II
118THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION S. 512
To amend the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 to provide for addi-
tional disclosure requirements for corporations, labor organizations,
Super PACs and other entities, and for other purposes.
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
FEBRUARY16, 2023
Mr. W
HITEHOUSE(for himself, Mr. WYDEN, Mr. SCHUMER, Mr. VANHOL-
LEN, Ms. KLOBUCHAR, Mrs. FEINSTEIN, Mrs. MURRAY, Mr. DURBIN,
Mr. R
EED, Mr. CARPER, Ms. STABENOW, Ms. CANTWELL, Mr. MENEN-
DEZ, Mr. CARDIN, Mr. SANDERS, Mr. BROWN, Mr. CASEY, Mr. TESTER,
Mrs. S
HAHEEN, Mr. WARNER, Mr. MERKLEY, Mr. BENNET, Mrs. GILLI-
BRAND, Mr. MANCHIN, Mr. COONS, Mr. BLUMENTHAL, Mr. SCHATZ, Ms.
B
ALDWIN, Mr. MURPHY, Ms. HIRONO, Mr. HEINRICH, Mr. KING, Mr.
K
AINE, Ms. WARREN, Mr. MARKEY, Mr. BOOKER, Mr. PETERS, Ms.
D
UCKWORTH, Ms. HASSAN, Ms. CORTEZMASTO, Ms. SMITH, Ms.
S
INEMA, Ms. ROSEN, Mr. KELLY, Mr. LUJA´N, Mr. HICKENLOOPER, Mr.
P
ADILLA, Mr. OSSOFF, Mr. WARNOCK, Mr. WELCH, and Mr.
F
ETTERMAN) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and re-
ferred to the Committee on Rules and Administration
A BILL
To amend the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 to
provide for additional disclosure requirements for cor-
porations, labor organizations, Super PACs and other
entities, 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
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SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE; TABLE OF CONTENTS. 1
(a) S
HORTTITLE.—This Act may be cited as the 2
‘‘Democracy Is Strengthened by Casting Light On Spend-3
ing in Elections Act of 2023’’ or the ‘‘DISCLOSE Act 4
of 2023’’. 5
(b) T
ABLE OFCONTENTS.—The table of contents of 6
this Act is as follows: 7
Sec. 1. Short title; table of contents.
Sec. 2. Findings.
TITLE I—CLOSING LOOPHOLES ALLOWING SPENDING BY
FOREIGN NATIONALS IN ELECTIONS
Sec. 101. Clarification of application of foreign money ban to certain disburse-
ments and activities.
Sec. 102. Study and report on illicit foreign money in Federal elections.
Sec. 103. Prohibition on contributions and donations by foreign nationals in
connection with ballot initiatives and referenda.
Sec. 104. Disbursements and activities subject to foreign money ban.
Sec. 105. Prohibiting establishment of corporation to conceal election contribu-
tions and donations by foreign nationals.
TITLE II—REPORTING OF CAMPAIGN-RELATED DISBURSEMENTS
Sec. 201. Reporting of campaign-related disbursements.
Sec. 202. Reporting of Federal judicial nomination disbursements.
Sec. 203. Coordination with FinCEN.
Sec. 204. Application of foreign money ban to disbursements for campaign-re-
lated disbursements consisting of covered transfers.
Sec. 205. Sense of Congress regarding implementation.
Sec. 206. Effective date.
TITLE III—OTHER ADMINISTRATIVE REFORMS
Sec. 301. Petition for certiorari.
Sec. 302. Judicial review of actions related to campaign finance laws.
Sec. 303. Effective date.
TITLE IV—STAND BY EVERY AD
Sec. 401. Short title.
Sec. 402. Stand by every ad.
Sec. 403. Disclaimer requirements for communications made through
prerecorded telephone calls.
Sec. 404. No expansion of persons subject to disclaimer requirements on inter-
net communications.
Sec. 405. Effective date.
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TITLE V—SEVERABILITY
Sec. 501. Severability.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
1
Congress finds the following: 2
(1) Campaign finance disclosure is a narrowly 3
tailored and minimally restrictive means to advance 4
substantial government interests, including fostering 5
an informed electorate capable of engaging in self- 6
government and holding their elected officials ac-7
countable, detecting and deterring quid pro quo cor-8
ruption, and identifying information necessary to en-9
force other campaign finance laws, including cam-10
paign contribution limits and the prohibition on for-11
eign money in U.S. campaigns. To further these 12
substantial interests, campaign finance disclosure 13
must be timely and complete, and must disclose the 14
true and original source of money given, transferred, 15
and spent to influence Federal elections. Current law 16
does not meet this objective because corporations 17
and other entities that the Supreme Court has per-18
mitted to spend money to influence Federal elections 19
are subject to few if any transparency requirements. 20
(2) As the Supreme Court recognized in its per 21
curiam opinion in Buckley v. Valeo, 424 U.S. 1, 22
(1976), ‘‘disclosure requirements certainly in most 23
applications appear to be the least restrictive means 24
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of curbing the evils of campaign ignorance and cor-1
ruption that Congress found to exist.’’ Buckley, 424 2
U.S. at 68. In Citizens United v. FEC, the Court re-3
iterated that ‘‘disclosure is a less restrictive alter-4
native to more comprehensive regulations of speech.’’ 5
558 U.S. 310, 369 (2010). 6
(3) No subsequent decision has called these 7
holdings into question, including the Court’s decision 8
in Americans for Prosperity Foundation v. Bonta, 9
141 S. Ct. 2373 (2021). That case did not involve 10
campaign finance disclosure, and the Court did not 11
overturn its longstanding recognition of the substan-12
tial interests furthered by such disclosure. 13
(4) Campaign finance disclosure is also essen-14
tial to enforce the Federal Election Campaign Act’s 15
prohibition on contributions by and solicitations of 16
foreign nationals. See section 319 of the Federal 17
Election Campaign Act of 1971 (52 U.S.C. 30121). 18
(5) Congress should close loopholes allowing 19
spending by foreign nationals in domestic elections. 20
For example, in 2021, the Federal Election Commis-21
sion, the independent Federal agency charged with 22
protecting the integrity of the Federal campaign fi-23
nance process, found reason to believe and concil-24
iated a matter where an experienced political con-25
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sultant knowingly and willfully violated Federal law 1
by soliciting a contribution from a foreign national 2
by offering to transmit a $2,000,000 contribution to 3
a super PAC through his company and two 4
501(c)(4) organizations, to conceal the origin of the 5
funds. This scheme was only unveiled after appear-6
ing in a The Telegraph UK article and video cap-7
turing the solicitation. See Conciliation Agreement, 8
MURs 7165 & 7196 (Great America PAC, et al.), 9
date June 28, 2021; Factual and Legal Analysis, 10
MURs 7165 & 7196 (Jesse Benton), dated Mar. 2, 11
2021. 12
TITLE I—CLOSING LOOPHOLES 13
ALLOWING SPENDING BY 14
FOREIGN NATIONALS IN 15
ELECTIONS 16
SEC. 101. CLARIFICATION OF APPLICATION OF FOREIGN 17
MONEY BAN TO CERTAIN DISBURSEMENTS 18
AND ACTIVITIES. 19
Section 319(b) of the Federal Election Campaign Act 20
of 1971 (52 U.S.C. 30121(b)) is amended— 21
(1) by redesignating paragraphs (1) and (2) as 22
subparagraphs (A) and (B), respectively, and by 23
moving such subparagraphs 2 ems to the right; 24
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(2) by striking ‘‘As used in this section, the 1
term’’ and inserting the following: ‘‘D
EFINITIONS.— 2
For purposes of this section— 3
‘‘(1) F
OREIGN NATIONAL.—The term’’; 4
(3) by moving paragraphs (1) and (2) two ems 5
to the right and redesignating them as subpara-6
graphs (A) and (B), respectively; and 7
(4) by adding at the end the following new 8
paragraph: 9
‘‘(2) C
ONTRIBUTION AND DONATION .—For pur-10
poses of paragraphs (1) and (2) of subsection (a), 11
the term ‘contribution or donation’ includes any dis-12
bursement to a political committee which accepts do-13
nations or contributions that do not comply with any 14
of the limitations, prohibitions, and reporting re-15
quirements of this Act (or any disbursement to or on 16
behalf of any account of a political committee which 17
is established for the purpose of accepting such do-18
nations or contributions), or to any other person for 19
the purpose of funding an expenditure, independent 20
expenditure, or electioneering communication (as de-21
fined in section 304(f)(3)).’’. 22
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SEC. 102. STUDY AND REPORT ON ILLICIT FOREIGN MONEY 1
IN FEDERAL ELECTIONS. 2
(a) S
TUDY.—For each 4-year election cycle (begin-3
ning with the 4-year election cycle ending in 2020), the 4
Comptroller General shall conduct a study on the inci-5
dence of illicit foreign money in all elections for Federal 6
office held during the preceding 4-year election cycle, in-7
cluding what information is known about the presence of 8
such money in elections for Federal office. 9
(b) R
EPORT.— 10
(1) I
N GENERAL.—Not later than the applicable 11
date with respect to any 4-year election cycle, the 12
Comptroller General shall submit to the appropriate 13
congressional committees a report on the study con-14
ducted under subsection (a). 15
(2) M
ATTERS INCLUDED .—The report sub-16
mitted under paragraph (1) shall include a descrip-17
tion of the extent to which illicit foreign money was 18
used to target particular groups, including rural 19
communities, African-American and other minority 20
communities, and military and veteran communities, 21
based on such targeting information as is available 22
and accessible to the Comptroller General. 23
(3) A
PPLICABLE DATE.—For purposes of para-24
graph (1), the term ‘‘applicable date’’ means— 25
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(A) in the case of the 4-year election cycle 1
ending in 2020, the date that is 1 year after 2
the date of the enactment of this Act; and 3
(B) in the case of any other 4-year election 4
cycle, the date that is 1 year after the date on 5
which such 4-year election cycle ends. 6
(c) D
EFINITIONS.—As used in this section: 7
(1) 4-
YEAR ELECTION CYCLE .—The term ‘‘4- 8
year election cycle’’ means the 4-year period ending 9
on the date of the general election for the offices of 10
President and Vice President. 11
(2) I
LLICIT FOREIGN MONEY.—The term ‘‘illicit 12
foreign money’’ means any contribution, donation, 13
expenditure, or disbursement by a foreign national 14
(as defined in section 319(b) of the Federal Election 15
Campaign Act of 1971 (52 U.S.C.30121(b))) prohib-16
ited under such section. 17
(3) E
LECTION; FEDERAL OFFICE.—The terms 18
‘‘election’’ and ‘‘Federal office’’ have the meanings 19
given such terms under section 301 of the Federal 20
Election Campaign Act of 1971 (53 U.S.C. 30101). 21
(4) A
PPROPRIATE CONGRESSIONAL COMMIT -22
TEES.—The term ‘‘appropriate congressional com-23
mittees’’ means— 24
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(A) the Committee on House Administra-1
tion of the House of Representatives; 2
(B) the Committee on Rules and Adminis-3
tration of the Senate; 4
(C) the Committee on the Judiciary of the 5
House of Representatives; and 6
(D) the Committee on the Judiciary of the 7
Senate. 8
(d) S
UNSET.—This section shall not apply to any 4- 9
year election cycle beginning after the election for the of-10
fices of President and Vice President in 2032. 11
SEC. 103. PROHIBITION ON CONTRIBUTIONS AND DONA-12
TIONS BY FOREIGN NATIONALS IN CONNEC-13
TION WITH BALLOT INITIATIVES AND 14
REFERENDA. 15
(a) I
NGENERAL.—Section 319(b) of the Federal 16
Election Campaign Act of 1971 (52 U.S.C. 30121(b)), as 17
amended by section 101, is amended by adding at the end 18
the following new paragraphs: 19
‘‘(3) F
EDERAL, STATE, OR LOCAL ELECTION.— 20
The term ‘Federal, State, or local election’ includes 21
a State or local ballot initiative or referendum, but 22
only in the case of— 23
‘‘(A) a covered foreign national as defined 24
in paragraph (4); or 25
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‘‘(B) a foreign principal described in sec-1
tion 1(b)(2) or 1(b)(3) of the Foreign Agent 2
Registration Act of 1938, as amended (22 3
U.S.C. 611(b)(2) or (b)(3)) or an agent of such 4
a foreign principal under such Act. 5
‘‘(4) C
OVERED FOREIGN NATIONAL .— 6
‘‘(A) I
N GENERAL.—The term ‘covered for-7
eign national’ means— 8
‘‘(i) a foreign principal (as defined in 9
section 1(b) of the Foreign Agents Reg-10
istration Act of 1938 (22 U.S.C. 611(b)) 11
that is a government of a foreign country 12
or a foreign political party; 13
‘‘(ii) any person who acts as an agent, 14
representative, employee, or servant, or 15
any person who acts in any other capacity 16
at the order, request, or under the direc-17
tion or control, of a foreign principal de-18
scribed in clause (i) or of a person any of 19
whose activities are directly or indirectly 20
supervised, directed, controlled, financed, 21
or subsidized in whole or in major part by 22
a foreign principal described in clause (i); 23
or 24
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‘‘(iii) any person included in the list of 1
specially designated nationals and blocked 2
persons maintained by the Office of For-3
eign Assets Control of the Department of 4
the Treasury pursuant to authorities relat-5
ing to the imposition of sanctions relating 6
to the conduct of a foreign principal de-7
scribed in clause (i). 8
‘‘(B) C
LARIFICATION REGARDING APPLICA -9
TION TO CITIZENS OF THE UNITED STATES .— 10
In the case of a citizen of the United States, 11
clause (ii) of subparagraph (A) applies only to 12
the extent that the person involved acts within 13
the scope of that person’s status as the agent 14
of a foreign principal described in clause (i) of 15
subparagraph (A).’’. 16
(b) E
FFECTIVEDATE.—The amendment made by 17
this section shall apply with respect to elections held in 18
2024 or any succeeding year. 19
SEC. 104. DISBURSEMENTS AND ACTIVITIES SUBJECT TO 20
FOREIGN MONEY BAN. 21
(a) D
ISBURSEMENTS DESCRIBED.—Section 22
319(a)(1) of the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 23
(52 U.S.C. 30121(a)(1)) is amended— 24
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(1) by striking ‘‘or’’ at the end of subparagraph 1
(B); and 2
(2) by striking subparagraph (C) and inserting 3
the following: 4
‘‘(C) an expenditure; 5
‘‘(D) an independent expenditure; 6
‘‘(E) a disbursement for an electioneering 7
communication (within the meaning of section 8
304(f)(3)); 9
‘‘(F) a disbursement for a communication 10
which is placed or promoted for a fee on a 11
website, web application, or digital application 12
that refers to a clearly identified candidate for 13
election for Federal office and is disseminated 14
within 60 days before a general, special or run-15
off election for the office sought by the can-16
didate or 30 days before a primary or pref-17
erence election, or a convention or caucus of a 18
political party that has authority to nominate a 19
candidate for the office sought by the can-20
didate; 21
‘‘(G) a disbursement by a covered foreign 22
national (as defined in subsection (b)(4)) for a 23
broadcast, cable or satellite communication, or 24
for a communication which is placed or pro-25
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moted for a fee on a website, web application, 1
or digital application, that promotes, supports, 2
attacks or opposes the election of a clearly iden-3
tified candidate for Federal, State, or local of-4
fice (regardless of whether the communication 5
contains express advocacy or the functional 6
equivalent of express advocacy); 7
‘‘(H) a disbursement for a broadcast, 8
cable, or satellite communication, or for any 9
communication which is placed or promoted for 10
a fee on an online platform (as defined in sub-11
section (b)(5)), that discusses a national legisla-12
tive issue of public importance in a year in 13
which a regularly scheduled general election for 14
Federal office is held, but only if the disburse-15
ment is made by a covered foreign national (as 16
defined in subsection (b)(4)); 17
‘‘(I) a disbursement by a covered foreign 18
national (as defined in subsection (b)(4)) to 19
compensate any person for internet activity that 20
promotes, supports, attacks or opposes the elec-21
tion of a clearly identified candidate for Fed-22
eral, State, or local office (regardless of whether 23
the activity contains express advocacy or the 24
functional equivalent of express advocacy); or 25
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‘‘(J) a disbursement by a covered foreign 1
national (as defined in subsection (b)(4)) for a 2
Federal judicial nomination communication (as 3
defined in section 324(g)(2));’’. 4
(b) D
EFINITION OFONLINEPLATFORM.—Section 5
319(b) of such Act (52 U.S.C. 30121(b)), as amended by 6
sections 101 and 103, is amended by adding at the end 7
the following new paragraph: 8
‘‘(5) O
NLINE PLATFORM.— 9
‘‘(A) I
N GENERAL.—For purposes of this 10
section, subject to subparagraph (B), the term 11
‘online platform’ means any public-facing 12
website, web application, or digital application 13
(including a social network, ad network, or 14
search engine) which— 15
‘‘(i)(I) sells qualified political adver-16
tisements; and 17
‘‘(II) has 50,000,000 or more unique 18
monthly United States visitors or users for 19
a majority of months during the preceding 20
12 months; or 21
‘‘(ii) is a third-party advertising ven-22
dor that has 50,000,000 or more unique 23
monthly United States visitors in the ag-24
gregate on any advertisement space that it 25
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has sold or bought for a majority of 1
months during the preceding 12 months, 2
as measured by an independent digital rat-3
ings service accredited by the Media Rat-4
ings Council (or its successor). 5
‘‘(B) E
XEMPTION.—Such term shall not 6
include any online platform that is a distribu-7
tion facility of any broadcasting station or 8
newspaper, magazine, blog, publication, or peri-9
odical. 10
‘‘(C) T
HIRD-PARTY ADVERTISING VENDOR 11
DEFINED.—For purposes of this subsection, the 12
term ‘third-party advertising vendor’ includes, 13
but is not limited to, any third-party adver-14
tising vendor network, advertising agency, ad-15
vertiser, or third-party advertisement serving 16
company that buys and sells advertisement 17
space on behalf of unaffiliated third-party 18
websites, search engines, digital applications, or 19
social media sites.’’. 20
(c) E
FFECTIVEDATE.—The amendments made by 21
this section shall apply with respect to disbursements 22
made on or after the date of the enactment of this Act. 23
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SEC. 105. PROHIBITING ESTABLISHMENT OF CORPORATION 1
TO CONCEAL ELECTION CONTRIBUTIONS 2
AND DONATIONS BY FOREIGN NATIONALS. 3
(a) P
ROHIBITION.—Chapter 29 of title 18, United 4
States Code is amended by adding at the end the fol-5
lowing: 6
‘‘§ 612. Establishment of corporation to conceal elec-7
tion contributions and donations by for-8
eign nationals 9
‘‘(a) O
FFENSE.—It shall be unlawful for an owner, 10
officer, attorney, or incorporation agent of a corporation, 11
company, or other entity to establish or use the corpora-12
tion, company, or other entity with the intent to conceal 13
an activity of a foreign national (as defined in section 319 14
of the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 (52 U.S.C. 15
30121)) prohibited under such section 319. 16
‘‘(b) P
ENALTY.—Any person who violates subsection 17
(a) shall be imprisoned for not more than 5 years, fined 18
under this title, or both.’’. 19
(b) T
ABLE OFSECTIONS.—The table of sections for 20
chapter 29 of title 18, United States Code is amended by 21
adding at the end the following new item: 22
‘‘612. Establishment of corporation to conceal election contributions and dona-
tions by foreign nationals.’’.
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TITLE II—REPORTING OF CAM-1
PAIGN-RELATED DISBURSE-2
MENTS 3
SEC. 201. REPORTING OF CAMPAIGN-RELATED DISBURSE-4
MENTS. 5
(a) I
NGENERAL.—Section 324 of the Federal Elec-6
tion Campaign Act of 1971 (52 U.S.C. 30126) is amended 7
to read as follows: 8
‘‘SEC. 324. DISCLOSURE OF CAMPAIGN-RELATED DISBURSE-9
MENTS BY COVERED ORGANIZATIONS. 10
‘‘(a) D
ISCLOSURESTATEMENT.— 11
‘‘(1) I
N GENERAL.—Any covered organization 12
that makes campaign-related disbursements aggre-13
gating more than $10,000 in an election reporting 14
cycle shall, not later than 24 hours after each disclo-15
sure date, file a statement with the Commission 16
made under penalty of perjury that contains the in-17
formation described in paragraph (2)— 18
‘‘(A) in the case of the first statement filed 19
under this subsection, for the period beginning 20
on the first day of the election reporting cycle 21
(or, if earlier, the period beginning one year be-22
fore the first such disclosure date) and ending 23
on the first such disclosure date; and 24
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‘‘(B) in the case of any subsequent state-1
ment filed under this subsection, for the period 2
beginning on the previous disclosure date and 3
ending on such disclosure date. 4
‘‘(2) I
NFORMATION DESCRIBED .—The informa-5
tion described in this paragraph is as follows: 6
‘‘(A) The name of the covered organization 7
and the principal place of business of such or-8
ganization and, in the case of a covered organi-9
zation that is a corporation (other than a busi-10
ness concern that is an issuer of a class of secu-11
rities registered under section 12 of the Securi-12
ties Exchange Act of 1934 (15 U.S.C. 78l) or 13
that is required to file reports under section 14
15(d) of that Act (15 U.S.C. 78o(d))) or an en-15
tity described in subsection (e)(2), a list of the 16
beneficial owners (as defined in paragraph 17
(4)(A)) of the entity that— 18
‘‘(i) identifies each beneficial owner by 19
name and current residential or business 20
street address; and 21
‘‘(ii) if any beneficial owner exercises 22
control over the entity through another 23
legal entity, such as a corporation, partner-24
ship, limited liability company, or trust, 25
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identifies each such other legal entity and 1
each such beneficial owner who will use 2
that other entity to exercise control over 3
the entity. 4
‘‘(B) The amount of each campaign-related 5
disbursement made by such organization during 6
the period covered by the statement of more 7
than $1,000, and the name and address of the 8
person to whom the disbursement was made. 9
‘‘(C) In the case of a campaign-related dis-10
bursement that is not a covered transfer, the 11
election to which the campaign-related disburse-12
ment pertains and if the disbursement is made 13
for a public communication, the name of any 14
candidate identified in such communication and 15
if such communication is in support of or in op-16
position to the identified candidate. 17
‘‘(D) A certification by the chief executive 18
officer or person who is the head of the covered 19
organization that the campaign-related dis-20
bursement is not made in cooperation, consulta-21
tion, or concert with or at the request or sug-22
gestion of a candidate, authorized committee, or 23
agent of a candidate, political party, or agent of 24
a political party. 25
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•S 512 IS
‘‘(E)(i) If the covered organization makes 1
campaign-related disbursements using exclu-2
sively funds in a campaign-related disbursement 3
segregated fund, for each payment made to the 4
account by a person other than the covered or-5
ganization— 6
‘‘(I) the name and address of each 7
person who made such payment to the ac-8
count during the period covered by the 9
statement; 10
‘‘(II) the date and amount of such 11
payment; and 12
‘‘(III) the aggregate amount of all 13
such payments made by the person during 14
the period beginning on the first day of the 15
election reporting cycle (or, if earlier, the 16
period beginning one year before the dis-17
closure date) and ending on the disclosure 18
date, 19
but only if such payment was made by a person 20
who made payments to the account in an aggre-21
gate amount of $10,000 or more during the pe-22
riod beginning on the first day of the election 23
reporting cycle (or, if earlier, the period begin-24
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•S 512 IS
ning one year before the disclosure date) and 1
ending on the disclosure date. 2
‘‘(ii) In any calendar year after 2024, sec-3
tion 315(c)(1)(B) shall apply to the amount de-4
scribed in clause (i) in the same manner as 5
such section applies to the limitations estab-6
lished under subsections (a)(1)(A), (a)(1)(B), 7
(a)(3), and (h) of such section, except that for 8
purposes of applying such section to the 9
amounts described in subsection (b), the ‘base 10
period’ shall be calendar year 2024. 11
‘‘(F)(i) If the covered organization makes 12
campaign-related disbursements using funds 13
other than funds in a campaign-related dis-14
bursement segregated fund, for each payment 15
to the covered organization— 16
‘‘(I) the name and address of each 17
person who made such payment during the 18
period covered by the statement; 19
‘‘(II) the date and amount of such 20
payment; and 21
‘‘(III) the aggregate amount of all 22
such payments made by the person during 23
the period beginning on the first day of the 24
election reporting cycle (or, if earlier, the 25
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•S 512 IS
period beginning one year before the dis-1
closure date) and ending on the disclosure 2
date, 3
but only if such payment was made by a person 4
who made payments to the covered organization 5
in an aggregate amount of $10,000 or more 6
during the period beginning on the first day of 7
the election reporting cycle (or, if earlier, the 8
period beginning one year before the disclosure 9
date) and ending on the disclosure date. 10
‘‘(ii) In any calendar year after 2024, sec-11
tion 315(c)(1)(B) shall apply to the amount de-12
scribed in clause (i) in the same manner as 13
such section applies to the limitations estab-14
lished under subsections (a)(1)(A), (a)(1)(B), 15
(a)(3), and (h) of such section, except that for 16
purposes of applying such section to the 17
amounts described in subsection (b), the ‘base 18
period’ shall be calendar year 2024. 19
‘‘(G) Such other information as required in 20
rules established by the Commission to promote 21
the purposes of this section. 22
‘‘(3) E
XCEPTIONS.— 23
‘‘(A) A
MOUNTS RECEIVED IN ORDINARY 24
COURSE OF BUSINESS.—The requirement to in-25
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•S 512 IS
clude in a statement filed under paragraph (1) 1
the information described in paragraph (2) 2
shall not apply to amounts received by the cov-3
ered organization in commercial transactions in 4
the ordinary course of any trade or business 5
conducted by the covered organization or in the 6
form of investments (other than investments by 7
the principal shareholder in a limited liability 8
corporation) in the covered organization. For 9
purposes of this subparagraph, amounts re-10
ceived by a covered organization as remittances 11
from an employee to the employee’s collective 12
bargaining representative shall be treated as 13
amounts received in commercial transactions in 14
the ordinary course of the business conducted 15
by the covered organization. 16
‘‘(B) D
ONOR RESTRICTION ON USE OF 17
FUNDS.—The requirement to include in a state-18
ment submitted under paragraph (1) the infor-19
mation described in subparagraph (F) of para-20
graph (2) shall not apply if— 21
‘‘(i) the person described in such sub-22
paragraph prohibited, in writing, the use of 23
the payment made by such person for cam-24
paign-related disbursements; and 25
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•S 512 IS
‘‘(ii) the covered organization agreed 1
to follow the prohibition and deposited the 2
payment in an account which is segregated 3
from a campaign-related disbursement seg-4
regated fund and any other account used 5
to make campaign-related disbursements. 6
‘‘(C) T
HREAT OF HARASSMENT OR RE -7
PRISAL.—The requirement to include any infor-8
mation relating to the name or address of any 9
person (other than a candidate) in a statement 10
submitted under paragraph (1) shall not apply 11
if the inclusion of the information would subject 12
the person to serious threats, harassment, or 13
reprisals. 14
‘‘(4) O
THER DEFINITIONS.—For purposes of 15
this section: 16
‘‘(A) B
ENEFICIAL OWNER DEFINED .— 17
‘‘(i) I
N GENERAL.—Except as pro-18
vided in clause (ii), the term ‘beneficial 19
owner’ means, with respect to any entity, 20
a natural person who, directly or indi-21
rectly— 22
‘‘(I) exercises substantial control 23
over an entity through ownership, vot-24
ing rights, agreement, or otherwise; or 25
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•S 512 IS
‘‘(II) has a substantial interest in 1
or receives substantial economic bene-2
fits from the assets of an entity. 3
‘‘(ii) E
XCEPTIONS.—The term ‘bene-4
ficial owner’ shall not include— 5
‘‘(I) a minor child; 6
‘‘(II) a person acting as a nomi-7
nee, intermediary, custodian, or agent 8
on behalf of another person; 9
‘‘(III) a person acting solely as 10
an employee of an entity and whose 11
control over or economic benefits from 12
the entity derives solely from the em-13
ployment status of the person; 14
‘‘(IV) a person whose only inter-15
est in an entity is through a right of 16
inheritance, unless the person also 17
meets the requirements of clause (i); 18
or 19
‘‘(V) a creditor of an entity, un-20
less the creditor also meets the re-21
quirements of clause (i). 22
‘‘(iii) A
NTI-ABUSE RULE.—The excep-23
tions under clause (ii) shall not apply if 24
used for the purpose of evading, circum-25
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•S 512 IS
venting, or abusing the provisions of clause 1
(i) or paragraph (2)(A). 2
‘‘(B) C
AMPAIGN-RELATED DISBURSEMENT 3
SEGREGATED FUND .—The term ‘campaign-re-4
lated disbursement segregated fund’ means a 5
segregated bank account consisting of funds 6
that were paid directly to such account by per-7
sons other than the covered organization that 8
controls the account. 9
‘‘(C) D
ISCLOSURE DATE.—The term ‘dis-10
closure date’ means— 11
‘‘(i) the first date during any election 12
reporting cycle by which a person has 13
made campaign-related disbursements ag-14
gregating more than $10,000; and 15
‘‘(ii) any other date during such elec-16
tion reporting cycle by which a person has 17
made campaign-related disbursements ag-18
gregating more than $10,000 since the 19
most recent disclosure date for such elec-20
tion reporting cycle. 21
‘‘(D) E
LECTION REPORTING CYCLE .—The 22
term ‘election reporting cycle’ means the 2-year 23
period beginning on the date of the most recent 24
general election for Federal office. 25
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•S 512 IS
‘‘(E) PAYMENT.—The term ‘payment’ in-1
cludes any contribution, donation, transfer, pay-2
ment of dues, or other payment. 3
‘‘(b) C
OORDINATIONWITHOTHERPROVISIONS.— 4
‘‘(1) O
THER REPORTS FILED WITH THE COM -5
MISSION.—Information included in a statement filed 6
under this section may be excluded from statements 7
and reports filed under section 304. 8
‘‘(2) T
REATMENT AS SEPARATE SEGREGATED 9
FUND.—A campaign-related disbursement seg-10
regated fund may be treated as a separate seg-11
regated fund for purposes of section 527(f)(3) of the 12
Internal Revenue Code of 1986. 13
‘‘(c) F
ILING.—Statements required to be filed under 14
subsection (a) shall be subject to the requirements of sec-15
tion 304(d) to the same extent and in the same manner 16
as if such reports had been required under subsection (c) 17
or (g) of section 304. 18
‘‘(d) C
AMPAIGN-RELATED DISBURSEMENT DE-19
FINED.— 20
‘‘(1) I
N GENERAL.—In this section, the term 21
‘campaign-related disbursement’ means a disburse-22
ment by a covered organization for any of the fol-23
lowing: 24
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•S 512 IS
‘‘(A) An independent expenditure which ex-1
pressly advocates the election or defeat of a 2
clearly identified candidate for election for Fed-3
eral office, or is the functional equivalent of ex-4
press advocacy because, when taken as a whole, 5
it can be interpreted by a reasonable person 6
only as advocating the election or defeat of a 7
candidate for election for Federal office. 8
‘‘(B) An applicable public communication. 9
‘‘(C) An electioneering communication, as 10
defined in section 304(f)(3). 11
‘‘(D) A covered transfer. 12
‘‘(2) A
PPLICABLE PUBLIC COMMUNICATIONS .— 13
‘‘(A) I
N GENERAL.—The term ‘applicable 14
public communication’ means any public com-15
munication that refers to a clearly identified 16
candidate for election for Federal office and 17
which promotes or supports the election of a 18
candidate for that office, or attacks or opposes 19
the election of a candidate for that office, with-20
out regard to whether the communication ex-21
pressly advocates a vote for or against a can-22
didate for that office. 23
‘‘(B) E
XCEPTION.—Such term shall not in-24
clude any news story, commentary, or editorial 25
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•S 512 IS
distributed through the facilities of any broad-1
casting station or any print, online, or digital 2
newspaper, magazine, publication, or periodical, 3
unless such facilities are owned or controlled by 4
any political party, political committee, or can-5
didate. 6
‘‘(e) C
OVEREDORGANIZATIONDEFINED.—In this 7
section, the term ‘covered organization’ means any of the 8
following: 9
‘‘(1) A corporation (other than an organization 10
described in section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Rev-11
enue Code of 1986). 12
‘‘(2) A limited liability corporation that is not 13
otherwise treated as a corporation for purposes of 14
this Act (other than an organization described in 15
section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code of 16
1986). 17
‘‘(3) An organization described in section 18
501(c) of such Code and exempt from taxation 19
under section 501(a) of such Code (other than an 20
organization described in section 501(c)(3) of such 21
Code). 22
‘‘(4) A labor organization (as defined in section 23
316(b)). 24
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•S 512 IS
‘‘(5) Any political organization under section 1
527 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, other 2
than a political committee under this Act (except as 3
provided in paragraph (6)). 4
‘‘(6) A political committee with an account that 5
accepts donations or contributions that do not com-6
ply with the contribution limits or source prohibi-7
tions under this Act, but only with respect to such 8
accounts. 9
‘‘(f) C
OVEREDTRANSFERDEFINED.— 10
‘‘(1) I
N GENERAL.—In this section, the term 11
‘covered transfer’ means any transfer or payment of 12
funds by a covered organization to another person if 13
the covered organization— 14
‘‘(A) designates, requests, or suggests that 15
the amounts be used for— 16
‘‘(i) campaign-related disbursements 17
(other than covered transfers); or 18
‘‘(ii) making a transfer to another 19
person for the purpose of making or pay-20
ing for such campaign-related disburse-21
ments; 22
‘‘(B) made such transfer or payment in re-23
sponse to a solicitation or other request for a 24
donation or payment for— 25
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•S 512 IS
‘‘(i) the making of or paying for cam-1
paign-related disbursements (other than 2
covered transfers); or 3
‘‘(ii) making a transfer to another 4
person for the purpose of making or pay-5
ing for such campaign-related disburse-6
ments; 7
‘‘(C) engaged in discussions with the re-8
cipient of the transfer or payment regarding— 9
‘‘(i) the making of or paying for cam-10
paign-related disbursements (other than 11
covered transfers); or 12
‘‘(ii) donating or transferring any 13
amount of such transfer or payment to an-14
other person for the purpose of making or 15
paying for such campaign-related disburse-16
ments; or 17
‘‘(D) knew or had reason to know that the 18
person receiving the transfer or payment would 19
make campaign-related disbursements in an ag-20
gregate amount of $50,000 or more during the 21
2-year period beginning on the date of the 22
transfer or payment. 23
‘‘(2) E
XCLUSIONS.—The term ‘covered transfer’ 24
does not include any of the following: 25
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•S 512 IS
‘‘(A) A disbursement made by a covered 1
organization in a commercial transaction in the 2
ordinary course of any trade or business con-3
ducted by the covered organization or in the 4
form of investments made by the covered orga-5
nization. 6
‘‘(B) A disbursement made by a covered 7
organization if— 8
‘‘(i) the covered organization prohib-9
ited, in writing, the use of such disburse-10
ment for campaign-related disbursements; 11
and 12
‘‘(ii) the recipient of the disbursement 13
agreed to follow the prohibition and depos-14
ited the disbursement in an account which 15
is segregated from a campaign-related dis-16
bursement segregated fund and any other 17
account used to make campaign-related 18
disbursements. 19
‘‘(3) S
PECIAL RULE REGARDING TRANSFERS 20
AMONG AFFILIATES.— 21
‘‘(A) S
PECIAL RULE.—A transfer of an 22
amount by one covered organization to another 23
covered organization which is treated as a 24
transfer between affiliates under subparagraph 25
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•S 512 IS
(C) shall be considered a covered transfer by 1
the covered organization which transfers the 2
amount only if the aggregate amount trans-3
ferred during the year by such covered organi-4
zation to that same covered organization is 5
equal to or greater than $50,000. 6
‘‘(B) D
ETERMINATION OF AMOUNT OF 7
CERTAIN PAYMENTS AMONG AFFILIATES .—In 8
determining the amount of a transfer between 9
affiliates for purposes of subparagraph (A), to 10
the extent that the transfer consists of funds 11
attributable to dues, fees, or assessments which 12
are paid by individuals on a regular, periodic 13
basis in accordance with a per-individual cal-14
culation which is made on a regular basis, the 15
transfer shall be attributed to the individuals 16
paying the dues, fees, or assessments and shall 17
not be attributed to the covered organization. 18
‘‘(C) D
ESCRIPTION OF TRANSFERS BE -19
TWEEN AFFILIATES .—A transfer of amounts 20
from one covered organization to another cov-21
ered organization shall be treated as a transfer 22
between affiliates if— 23
‘‘(i) one of the organizations is an af-24
filiate of the other organization; or 25
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•S 512 IS
‘‘(ii) each of the organizations is an 1
affiliate of the same organization, 2
except that the transfer shall not be treated as 3
a transfer between affiliates if one of the orga-4
nizations is established for the purpose of mak-5
ing campaign-related disbursements. 6
‘‘(D) D
ETERMINATION OF AFFILIATE STA -7
TUS.—For purposes of subparagraph (C), a 8
covered organization is an affiliate of another 9
covered organization if— 10
‘‘(i) the governing instrument of the 11
organization requires it to be bound by de-12
cisions of the other organization; 13
‘‘(ii) the governing board of the orga-14
nization includes persons who are specifi-15
cally designated representatives of the 16
other organization or are members of the 17
governing board, officers, or paid executive 18
staff members of the other organization, or 19
whose service on the governing board is 20
contingent upon the approval of the other 21
organization; or 22
‘‘(iii) the organization is chartered by 23
the other organization. 24
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•S 512 IS
‘‘(E) COVERAGE OF TRANSFERS TO AF -1
FILIATED SECTION 501(c)(3) ORGANIZA-2
TIONS.—This paragraph shall apply with re-3
spect to an amount transferred by a covered or-4
ganization to an organization described in para-5
graph (3) of section 501(c) of the Internal Rev-6
enue Code of 1986 and exempt from tax under 7
section 501(a) of such Code in the same man-8
ner as this paragraph applies to an amount 9
transferred by a covered organization to an-10
other covered organization. 11
‘‘(g) N
OEFFECT ONOTHERREPORTINGREQUIRE-12
MENTS.—Except as provided in subsection (b)(1), nothing 13
in this section shall be construed to waive or otherwise 14
affect any other requirement of this Act which relates to 15
the reporting of campaign-related disbursements.’’. 16
(b) C
ONFORMINGAMENDMENT.—Section 304(f)(6) 17
of such Act (52 U.S.C. 30104) is amended by striking 18
‘‘Any requirement’’ and inserting ‘‘Except as provided in 19
section 324(b), any requirement’’. 20
(c) R
EGULATIONS.—Not later than 6 months after 21
the date of the enactment of this Act, the Federal Election 22
Commission shall promulgate regulations relating the ap-23
plication of the exemption under section 324(a)(3)(C) of 24
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•S 512 IS
the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 (as added by 1
subsection (a)). Such regulations— 2
(1) shall require that the legal burden of estab-3
lishing eligibility for such exemption is upon the or-4
ganization required to make the report required 5
under section 324(a)(1) of such Act (as added by 6
subsection (a)), and 7
(2) shall be consistent with the principles ap-8
plied in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commis-9
sion, 558 U.S. 310 (2010). 10
SEC. 202. REPORTING OF FEDERAL JUDICIAL NOMINATION 11
DISBURSEMENTS. 12
(a) F
INDINGS.—Congress makes the following find-13
ings: 14
(1) A fair and impartial judiciary is critical for 15
our democracy and crucial to maintain the faith of 16
the people of the United States in the justice sys-17
tem. As the Supreme Court held in Caperton v. 18
Massey, ‘‘there is a serious risk of actual bias— 19
based on objective and reasonable perceptions— 20
when a person with a personal stake in a particular 21
case had a significant and disproportionate influence 22
in placing the judge on the case.’’(Caperton v. A. T. 23
Massey Coal Co., 556 U.S. 868, 884 (2009)). 24
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•S 512 IS
(2) Public trust in government is at a historic 1
low. According to polling, most Americans believe 2
that corporations have too much power and influence 3
in politics and the courts. 4
(3) The prevalence and pervasiveness of dark 5
money drives public concern about corruption in pol-6
itics and the courts. Dark money is funding for or-7
ganizations and political activities that cannot be 8
traced to actual donors. It is made possible by loop-9
holes in our tax laws and regulations, weak oversight 10
by the Internal Revenue Service, and donor-friendly 11
court decisions. 12
(4) Under current law, ‘‘social welfare’’ organi-13
zations and business leagues can use funds to influ-14
ence elections so long as political activity is not their 15
‘‘primary’’ activity. Super PACs can accept and 16
spend unlimited contributions from any non-foreign 17
source. These groups can spend tens of millions of 18
dollars on political activities. Such dark money 19
groups spent an estimated $1,050,000,000 in the 20
2020 election cycle. 21
(5) Dark money is used to shape judicial deci-22
sion making. This can take many forms, akin to 23
agency capture: influencing judicial selection by con-24
trolling who gets nominated and funding candidate 25
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•S 512 IS
advertisements; creating public relations campaigns 1
aimed at mobilizing the judiciary around particular 2
issues; and drafting law review articles, amicus 3
briefs, and other products which tell judges how to 4
decide a given case and provide ready-made argu-5
ments for willing judges to adopt. 6
(6) Over the past decade, nonprofit organiza-7
tions that do not disclose their donors have spent 8
hundreds of millions of dollars to influence the nomi-9
nation and confirmation process for Federal judges. 10
One organization alone has spent nearly 11
$40,000,000 on advertisements supporting or oppos-12
ing Supreme Court nominees since 2016. 13
(7) Anonymous money spent on judicial nomi-14
nations is not subject to any disclosure require-15
ments. Federal election laws only regulate contribu-16
tions and expenditures relating to electoral politics; 17
thus, expenditures, contributions, and advocacy ef-18
forts for Federal judgeships are not covered under 19
the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971. With-20
out more disclosure, the public has no way of know-21
ing whether the people spending money supporting 22
or opposing judicial nominations have business be-23
fore the courts. 24
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•S 512 IS
(8) Congress and the American people have a 1
compelling interest in knowing who is funding these 2
campaigns to select and confirm judges to lifetime 3
appointments on the Federal bench. 4
(b) R
EPORTING.—Section 324 of the Federal Elec-5
tion Campaign Act of 1971 (52 U.S.C. 30126), as amend-6
ed by section 201, is amended by redesignating subsection 7
(g) as subsection (h) and by inserting after subsection (f) 8
the following new subsection: 9
‘‘(g) A
PPLICATION TOFEDERALJUDICIALNOMINA-10
TIONS.— 11
‘‘(1) I
N GENERAL.—For purposes of this sec-12
tion— 13
‘‘(A) a disbursement by a covered organi-14
zation for a Federal judicial nomination com-15
munication shall be treated as a campaign-re-16
lated disbursement; and 17
‘‘(B) in the case of campaign-related dis-18
bursements which are for Federal judicial nomi-19
nation communications— 20
‘‘(i) the dollar amounts in paragraphs 21
(1) and (2) of subsection (a) shall be ap-22
plied separately with respect to such dis-23
bursements and other campaign-related 24
disbursements; 25
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•S 512 IS
‘‘(ii) the election reporting cycle shall 1
be the calendar year in which the disburse-2
ment for the Federal judicial nomination 3
communication is made; 4
‘‘(iii) references to a candidate in sub-5
sections (a)(2)(C), (a)(2)(D), and 6
(a)(3)(C) shall be treated as references to 7
a nominee for a Federal judge or justice; 8
‘‘(iv) the reference to an election in 9
subsection (a)(2)(C) shall be treated as a 10
reference to the nomination of such nomi-11
nee. 12
‘‘(2) F
EDERAL JUDICIAL NOMINATION COMMU -13
NICATION.— 14
‘‘(A) I
N GENERAL.—The term ‘Federal ju-15
dicial nomination communication’ means any 16
communication— 17
‘‘(i) that is by means of any broad-18
cast, cable, or satellite, paid internet, or 19
paid digital communication, paid pro-20
motion, newspaper, magazine, outdoor ad-21
vertising facility, mass mailing, telephone 22
bank, telephone messaging effort of more 23
than 500 substantially similar calls or elec-24
tronic messages within a 30-day period, or 25
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•S 512 IS
any other form of general public political 1
advertising; and 2
‘‘(ii) which promotes, supports, at-3
tacks, or opposes the nomination or Senate 4
confirmation of an individual as a Federal 5
judge or justice. 6
‘‘(B) E
XCEPTION.—Such term shall not in-7
clude any news story, commentary, or editorial 8
distributed through the facilities of any broad-9
casting station or any print, online, or digital 10
newspaper, magazine, publication, or periodical, 11
unless such facilities are owned or controlled by 12
any political party, political committee, or can-13
didate. 14
‘‘(C) I
NTENT NOT REQUIRED .—A disburse-15
ment for an item described in subparagraph (A) 16
shall be treated as a disbursement for a Federal 17
judicial nomination communication regardless 18
of the intent of the person making the disburse-19
ment.’’. 20
SEC. 203. COORDINATION WITH FINCEN. 21
(a) I
NGENERAL.—The Director of the Financial 22
Crimes Enforcement Network of the Department of the 23
Treasury shall provide the Federal Election Commission 24
with such information as necessary to assist in admin-25
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•S 512 IS
istering and enforcing section 324 of the Federal Election 1
Campaign Act of 1971, as amended by this title. 2
(b) R
EPORT.—Not later than 6 months after the date 3
of the enactment of this Act, the Chairman of the Federal 4
Election Commission, in consultation with the Director of 5
the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network of the De-6
partment of the Treasury, shall submit to Congress a re-7
port with recommendations for providing further legisla-8
tive authority to assist in the administration and enforce-9
ment of such section 324. 10
SEC. 204. APPLICATION OF FOREIGN MONEY BAN TO DIS-11
BURSEMENTS FOR CAMPAIGN-RELATED DIS-12
BURSEMENTS CONSISTING OF COVERED 13
TRANSFERS. 14
Section 319(b)(2) of the Federal Election Campaign 15
Act of 1971 (52 U.S.C. 30121(a)(1)(A)), as amended by 16
section 101, is amended— 17
(1) by striking ‘‘includes any disbursement’’ 18
and inserting ‘‘includes— 19
‘‘(A) any disbursement’’; 20
(2) by striking the period at the end and insert-21
ing ‘‘; and’’, and 22
(3) by adding at the end the following new sub-23
paragraph: 24
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‘‘(B) any disbursement, other than a dis-1
bursement described in section 324(a)(3)(A), to 2
another person who made a campaign-related 3
disbursement consisting of a covered transfer 4
(as described in section 324) during the 2-year 5
period ending on the date of the disburse-6
ment.’’. 7
SEC. 205. SENSE OF CONGRESS REGARDING IMPLEMENTA-8
TION. 9
It is the sense of Congress that the Federal Election 10
Commission should simplify the process for filing any dis-11
closure required under the provisions of, and amendments 12
made by, this title in order to ensure that such process 13
is as easy and accessible as possible. 14
SEC. 206. EFFECTIVE DATE. 15
The amendments made by this title shall apply with 16
respect to disbursements made on or after January 1, 17
2024, and shall take effect without regard to whether or 18
not the Federal Election Commission has promulgated 19
regulations to carry out such amendments. 20
TITLE III—OTHER 21
ADMINISTRATIVE REFORMS 22
SEC. 301. PETITION FOR CERTIORARI. 23
Section 307(a)(6) of the Federal Election Campaign 24
Act of 1971 (52 U.S.C. 30107(a)(6)) is amended by in-25
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serting ‘‘(including a proceeding before the Supreme 1
Court on certiorari)’’ after ‘‘appeal’’. 2
SEC. 302. JUDICIAL REVIEW OF ACTIONS RELATED TO CAM-3
PAIGN FINANCE LAWS. 4
(a) I
NGENERAL.—Title IV of the Federal Election 5
Campaign Act of 1971 (52 U.S.C. 30141 et seq.) is 6
amended by inserting after section 406 the following new 7
section: 8
‘‘SEC. 407. JUDICIAL REVIEW. 9
‘‘(a) I
NGENERAL.—If any action is brought for de-10
claratory or injunctive relief to challenge, whether facially 11
or as-applied, the constitutionality or lawfulness of any 12
provision of this Act, including title V, or of chapter 95 13
or 96 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, or is brought 14
to with respect to any action of the Commission under 15
chapter 95 or 96 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, 16
the following rules shall apply: 17
‘‘(1) The action shall be filed in the United 18
States District Court for the District of Columbia 19
and an appeal from the decision of the district court 20
may be taken to the Court of Appeals for the Dis-21
trict of Columbia Circuit. 22
‘‘(2) In the case of an action relating to declar-23
atory or injunctive relief to challenge the constitu-24
tionality of a provision, the party filing the action 25
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shall concurrently deliver a copy of the complaint to 1
the Clerk of the House of Representatives and the 2
Secretary of the Senate. 3
‘‘(3) It shall be the duty of the United States 4
District Court for the District of Columbia and the 5
Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Cir-6
cuit to advance on the docket and to expedite to the 7
greatest possible extent the disposition of the action 8
and appeal. 9
‘‘(b) C
LARIFYINGSCOPE OFJURISDICTION.—If an 10
action at the time of its commencement is not subject to 11
subsection (a), but an amendment, counterclaim, cross- 12
claim, affirmative defense, or any other pleading or motion 13
is filed challenging, whether facially or as-applied, the con-14
stitutionality or lawfulness of this Act or of chapter 95 15
or 96 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, or is brought 16
to with respect to any action of the Commission under 17
chapter 95 or 96 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, 18
the district court shall transfer the action to the District 19
Court for the District of Columbia, and the action shall 20
thereafter be conducted pursuant to subsection (a). 21
‘‘(c) I
NTERVENTION BY MEMBERS OFCONGRESS.— 22
In any action described in subsection (a) relating to de-23
claratory or injunctive relief to challenge the constitu-24
tionality of a provision, any Member of the House of Rep-25
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•S 512 IS
resentatives (including a Delegate or Resident Commis-1
sioner to the Congress) or Senate shall have the right to 2
intervene either in support of or opposition to the position 3
of a party to the case regarding the constitutionality of 4
the provision. To avoid duplication of efforts and reduce 5
the burdens placed on the parties to the action, the court 6
in any such action may make such orders as it considers 7
necessary, including orders to require interveners taking 8
similar positions to file joint papers or to be represented 9
by a single attorney at oral argument. 10
‘‘(d) C
HALLENGE BYMEMBERS OFCONGRESS.—Any 11
Member of Congress may bring an action, subject to the 12
special rules described in subsection (a), for declaratory 13
or injunctive relief to challenge, whether facially or as-ap-14
plied, the constitutionality of any provision of this Act or 15
chapter 95 or 96 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986.’’. 16
(b) C
ONFORMINGAMENDMENTS.— 17
(1) Section 9011 of the Internal Revenue Code 18
of 1986 is amended to read as follows: 19
‘‘SEC. 9011. JUDICIAL REVIEW. 20
‘‘For provisions relating to judicial review of certifi-21
cations, determinations, and actions by the Commission 22
under this chapter, see section 407 of the Federal Election 23
Campaign Act of 1971.’’. 24
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(2) Section 9041 of the Internal Revenue Code 1
of 1986 is amended to read as follows: 2
‘‘SEC. 9041. JUDICIAL REVIEW. 3
‘‘For provisions relating to judicial review of actions 4
by the Commission under this chapter, see section 407 of 5
the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971.’’. 6
(3) Section 310 of the Federal Election Cam-7
paign Act of 1971 (52 U.S.C. 30110) is repealed. 8
(4) Section 403 of the Bipartisan Campaign 9
Reform Act of 2002 (52 U.S.C. 30110 note) is re-10
pealed. 11
SEC. 303. EFFECTIVE DATE. 12
The amendments made by this title shall take effect 13
and apply on the date of the enactment of this Act, with-14
out regard to whether or not the Federal Election Com-15
mission has promulgated regulations to carry out this title 16
and the amendments made by this title. 17
TITLE IV—STAND BY EVERY AD 18
SEC. 401. SHORT TITLE. 19
This title may be cited as the ‘‘Stand By Every Ad 20
Act’’. 21
SEC. 402. STAND BY EVERY AD. 22
(a) E
XPANDEDDISCLAIMERREQUIREMENTS FOR 23
C
ERTAINCOMMUNICATIONS.—Section 318 of the Federal 24
Election Campaign Act of 1971 (52 U.S.C. 30120) is 25
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amended by adding at the end the following new sub-1
section: 2
‘‘(e) E
XPANDEDDISCLAIMERREQUIREMENTS FOR 3
C
OMMUNICATIONS NOTAUTHORIZED BYCANDIDATES OR 4
C
OMMITTEES.— 5
‘‘(1) I
N GENERAL.—Except as provided in para-6
graph (6), any communication described in para-7
graph (3) of subsection (a) which is transmitted in 8
an audio or video format (including an internet or 9
digital communication), or which is an internet or 10
digital communication transmitted in a text or 11
graphic format, shall include, in addition to the re-12
quirements of paragraph (3) of subsection (a), the 13
following: 14
‘‘(A) The individual disclosure statement 15
described in paragraph (2)(A) (if the person 16
paying for the communication is an individual) 17
or the organizational disclosure statement de-18
scribed in paragraph (2)(B) (if the person pay-19
ing for the communication is not an individual). 20
‘‘(B) If the communication is transmitted 21
in a video format, or is an internet or digital 22
communication which is transmitted in a text or 23
graphic format, and is paid for in whole or in 24
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part with a payment which is treated as a cam-1
paign-related disbursement under section 324— 2
‘‘(i) the Top Five Funders list (if ap-3
plicable); or 4
‘‘(ii) in the case of a communication 5
which, as determined on the basis of cri-6
teria established in regulations issued by 7
the Commission, is of such short duration 8
that including the Top Five Funders list in 9
the communication would constitute a 10
hardship to the person paying for the com-11
munication by requiring a disproportionate 12
amount of the content of the communica-13
tion to consist of the Top Five Funders 14
list, the name of a website which contains 15
the Top Five Funders list (if applicable) 16
or, in the case of an internet or digital 17
communication, a hyperlink to such 18
website. 19
‘‘(C) If the communication is transmitted 20
in an audio format and is paid for in whole or 21
in part with a payment which is treated as a 22
campaign-related disbursement under section 23
324— 24
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‘‘(i) the Top Two Funders list (if ap-1
plicable); or 2
‘‘(ii) in the case of a communication 3
which, as determined on the basis of cri-4
teria established in regulations issued by 5
the Commission, is of such short duration 6
that including the Top Two Funders list in 7
the communication would constitute a 8
hardship to the person paying for the com-9
munication by requiring a disproportionate 10
amount of the content of the communica-11
tion to consist of the Top Two Funders 12
list, the name of a website which contains 13
the Top Two Funders list (if applicable). 14
‘‘(2) D
ISCLOSURE STATEMENTS DESCRIBED .— 15
‘‘(A) I
NDIVIDUAL DISCLOSURE STATE -16
MENTS.—The individual disclosure statement 17
described in this subparagraph is the following: 18
‘I am llllllll , and I approve this 19
message.’, with the blank filled in with the 20
name of the applicable individual. 21
‘‘(B) O
RGANIZATIONAL DISCLOSURE 22
STATEMENTS.—The organizational disclosure 23
statement described in this subparagraph is the 24
following: ‘I am llllllll , the 25
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llllllll of llllllll , and 1
llllllll approves this message.’, 2
with— 3
‘‘(i) the first blank to be filled in with 4
the name of the applicable individual; 5
‘‘(ii) the second blank to be filled in 6
with the title of the applicable individual; 7
and 8
‘‘(iii) the third and fourth blank each 9
to be filled in with the name of the organi-10
zation or other person paying for the com-11
munication. 12
‘‘(3) M
ETHOD OF CONVEYANCE OF STATE -13
MENT.— 14
‘‘(A) C
OMMUNICATIONS IN TEXT OR 15
GRAPHIC FORMAT.—In the case of a commu-16
nication to which this subsection applies which 17
is transmitted in a text or graphic format, the 18
disclosure statements required under paragraph 19
(1) shall appear in letters at least as large as 20
the majority of the text in the communication. 21
‘‘(B) C
OMMUNICATIONS TRANSMITTED IN 22
AUDIO FORMAT.—In the case of a communica-23
tion to which this subsection applies which is 24
transmitted in an audio format, the disclosure 25
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statements required under paragraph (1) shall 1
be made by audio by the applicable individual 2
in a clear and conspicuous manner. 3
‘‘(C) C
OMMUNICATIONS TRANSMITTED IN 4
VIDEO FORMAT.—In the case of a communica-5
tion to which this subsection applies which is 6
transmitted in a video format, the information 7
required under paragraph (1) shall appear in 8
writing at the end of the communication or in 9
a crawl along the bottom of the communication 10
in a clear and conspicuous manner, with a rea-11
sonable degree of color contrast between the 12
background and the printed statement, for a 13
period of at least 6 seconds. 14
‘‘(4) A
PPLICABLE INDIVIDUAL DEFINED .—The 15
term ‘applicable individual’ means, with respect to a 16
communication to which this subsection applies— 17
‘‘(A) if the communication is paid for by 18
an individual, the individual involved; 19
‘‘(B) if the communication is paid for by a 20
corporation, the chief executive officer of the 21
corporation (or, if the corporation does not have 22
a chief executive officer, the highest ranking of-23
ficial of the corporation); 24
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‘‘(C) if the communication is paid for by a 1
labor organization, the highest ranking officer 2
of the labor organization; and 3
‘‘(D) if the communication is paid for by 4
any other person, the highest ranking official of 5
such person. 6
‘‘(5) T
OP FIVE FUNDERS LIST AND TOP TWO 7
FUNDERS LIST DEFINED .— 8
‘‘(A) T
OP FIVE FUNDERS LIST.—The term 9
‘Top Five Funders list’ means, with respect to 10
a communication which is paid for in whole or 11
in part with a campaign-related disbursement 12
(as defined in section 324), a list of the 5 per-13
sons who, during the 12-month period ending 14
on the date of the disbursement, provided the 15
largest payments of any type in an aggregate 16
amount equal to or exceeding $10,000 to the 17
person who is paying for the communication 18
and the amount of the payments each such per-19
son provided. If 2 or more people provided the 20
fifth largest of such payments, the person pay-21
ing for the communication shall select 1 of 22
those persons to be included on the Top Five 23
Funders list. 24
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‘‘(B) TOP TWO FUNDERS LIST .—The term 1
‘Top Two Funders list’ means, with respect to 2
a communication which is paid for in whole or 3
in part with a campaign-related disbursement 4
(as defined in section 324), a list of the persons 5
who, during the 12-month period ending on the 6
date of the disbursement, provided the largest 7
and the second largest payments of any type in 8
an aggregate amount equal to or exceeding 9
$10,000 to the person who is paying for the 10
communication and the amount of the pay-11
ments each such person provided. If 2 or more 12
persons provided the second largest of such 13
payments, the person paying for the commu-14
nication shall select 1 of those persons to be in-15
cluded on the Top Two Funders list. 16
‘‘(C) E
XCLUSION OF CERTAIN PAY -17
MENTS.—For purposes of subparagraphs (A) 18
and (B), in determining the amount of pay-19
ments made by a person to a person paying for 20
a communication, there shall be excluded the 21
following: 22
‘‘(i) Any amounts provided in the or-23
dinary course of any trade or business con-24
ducted by the person paying for the com-25
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munication or in the form of investments 1
in the person paying for the communica-2
tion. 3
‘‘(ii) Any payment which the person 4
prohibited, in writing, from being used for 5
campaign-related disbursements, but only 6
if the person paying for the communication 7
agreed to follow the prohibition and depos-8
ited the payment in an account which is 9
segregated from a campaign-related dis-10
bursement segregated fund (as defined in 11
section 324) and any other account used to 12
make campaign-related disbursements. 13
‘‘(6) S
PECIAL RULES FOR CERTAIN COMMU -14
NICATIONS.— 15
‘‘(A) E
XCEPTION FOR COMMUNICATIONS 16
PAID FOR BY POLITICAL PARTIES AND CERTAIN 17
POLITICAL COMMITTEES .—This subsection does 18
not apply to any communication to which sub-19
section (d)(2) applies. 20
‘‘(B) T
REATMENT OF VIDEO COMMUNICA -21
TIONS LASTING 10 SECONDS OR LESS .—In the 22
case of a communication to which this sub-23
section applies which is transmitted in a video 24
format, or is an internet or digital communica-25
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tion which is transmitted in a text or graphic 1
format, the communication shall meet the fol-2
lowing requirements: 3
‘‘(i) The communication shall include 4
the individual disclosure statement de-5
scribed in paragraph (2)(A) (if the person 6
paying for the communication is an indi-7
vidual) or the organizational disclosure 8
statement described in paragraph (2)(B) 9
(if the person paying for the communica-10
tion is not an individual). 11
‘‘(ii) The statement described in 12
clause (i) shall appear in writing at the 13
end of the communication, or in a crawl 14
along the bottom of the communication, in 15
a clear and conspicuous manner, with a 16
reasonable degree of color contrast between 17
the background and the printed statement, 18
for a period of at least 4 seconds. 19
‘‘(iii) The communication shall in-20
clude, in a clear and conspicuous manner, 21
a website address with a landing page 22
which will provide all of the information 23
described in paragraph (1) with respect to 24
the communication. Such address shall ap-25
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pear for the full duration of the commu-1
nication. 2
‘‘(iv) To the extent that the format in 3
which the communication is made permits 4
the use of a hyperlink, the communication 5
shall include a hyperlink to the website ad-6
dress described in clause (iii).’’. 7
(b) A
PPLICATION OFEXPANDEDREQUIREMENTS TO 8
P
UBLICCOMMUNICATIONS CONSISTING OFCAMPAIGN- 9
R
ELATEDDISBURSEMENTS.— 10
(1) I
N GENERAL.—Section 318(a) of such Act 11
(52 U.S.C. 30120(a)) is amended by striking ‘‘for 12
the purpose of financing communications expressly 13
advocating the election or defeat of a clearly identi-14
fied candidate’’ and inserting ‘‘for a campaign-re-15
lated disbursement, as defined in section 324, con-16
sisting of a public communication’’. 17
(2) C
LARIFICATION OF EXEMPTION FROM IN -18
CLUSION OF CANDIDATE DISCLAIMER STATEMENT IN 19
FEDERAL JUDICIAL NOMINATION COMMUNICA -20
TIONS.—Section 318(a)(3) of such Act (52 U.S.C. 21
30120(a)(3)) is amended by striking ‘‘shall clearly 22
state’’ and inserting ‘‘shall (except in the case of a 23
Federal judicial nomination communication, as de-24
fined in section 324(d)(3)) clearly state’’. 25
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(c) EXCEPTION FORCOMMUNICATIONS PAID FOR BY 1
P
OLITICALPARTIES ANDCERTAINPOLITICALCOMMIT-2
TEES.—Section 318(d)(2) of such Act (52 U.S.C. 3
30120(d)(2)) is amended— 4
(1) in the heading, by striking ‘‘
OTHERS’’ and 5
inserting ‘‘
CERTAIN POLITICAL COMMITTEES ’’; 6
(2) by striking ‘‘Any communication’’ and in-7
serting ‘‘(A) Any communication’’; 8
(3) by inserting ‘‘which (except to the extent 9
provided in subparagraph (B)) is paid for by a polit-10
ical committee (including a political committee of a 11
political party) and’’ after ‘‘subsection (a)’’; 12
(4) by striking ‘‘or other person’’ each place it 13
appears; and 14
(5) by adding at the end the following new sub-15
paragraph: 16
‘‘(B)(i) This paragraph does not apply to 17
a communication paid for in whole or in part 18
during a calendar year with a campaign-related 19
disbursement, but only if the covered organiza-20
tion making the campaign-related disbursement 21
made campaign-related disbursements (as de-22
fined in section 324) aggregating more than 23
$10,000 during such calendar year. 24
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‘‘(ii) For purposes of clause (i), in deter-1
mining the amount of campaign-related dis-2
bursements made by a covered organization 3
during a year, there shall be excluded the fol-4
lowing: 5
‘‘(I) Any amounts received by the cov-6
ered organization in the ordinary course of 7
any trade or business conducted by the 8
covered organization or in the form of in-9
vestments in the covered organization. 10
‘‘(II) Any amounts received by the 11
covered organization from a person who 12
prohibited, in writing, the organization 13
from using such amounts for campaign-re-14
lated disbursements, but only if the cov-15
ered organization agreed to follow the pro-16
hibition and deposited the amounts in an 17
account which is segregated from a cam-18
paign-related disbursement segregated 19
fund (as defined in section 324) and any 20
other account used to make campaign-re-21
lated disbursements.’’. 22
(d) M
ODIFICATION OFADDITIONALREQUIREMENTS 23
FORCERTAINCOMMUNICATIONS.—Section 318(d) of the 24
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Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 (52 U.S.C. 1
30120(d)) is amended— 2
(1) in paragraph (1)(A)— 3
(A) by striking ‘‘which is transmitted 4
through radio’’ and inserting ‘‘which is in an 5
audio format’’; and 6
(B) by striking ‘‘B
Y RADIO’’ in the heading 7
and inserting ‘‘A
UDIO FORMAT’’; 8
(2) in paragraph (1)(B)— 9
(A) by striking ‘‘which is transmitted 10
through television’’ and inserting ‘‘which is in 11
video format’’; and 12
(B) by striking ‘‘B
Y TELEVISION’’ in the 13
heading and inserting ‘‘V
IDEO FORMAT’’; and 14
(3) in paragraph (2)— 15
(A) by striking ‘‘transmitted through radio 16
or television’’ and inserting ‘‘made in audio or 17
video format’’; and 18
(B) by striking ‘‘through television’’ in the 19
second sentence and inserting ‘‘in video for-20
mat’’. 21
SEC. 403. DISCLAIMER REQUIREMENTS FOR COMMUNICA-22
TIONS MADE THROUGH PRERECORDED TELE-23
PHONE CALLS. 24
(a) A
PPLICATION OFREQUIREMENTS.— 25
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•S 512 IS
(1) IN GENERAL.—Section 318(a) of the Fed-1
eral Election Campaign Act of 1971 (52 U.S.C. 2
30120(a)) is amended by striking ‘‘mailing’’ each 3
place it appears and inserting ‘‘mailing, telephone 4
call consisting in substantial part of a prerecorded 5
audio message’’. 6
(2) A
PPLICATION TO COMMUNICATIONS SUB -7
JECT TO EXPANDED DISCLAIMER REQUIREMENTS .— 8
Section 318(e)(1) of such Act (52 U.S.C. 9
30120(e)(1)), as added by section 302(a), is amend-10
ed in the matter preceding subparagraph (A) by 11
striking ‘‘which is transmitted in an audio or video 12
format’’ and inserting ‘‘which is transmitted in an 13
audio or video format or which consists of a tele-14
phone call consisting in substantial part of a 15
prerecorded audio message’’. 16
(b) T
REATMENT ASCOMMUNICATION TRANSMITTED 17
INAUDIOFORMAT.— 18
(1) C
OMMUNICATIONS BY CANDIDATES OR AU -19
THORIZED PERSONS .—Section 318(d) of such Act 20
(52 U.S.C. 30120(d)) is amended by adding at the 21
end the following new paragraph: 22
‘‘(3) P
RERECORDED TELEPHONE CALLS .—Any 23
communication described in paragraph (1), (2), or 24
(3) of subsection (a) (other than a communication 25
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•S 512 IS
which is subject to subsection (e)) which is a tele-1
phone call consisting in substantial part of a 2
prerecorded audio message shall include, in addition 3
to the requirements of such paragraph, the audio 4
statement required under subparagraph (A) of para-5
graph (1) or the audio statement required under 6
paragraph (2) (whichever is applicable), except that 7
the statement shall be made at the beginning of the 8
telephone call.’’. 9
(2) C
OMMUNICATIONS SUBJECT TO EXPANDED 10
DISCLAIMER REQUIREMENTS .—Section 318(e)(3) of 11
such Act (52 U.S.C. 30120(e)(3)), as added by sec-12
tion 302(a), is amended by adding at the end the 13
following new subparagraph: 14
‘‘(D) P
RERECORDED TELEPHONE 15
CALLS.—In the case of a communication to 16
which this subsection applies which is a tele-17
phone call consisting in substantial part of a 18
prerecorded audio message, the communication 19
shall be considered to be transmitted in an 20
audio format.’’. 21
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•S 512 IS
SEC. 404. NO EXPANSION OF PERSONS SUBJECT TO DIS-1
CLAIMER REQUIREMENTS ON INTERNET 2
COMMUNICATIONS. 3
Nothing in this title or the amendments made by this 4
title may be construed to require any person who is not 5
required under section 318 of the Federal Election Cam-6
paign Act of 1971 to include a disclaimer on communica-7
tions made by the person through the internet to include 8
any disclaimer on any such communications. 9
SEC. 405. EFFECTIVE DATE. 10
The amendments made by this title shall apply with 11
respect to communications made on or after January 1, 12
2024, and shall take effect without regard to whether or 13
not the Federal Election Commission has promulgated 14
regulations to carry out such amendments. 15
TITLE V—SEVERABILITY 16
SEC. 501. SEVERABILITY. 17
If any provision of this Act or amendment made by 18
this Act, or the application of a provision or amendment 19
to any person or circumstance, is held to be unconstitu-20
tional, the remainder of this Act and amendments made 21
by this Act, and the application of the provisions and 22
amendment to any person or circumstance, shall not be 23
affected by the holding. 24
Æ
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