission of 12 the reportable foreign contact and provide a sum- 13 mary of the circumstances with respect to such re- 14 portable foreign contact. 15 ‘‘(2) INDIVIDUAL OBLIGATION.—Not later than 16 1 week after a reportable foreign contact— 17 ‘‘(A) each candidate shall notify the treas- 18 urer or other designated official of the principal 19 campaign committee of such candidate of the 20 reportable foreign contact and provide a sum- 21 mary of the circumstances with respect to such 22 reportable foreign contact; and 23 ‘‘(B) each official, employee, or agent of an 24 authorized committee shall notify the treasurer 25 or other designated official of the authorized 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:26 Jul 30, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3873.IH H3873 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 3 •HR 3873 IH committee of the reportable foreign contact and 1 provide a summary of the circumstances with 2 respect to such reportable foreign contact. 3 ‘‘(3) REPORTABLE FOREIGN CONTACT.—In this 4 subsection: 5 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The term ‘reportable 6 foreign contact’ means any direct or indirect 7 contact or communication that— 8 ‘‘(i) is between— 9 ‘‘(I) a candidate, an authorized 10 committee of a candidate, or any offi- 11 cial, employee, or agent of such au- 12 thorized committee; and 13 ‘‘(II) a person that the person 14 described in subclause (I) knows or 15 has reason to know is, or believes to 16 be, a foreign national (as defined in 17 section 319(b)); and 18 ‘‘(ii) the person described in clause 19 (i)(I) knows, has reason to know, or rea- 20 sonably believes involves a credible offer or 21 other proposal for— 22 ‘‘(I) a contribution, donation, ex- 23 penditure, disbursement, or solicita- 24 tion described in section 319; or 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:26 Jul 30, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3873.IH H3873 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 4 •HR 3873 IH ‘‘(II) coordination or collabora- 1 tion with, an offer or provision of in- 2 formation or services to or from, or 3 persistent and repeated contact with a 4 government of a foreign country or an 5 agent thereof. 6 ‘‘(B) EXCEPTION.—Such term shall not in- 7 clude any contact or communication with a for- 8 eign government or an agent of a foreign prin- 9 cipal by an elected official or an employee of an 10 elected official solely in an official capacity as 11 such an official or employee.’’. 12 (2) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendment made 13 by this subsection shall apply with respect to report- 14 able foreign contacts, as defined in section 304(j)(3) 15 of the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 (as 16 added by paragraph (1)) which occur on or after the 17 date of the enactment of this Act. 18 (b) INFORMATION INCLUDED ON QUARTERLY RE- 19 PORT.— 20 (1) REQUIRING INCLUSION OF INFORMATION.— 21 Section 304(b) of such Act (52 U.S.C. 30104(b)) is 22 amended— 23 (A) by striking ‘‘and’’ at the end of para- 24 graph (7); 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:26 Jul 30, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3873.IH H3873 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 5 •HR 3873 IH (B) by striking the period at the end of 1 paragraph (8) and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 2 (C) by adding at the end the following new 3 paragraph: 4 ‘‘(9) for any reportable foreign contact (as de- 5 fined in subsection (j)(3))— 6 ‘‘(A) the date, time, and location of the 7 contact; 8 ‘‘(B) the date and time of when a des- 9 ignated official of the committee was notified of 10 the contact; 11 ‘‘(C) the identity of individuals involved; 12 and 13 ‘‘(D) a description of the contact, including 14 the nature of any contribution, donation, ex- 15 penditure, disbursement, or solicitation involved 16 and the nature of any activity described in sub- 17 section (j)(3)(A)(ii)(II) involved.’’. 18 (2) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendment made 19 by this subsection shall apply with respect to reports 20 filed on or after the date of the enactment of this 21 Act. 22 (c) NOTIFICATION TO THE FEDERAL BUREAU OF IN- 23 VESTIGATION.—Section 307 of such Act (52 U.S.C. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:02 Jul 30, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3873.IH H3873 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 6 •HR 3873 IH 30107) is amended by adding at the end the following new 1 subsection: 2 ‘‘(f) REQUIRING GENERAL COUNSEL TO NOTIFY 3 FEDERAL BUREAU OF INVESTIGATION OF REPORTABLE 4 FOREIGN CONTACTS.—Not later than 1 week after the 5 Commission receives a notification of a reportable foreign 6 contact under section 304(j) from an authorized com- 7 mittee, the General Counsel of the Commission shall notify 8 the Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation of 9 such reportable foreign contact, unless the General Coun- 10 sel determines that notifying the Director is not war- 11 ranted.’’. 12 SEC. 3. FEDERAL CAMPAIGN FOREIGN CONTACT REPORT- 13 ING COMPLIANCE SYSTEM. 14 (a) REQUIRING AUTHORIZED COMMITTEES TO ES- 15 TABLISH POLICIES.—Section 302(e) of the Federal Elec- 16 tion Campaign Act of 1971 (52 U.S.C. 30102(e)) is 17 amended by adding at the end the following new para- 18 graph: 19 ‘‘(6) REPORTABLE FOREIGN CONTACTS COMPLI- 20 ANCE POLICY.— 21 ‘‘(A) REPORTING.—Each authorized com- 22 mittee shall establish a policy that requires all 23 officials, employees, and agents of such com- 24 mittee to notify the treasurer or other appro- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:26 Jul 30, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3873.IH H3873 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 7 •HR 3873 IH priate designated official of the committee of 1 any reportable foreign contact (as defined in 2 section 304(j)) not later than 1 week after such 3 contact was made. 4 ‘‘(B) RETENTION AND PRESERVATION OF 5 RECORDS.—Each authorized committee shall 6 establish a policy that provides for the retention 7 and preservation of records and information re- 8 lated to reportable foreign contacts (as so de- 9 fined) for a period of not less than 3 years. 10 ‘‘(C) CERTIFICATION.—Upon designation 11 of a political committee as an authorized com- 12 mittee by a candidate, and with each report 13 filed by such committee under section 304(a), 14 the candidate shall provide a certification 15 that— 16 ‘‘(i) the committee has in place poli- 17 cies that meets the requirements of sub- 18 paragraph (A) and (B); 19 ‘‘(ii) the committee has designated an 20 official to monitor compliance with such 21 policies; and 22 ‘‘(iii) not later than 1 week after the 23 beginning of any formal or informal affili- 24 ation with the committee, all officials, em- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:26 Jul 30, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3873.IH H3873 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 8 •HR 3873 IH ployees, and agents of such committee 1 will— 2 ‘‘(I) receive notice of such poli- 3 cies; 4 ‘‘(II) be informed of the prohibi- 5 tions under section 319; and 6 ‘‘(III) sign a certification affirm- 7 ing their understanding of such poli- 8 cies and prohibitions.’’. 9 (b) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendment made by 10 subsection (a) shall apply with respect to political commit- 11 tees which are designated as authorized committees of a 12 candidate on or after the date of the enactment of this 13 Act. 14 SEC. 4. CRIMINAL PENALTIES. 15 Section 309(d)(1) of the Federal Election Campaign 16 Act of 1971 (52 U.S.C. 30109(d)(1)) is amended by add- 17 ing at the end the following new subparagraphs: 18 ‘‘(E) Any person who knowingly and willfully com- 19 mits a violation of subsection (j) or (b)(9) of section 304 20 or section 302(e)(6) shall be fined not more than 21 $500,000, imprisoned not more than 5 years, or both. 22 ‘‘(F) Any person who knowingly or willfully conceals 23 or destroys any materials relating to a reportable foreign 24 contact (as defined in section 304(j)) shall be fined not 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:26 Jul 30, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3873.IH H3873 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 9 •HR 3873 IH more than $1,000,000, imprisoned not more than 5 years, 1 or both.’’. 2 SEC. 5. RULE OF CONSTRUCTION. 3 Nothing in this Act or the amendments made by this 4 Act shall be construed— 5 (1) to impede legitimate journalistic activities; 6 or 7 (2) to impose any additional limitation on the 8 right of any individual who is not a citizen of the 9 United States or a national of the United States (as 10 defined in section 101(a)(22) of the Immigration 11 and Nationality Act) and who is not lawfully admit- 12 ted for permanent residence, as defined by section 13 101(a)(20) of the Immigration and Nationality Act 14 (8 U.S.C. 1101(a)(20)) to express political views or 15 to participate in public discourse. 16 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:26 Jul 30, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H3873.IH H3873 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS