Fairness in Corporate Campaign Spending Act of 2010

Fairness in Corporate Campaign Spending Act of 2010 - Amends the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 to prohibit a corporation from making any independent expenditure or disbursing funds for any electioneering communication without obtaining the prior approval of a majority of its shareholders. Subjects officers and directors of a corporation to personal liability for civil money penalties for violating this prohibition.

Exempts from this prohibition any corporation whose aggregate disbursements for electioneering communications during a year: (1) are less than $8,000, if the corporation has fewer than 100 full-time-equivalent (FTE) employees; or (2) are less than $20,000, if the corporation has more than 100 FTE employees.

Declares that nothing in this Act shall affect political disbursements by a separate segregated fund established by a corporation.

[Congressional Bills 111th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 4644 Introduced in House (IH)]

111th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 4644

   To amend the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 to prohibit a 
corporation from making any independent expenditure or disbursing funds 
   for any electioneering communication without obtaining the prior 
  approval of a majority of its shareholders, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                           February 22, 2010

  Mr. Sestak introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
                   Committee on House Administration

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
   To amend the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 to prohibit a 
corporation from making any independent expenditure or disbursing funds 
   for any electioneering communication without obtaining the prior 
  approval of a majority of its shareholders, and for other purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Fairness in Corporate Campaign 
Spending Act of 2010''.

SEC. 2. REQUIRING PRIOR SHAREHOLDER APPROVAL FOR CAMPAIGN SPENDING BY 
              CORPORATIONS.

    (a) Prior Approval Required.--Title III of the Federal Election 
Campaign Act of 1971 (2 U.S.C. 431 et seq.) is amended by inserting 
after section 316 the following new section:

``SEC. 316A. PRIOR APPROVAL OF SHAREHOLDERS REQUIRED FOR CERTAIN 
              SPENDING BY CORPORATIONS.

    ``(a) Prior Approval Required.--A corporation may not make any 
disbursement for an independent expenditure or an electioneering 
communication under this Act during a year unless--
            ``(1) at the most recent annual meeting of the 
        corporation's shareholders, the corporation presented to the 
        shareholders a proposal that the corporation make disbursements 
        for such purposes during the year; and
            ``(2) a majority of its shareholders voted to approve the 
        proposal.
    ``(b) Personal Liability for Payment of Additional Penalty.--In 
addition to any other penalty which may be imposed under this Act, if a 
corporation makes a disbursement in violation of this section, each 
officer and director of the corporation shall be personally liable for 
payment of a civil money penalty in an amount equal to the amount of 
the disbursement involved.
    ``(c) Exception for Disbursements Below Threshold.--This section 
does not apply with respect to a disbursement referred to in subsection 
(a) which is made by a corporation during a year if the aggregate 
amount of all such disbursements made by the corporation during the 
year--
            ``(1) is less than $8,000, in the case of a corporation 
        with fewer than 100 full-time-equivalent employees (determined 
        as of the date of the most recent annual meeting of the 
        corporation's shareholders); or
            ``(2) is less than $20,000, in the case of any other 
        corporation.
    ``(d) No Affect on Political Committees of Corporations.--Nothing 
in this section shall be construed to affect disbursements by a 
separate segregated fund established by a corporation under section 
316(b)(2)(C).''.
    (b) Effective Date; Transition for Disbursements Made in 2010.--
            (1) Effective date.--The amendment made by subsection (a) 
        shall apply with respect to disbursements made on or after the 
        date of the enactment of this Act.
            (2) Transition.--Notwithstanding paragraph (1), a 
        corporation shall be deemed to meet the applicable requirements 
        of section 316A of the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 
        (as added by subsection (a)) with respect to a disbursement 
        made during 2010 if, not later than 60 days after the date of 
        the enactment of this Act--
                    (A) the corporation presents to its shareholders a 
                proposal described in section 316A(a)(1) of such Act 
                for 2010; and
                    (B) a majority of the corporation's shareholders 
                vote to approve the proposal.
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