1 | 1 | | I |
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2 | 2 | | 119THCONGRESS |
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3 | 3 | | 1 |
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4 | 4 | | STSESSION H. R. 2190 |
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5 | 5 | | To amend the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 to require reporting of |
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6 | 6 | | certain expenditures for political activities, and for other purposes. |
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7 | 7 | | IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES |
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8 | 8 | | MARCH18, 2025 |
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9 | 9 | | Mr. F |
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10 | 10 | | OSTER(for himself, Ms. VELA´ZQUEZ, Mrs. BEATTY, Ms. SCHAKOWSKY, |
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11 | 11 | | Mr. C |
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12 | 12 | | ASTEN, Mr. GARCI´Aof Illinois, and Mr. HIMES) introduced the fol- |
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13 | 13 | | lowing bill; which was referred to the Committee on Financial Services |
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14 | 14 | | A BILL |
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15 | 15 | | To amend the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 to require |
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16 | 16 | | reporting of certain expenditures for political activities, |
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17 | 17 | | and for other purposes. |
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18 | 18 | | Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1 |
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19 | 19 | | tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 |
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20 | 20 | | SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 |
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21 | 21 | | This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Shareholder Political 4 |
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22 | 22 | | Transparency Act of 2025’’. 5 |
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23 | 23 | | SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 6 |
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24 | 24 | | Congress finds that— 7 |
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25 | 25 | | (1) corporations make significant political con-8 |
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26 | 26 | | tributions and expenditures that directly or indi-9 |
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28 | 28 | | kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 2 |
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29 | 29 | | •HR 2190 IH |
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30 | 30 | | rectly influence the election of candidates and sup-1 |
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31 | 31 | | port or oppose political causes; 2 |
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32 | 32 | | (2) decisions to use corporate funds for political 3 |
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33 | 33 | | contributions and expenditures are usually made by 4 |
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34 | 34 | | corporate boards and executives, rather than share-5 |
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35 | 35 | | holders; 6 |
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36 | 36 | | (3) corporations, acting through boards and ex-7 |
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37 | 37 | | ecutives, are obligated to conduct business for the 8 |
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38 | 38 | | best interests of their owners, the shareholders; 9 |
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39 | 39 | | (4) historically, shareholders have not had a 10 |
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40 | 40 | | way to know, or to influence, the political activities 11 |
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41 | 41 | | of corporations they own; 12 |
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42 | 42 | | (5) shareholders and the public have a right to 13 |
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43 | 43 | | know how corporate managers are spending com-14 |
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44 | 44 | | pany funds to make political contributions and ex-15 |
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45 | 45 | | penditures benefitting candidates, political parties, 16 |
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46 | 46 | | and political causes; and 17 |
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47 | 47 | | (6) corporations should be accountable to share-18 |
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48 | 48 | | holders in making political contributions or expendi-19 |
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49 | 49 | | tures affecting Federal governance and public policy. 20 |
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50 | 50 | | SEC. 3. REPORTING REQUIREMENTS. 21 |
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51 | 51 | | Section 13 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 22 |
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52 | 52 | | (15 U.S.C. 78m) is amended by adding at the end the 23 |
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53 | 53 | | following: 24 |
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56 | 56 | | •HR 2190 IH |
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57 | 57 | | ‘‘(t) REPORTINGREQUIREMENTSRELATING TOCER-1 |
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58 | 58 | | TAINPOLITICALEXPENDITURES.— 2 |
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59 | 59 | | ‘‘(1) D |
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60 | 60 | | EFINITIONS.—In this subsection: 3 |
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61 | 61 | | ‘‘(A) E |
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62 | 62 | | XPENDITURE FOR POLITICAL AC -4 |
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63 | 63 | | TIVITIES.—The term ‘expenditure for political 5 |
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64 | 64 | | activities’— 6 |
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65 | 65 | | ‘‘(i) means— 7 |
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66 | 66 | | ‘‘(I) an independent expenditure 8 |
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67 | 67 | | (as defined in section 301(17) of the 9 |
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68 | 68 | | Federal Election Campaign Act of 10 |
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69 | 69 | | 1971 (52 U.S.C. 30101(17))); 11 |
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70 | 70 | | ‘‘(II) an electioneering commu-12 |
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71 | 71 | | nication (as defined in section 13 |
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72 | 72 | | 304(f)(3) of that Act (52 U.S.C. 14 |
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73 | 73 | | 30104(f)(3))) and any other public 15 |
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74 | 74 | | communication (as defined in section 16 |
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75 | 75 | | 301(22) of that Act (52 U.S.C. 17 |
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76 | 76 | | 30101(22))) that would be an elec-18 |
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77 | 77 | | tioneering communication if it were a 19 |
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78 | 78 | | broadcast, cable, or satellite commu-20 |
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79 | 79 | | nication; or 21 |
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80 | 80 | | ‘‘(III) dues or other payments to 22 |
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81 | 81 | | trade associations or organizations de-23 |
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82 | 82 | | scribed in section 501(c) of the Inter-24 |
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83 | 83 | | nal Revenue Code of 1986 and exempt 25 |
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86 | 86 | | •HR 2190 IH |
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87 | 87 | | from tax under section 501(a) of that 1 |
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88 | 88 | | Code that are, or could reasonably be 2 |
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89 | 89 | | anticipated to be, used or transferred 3 |
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90 | 90 | | to another association or organization 4 |
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91 | 91 | | for the purposes described in sub-5 |
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92 | 92 | | clause (I) or (II); and 6 |
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93 | 93 | | ‘‘(ii) does not include— 7 |
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94 | 94 | | ‘‘(I) direct lobbying efforts 8 |
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95 | 95 | | through registered lobbyists employed 9 |
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96 | 96 | | or hired by the issuer; 10 |
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97 | 97 | | ‘‘(II) communications by an 11 |
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98 | 98 | | issuer to its shareholders and execu-12 |
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99 | 99 | | tive or administrative personnel and 13 |
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100 | 100 | | their families; or 14 |
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101 | 101 | | ‘‘(III) the establishment and ad-15 |
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102 | 102 | | ministration of contributions to a sep-16 |
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103 | 103 | | arate segregated fund to be utilized 17 |
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104 | 104 | | for political purposes by a corpora-18 |
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105 | 105 | | tion. 19 |
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106 | 106 | | ‘‘(B) I |
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107 | 107 | | SSUER.—The term ‘issuer’ does not 20 |
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108 | 108 | | include an investment company registered 21 |
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109 | 109 | | under section 8 of the Investment Company Act 22 |
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110 | 110 | | of 1940 (15 U.S.C. 80a–8). 23 |
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111 | 111 | | ‘‘(2) Q |
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112 | 112 | | UARTERLY REPORTS .— 24 |
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115 | 115 | | •HR 2190 IH |
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116 | 116 | | ‘‘(A) REPORTS REQUIRED.—Not later than 1 |
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117 | 117 | | 180 days after the date of enactment of this 2 |
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118 | 118 | | subsection, the Commission shall amend the re-3 |
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119 | 119 | | porting rules under this section to require each 4 |
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120 | 120 | | issuer with a class of equity securities reg-5 |
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121 | 121 | | istered under section 12 of this title to submit 6 |
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122 | 122 | | to the Commission and the shareholders of the 7 |
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123 | 123 | | issuer a quarterly report containing— 8 |
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124 | 124 | | ‘‘(i) a description of any expenditure 9 |
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125 | 125 | | for political activities made during the pre-10 |
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126 | 126 | | ceding quarter; 11 |
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127 | 127 | | ‘‘(ii) the date of each expenditure for 12 |
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128 | 128 | | political activities; 13 |
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129 | 129 | | ‘‘(iii) the amount of each expenditure 14 |
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130 | 130 | | for political activities; 15 |
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131 | 131 | | ‘‘(iv) if the expenditure for political 16 |
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132 | 132 | | activities was made in support of or in op-17 |
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133 | 133 | | position to a candidate, the name of the 18 |
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134 | 134 | | candidate and the office sought by, and the 19 |
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135 | 135 | | political party affiliation of, the candidate; 20 |
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136 | 136 | | and 21 |
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137 | 137 | | ‘‘(v) the name or identity of trade as-22 |
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138 | 138 | | sociations or organizations described in 23 |
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139 | 139 | | section 501(c) of the Internal Revenue 24 |
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140 | 140 | | Code of 1986 and exempt from tax under 25 |
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143 | 143 | | •HR 2190 IH |
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144 | 144 | | section 501(a) of such Code which receive 1 |
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145 | 145 | | dues or other payments as described in 2 |
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146 | 146 | | paragraph (1)(A)(i)(III). 3 |
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147 | 147 | | ‘‘(B) P |
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148 | 148 | | UBLIC AVAILABILITY.—The Com-4 |
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149 | 149 | | mission shall ensure that the quarterly reports 5 |
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150 | 150 | | required under this paragraph are publicly 6 |
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151 | 151 | | available through the Internet website of the 7 |
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152 | 152 | | Commission and through the EDGAR system in 8 |
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153 | 153 | | a manner that is searchable, sortable, and 9 |
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154 | 154 | | downloadable, consistent with the requirements 10 |
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155 | 155 | | under section 24. 11 |
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156 | 156 | | ‘‘(3) A |
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157 | 157 | | NNUAL REPORTS.—Not later than 180 12 |
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158 | 158 | | days after the date of enactment of this subsection, 13 |
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159 | 159 | | the Commission shall, by rule, require each issuer to 14 |
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160 | 160 | | include in the annual report of the issuer to share-15 |
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161 | 161 | | holders— 16 |
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162 | 162 | | ‘‘(A) a summary of each expenditure for 17 |
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163 | 163 | | political activities made during the preceding 18 |
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164 | 164 | | year in excess of $10,000, and each expenditure 19 |
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165 | 165 | | for political activities for a particular election if 20 |
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166 | 166 | | the total amount of such expenditures for that 21 |
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167 | 167 | | election is in excess of $10,000; 22 |
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168 | 168 | | ‘‘(B) a description of the specific nature of 23 |
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169 | 169 | | any expenditure for political activities the issuer 24 |
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170 | 170 | | intends to make for the forthcoming fiscal year, 25 |
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173 | 173 | | •HR 2190 IH |
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174 | 174 | | to the extent the specific nature is known to the 1 |
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175 | 175 | | issuer; and 2 |
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176 | 176 | | ‘‘(C) the total amount of expenditures for 3 |
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177 | 177 | | political activities intended to be made by the 4 |
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178 | 178 | | issuer for the forthcoming fiscal year. 5 |
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179 | 179 | | ‘‘(4) R |
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180 | 180 | | EPORTS TO CONGRESS.— 6 |
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181 | 181 | | ‘‘(A) A |
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182 | 182 | | SSESSMENT AND REPORT .—The 7 |
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183 | 183 | | Commission shall— 8 |
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184 | 184 | | ‘‘(i) conduct an annual assessment of 9 |
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185 | 185 | | the compliance of issuers with this sub-10 |
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186 | 186 | | section; and 11 |
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187 | 187 | | ‘‘(ii) submit to Congress an annual re-12 |
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188 | 188 | | port containing the results of such assess-13 |
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189 | 189 | | ment. 14 |
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190 | 190 | | ‘‘(B) G |
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191 | 191 | | OVERNMENT ACCOUNTABILITY OF -15 |
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192 | 192 | | FICE.—The Comptroller General of the United 16 |
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193 | 193 | | States shall periodically evaluate and report to 17 |
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194 | 194 | | Congress on the effectiveness of the oversight 18 |
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195 | 195 | | by the Commission of the reporting and disclo-19 |
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196 | 196 | | sure requirements under this subsection.’’. 20 |
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197 | 197 | | Æ |
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