I 118TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 2484 To amend the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 to require authorized committees and leadership PACs of candidates for election for Federal office to disburse funds remaining unexpended after the date of the election involved, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES APRIL 6, 2023 Ms. CASTOR of Florida (for herself, Mr. BILIRAKIS, and Mr. RASKIN) intro- duced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on the Ju- diciary, and in addition to the Committee on House Administration, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the com- mittee concerned A BILL To amend the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 to require authorized committees and leadership PACs of candidates for election for Federal office to disburse funds remaining unexpended after the date of the elec- tion involved, 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 ‘‘Honest Elections and 4 Campaign, No Gain Act’’. 5 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:44 Apr 13, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2484.IH H2484 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 2 •HR 2484 IH SEC. 2. REQUIRING AUTHORIZED COMMITTEES OF CAN- 1 DIDATES TO DISBURSE FUNDS REMAINING 2 UNEXPENDED AFTER DATE OF ELECTION. 3 (a) REQUIRING DISBURSEMENT.—Title III of the 4 Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 (52 U.S.C. 30101 5 et seq.) is amended by inserting after section 303 the fol- 6 lowing new section: 7 ‘‘SEC. 303A. DISBURSEMENT OF FUNDS REMAINING UNEX- 8 PENDED AFTER DATE OF ELECTION. 9 ‘‘(a) REQUIRING DISBURSEMENT.— 10 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Each authorized committee 11 or leadership PAC of a candidate shall, in accord- 12 ance with subsection (b) and prior to the expiration 13 of the applicable disbursement period, disburse any 14 funds of the committee or PAC before the earliest 15 of— 16 ‘‘(A) the last day of the applicable dis- 17 bursement period; 18 ‘‘(B) the date on which the candidate first 19 makes a lobbying contact or is employed or re- 20 tained to make a lobbying contact that would 21 require registration under section 4 of the Lob- 22 bying Disclosure Act of 1995 (2 U.S.C. 1603); 23 or 24 ‘‘(C) the date on which the candidate be- 25 comes an agent of a foreign principal that 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:44 Apr 13, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2484.IH H2484 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 3 •HR 2484 IH would require registration under section 2 of 1 the Foreign Agents Registration Act of 1938, 2 as amended (22 U.S.C. 612). 3 ‘‘(2) EXCEPTION FOR CANDIDATES IN NEXT 4 ELECTION.—Paragraph (1) does not apply to the 5 committee or PAC of a candidate who, prior to the 6 first day of the applicable disbursement period, pro- 7 vides the appropriate State election official with the 8 information and fees (if any) required under State 9 law for the individual to qualify as a candidate for 10 the next election for the office sought by the can- 11 didate or the next election for another Federal of- 12 fice. 13 ‘‘(3) APPLICABLE DISBURSEMENT PERIOD.—In 14 this subsection, the ‘applicable disbursement period’ 15 is, with respect to a candidate seeking election for 16 an office, the 2-year period which begins on the day 17 after the latest date on which an individual may pro- 18 vide the appropriate State election official with the 19 information and fees (if any) required under State 20 law for the individual to qualify as a candidate for 21 the next election for such office. 22 ‘‘(b) RULES FOR DISBURSEMENT OF FUNDS.— 23 ‘‘(1) PAYMENT OF OBLIGATIONS.—In carrying 24 out subsection (a), an authorized committee or lead- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:44 Apr 13, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2484.IH H2484 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 4 •HR 2484 IH ership PAC shall first disburse funds to pay obliga- 1 tions incurred in connection with the operation of 2 the committee. 3 ‘‘(2) OTHER PERMITTED DISBURSEMENTS.—If, 4 after disbursing all of the funds necessary to pay ob- 5 ligations under paragraph (1), funds of a committee 6 or PAC remain unexpended, the committee or PAC 7 may only disburse the funds for any of the following 8 purposes, in such manner and combination as the 9 committee or PAC considers appropriate: 10 ‘‘(A) To return to any person a contribu- 11 tion the person made to the committee or PAC. 12 ‘‘(B) To make a contribution to an organi- 13 zation described in section 170(c) of the Inter- 14 nal Revenue Code of 1986. 15 ‘‘(C) To make a transfer without limitation 16 to a national, State, or local committee of a po- 17 litical party. 18 ‘‘(c) RESTRICTIONS ON DISBURSEMENT TO REL- 19 ATIVES.— 20 ‘‘(1) RESTRICTION.—In disbursing funds pur- 21 suant to the requirements of this section, an author- 22 ized committee or leadership PAC may not disburse 23 funds to a relative of the candidate unless the funds 24 are disbursed to pay an obligation of the committee 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:44 Apr 13, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2484.IH H2484 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 5 •HR 2484 IH as described in paragraph (1) of subsection (b) 1 which is reported by the committee or PAC as a dis- 2 bursement under section 304(b)(5) or which would 3 be so reported if the amount of the disbursement 4 were in excess of $200. 5 ‘‘(2) RELATIVE DEFINED.—In this subsection, 6 the term ‘relative’ means, with respect to a can- 7 didate, an individual who is related to the candidate 8 as father, mother, son, daughter, brother, sister, 9 uncle, aunt, first cousin, nephew, niece, husband, 10 wife, father-in-law, mother-in-law, son-in-law, daugh- 11 ter-in-law, brother-in-law, sister-in-law, stepfather, 12 stepmother, stepson, stepdaughter, stepbrother, step- 13 sister, half brother, or half sister. 14 ‘‘(d) DEFINITION.—In this section, the term ‘leader- 15 ship PAC’ has the meaning given such term in section 16 304(i)(8)(B).’’. 17 (b) CONFORMING AMENDMENT RELATING TO PER- 18 MITTED USES OF CONTRIBUTIONS.—Section 313(a) of 19 such Act (52 U.S.C. 30114(a)) is amended by striking ‘‘A 20 contribution’’ and inserting ‘‘Subject to section 303A, a 21 contribution’’. 22 (c) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by 23 this section shall apply with respect to the regularly sched- 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:44 Apr 13, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2484.IH H2484 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 6 •HR 2484 IH uled general election for Federal office held in November 1 2024 and each succeeding election for Federal office. 2 SEC. 3. REQUIRING FORMER CANDIDATES SERVING AS 3 REGISTERED LOBBYISTS TO CERTIFY COM- 4 PLIANCE WITH DISBURSEMENT REQUIRE- 5 MENTS. 6 (a) CERTIFICATION OF COMPLIANCE.—Section 4(b) 7 of the Lobbying Disclosure Act of 1995 (2 U.S.C. 8 1603(b)) is amended— 9 (1) by striking ‘‘and’’ at the end of paragraph 10 (6); 11 (2) by striking the period at the end of para- 12 graph (7) and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 13 (3) by inserting after paragraph (7) the fol- 14 lowing new paragraph: 15 ‘‘(8) in the case of an individual who was a can- 16 didate for election for Federal office, a certification 17 (under penalty of perjury) that each authorized com- 18 mittee and leadership PAC (as defined in section 19 304(i)(8)(B) of the Federal Election Campaign Act 20 of 1971) of the individual is in compliance with sec- 21 tion 303A of the Federal Election Campaign Act of 22 1971 (relating to the disbursement of funds of the 23 committee or leadership PAC which remain unex- 24 pended after the date of the election).’’. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:44 Apr 13, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2484.IH H2484 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 7 •HR 2484 IH (b) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendment made by 1 subsection (a) shall apply with respect to registration 2 statements filed under section 4(a) of the Lobbying Dis- 3 closure Act on or after the date of the regularly scheduled 4 general election for Federal office held in November 2024. 5 SEC. 4. REQUIRING FORMER CANDIDATES SERVING AS 6 FOREIGN AGENTS TO CERTIFY COMPLIANCE 7 WITH DISBURSEMENT REQUIREMENTS. 8 (a) CERTIFICATION OF COMPLIANCE.—Section 2(a) 9 of the Foreign Agents Registration Act of 1938, as 10 amended (22 U.S.C. 612(a)) is amended— 11 (1) by redesignating paragraphs (10) and (11) 12 as paragraphs (11) and (12); and 13 (2) by inserting after paragraph (9) the fol- 14 lowing new paragraph: 15 ‘‘(10) In the case of an individual who was a 16 candidate for election for Federal office, a certifi- 17 cation (under penalty of perjury) that each author- 18 ized committee and leadership PAC (as defined in 19 section 304(i)(8)(B) of the Federal Election Cam- 20 paign Act of 1971) of the individual is in compliance 21 with section 303A of the Federal Election Campaign 22 Act of 1971 (relating to the disbursement of funds 23 of the committee or leadership PAC which remain 24 unexpended after the date of the election).’’. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:44 Apr 13, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2484.IH H2484 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 8 •HR 2484 IH (b) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendment made by 1 subsection (a) shall apply with respect to registration 2 statements filed under section 2 of the Foreign Agents 3 Registration Act of 1938, as amended on or after the date 4 of the regularly scheduled general election for Federal of- 5 fice held in November 2024. 6 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:44 Apr 13, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H2484.IH H2484 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB