Openness in Political Expenditures Now Act or OPEN Act - Amends the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 to require a corporation which submits regular, periodic reports to its shareholders and a labor organization which submits similar reports to its members to include in each such report specified information on disbursements it has made for certain political activity (including independent expenditures and electioneering communications) during the period covered by the report. Limits the amount of disbursements reported, however, to the amount that equals or exceeds the applicable threshold for the covered political activity.
Defines "applicable threshold" for a disbursement as: (1) $250 for an independent expenditure, (2) $10,000 for an electioneering communication or another kind of communication meeting specified criteria, and (3) the amount of the applicable limitation on contributions in effect for payment of dues or other amounts to a trade association or to a tax-exempt non-profit civic league meeting certain criteria (501[c][4] organization).
Requires a corporation or labor organization reporting such expenditures to: (1) file a statement about them with the Election Assistance Commission (EAC), and (2) post on its website (if any) a hyperlink from its homepage to this statement on the EAC website.
Amends the Internal Revenue Code to subject a 501(c)(4) organization to the income tax on corporations if: (1) its expenditures for the taxable year for covered political activity exceed the lesser of 10% of its total expenditures or $10 million, and (2) its governing instrument does not effectively prohibit its expenditures for a covered political activity from exceeding these thresholds.
[Congressional Bills 113th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 2670 Introduced in House (IH)]
113th CONGRESS
1st Session
H. R. 2670
To amend the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 to require
corporations and labor organizations to disclose to their shareholders
or members the amounts disbursed for certain political activity, and
for other purposes.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
July 11, 2013
Mr. Cartwright (for himself, Mr. Grayson, Mr. Brady of Pennsylvania,
Mr. Fattah, Mr. Sires, Mr. Enyart, Mr. Yarmuth, Mr. O'Rourke, Ms.
Loretta Sanchez of California, Mr. Andrews, Mr. Clyburn, Mr. Vargas,
Mr. Ellison, Mr. DeFazio, Mr. Cohen, Mr. Cicilline, Mr. Engel, Mr.
Grijalva, Mr. Tonko, Mr. Gene Green of Texas, and Ms. Linda T. Sanchez
of California) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the
Committee on Ways and Means, and in addition to the Committee on House
Administration, for a period to be subsequently determined by the
Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall
within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To amend the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 to require
corporations and labor organizations to disclose to their shareholders
or members the amounts disbursed for certain political activity, 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 ``Openness in Political Expenditures
Now Act'' or the ``OPEN Act''.
SEC. 2. DISCLOSURE BY CORPORATIONS AND LABOR ORGANIZATIONS TO
SHAREHOLDERS AND MEMBERS OF DISBURSEMENTS FOR POLITICAL
ACTIVITY.
(a) Disclosure Required.--Title III of the Federal Election
Campaign Act of 1971 (2 U.S.C. 431 et seq.) is amended by adding at the
end the following new section:
``SEC. 325. DISCLOSURES BY CORPORATIONS AND LABOR ORGANIZATIONS TO
SHAREHOLDERS AND MEMBERS OF INFORMATION ON DISBURSEMENTS
FOR CERTAIN POLITICAL ACTIVITY.
``(a) Including Information in Regular Periodic Reports.--
``(1) In general.--A corporation which submits regular,
periodic reports to its shareholders and a labor organization
which submits regular, periodic reports to its members shall
include in each such report, in a clear and conspicuous manner,
the information described in paragraph (2) with respect to the
disbursements made by the corporation or labor organization for
covered political activity during the period covered by the
report, but only if the amount of the disbursement made for
such activity during the period covered by the report equals or
exceeds the applicable threshold for the activity described in
paragraph (3).
``(2) Information described.--The information described in
this paragraph is, for each disbursement for covered political
activity--
``(A) the date of the disbursement;
``(B) the amount of the disbursement;
``(C) in the case of a disbursement consisting of
an independent expenditure or an electioneering
communication, or in the case of a covered political
activity described in subsection (c)(3), the name of
the candidate identified in the independent expenditure
or electioneering communication involved, the
Commission ID assigned to the candidate, and the office
sought by the candidate; and
``(D) in the case of a covered political activity
described in subsection (c)(4), the identification of
the association or organization to whom the
disbursement was made, and the Commission ID (if any)
assigned to the association or organization.
``(3) Applicable threshold for disclosure.--For purposes of
paragraph (1), the `applicable threshold' with respect to a
disbursement for covered political activity during a period
covered by a report is as follows:
``(A) In the case of covered political activity
consisting of an independent expenditure, $250.
``(B) In the case of covered political activity
consisting of an electioneering communication or a
communication described in subsection (c)(3), $10,000.
``(C) In the case of covered political activity
consisting of a payment described in subsection (c)(4),
the amount of the limitation on contributions which is
in effect under section 315(a)(1)(C) as of the last day
of the period.
``(b) Submission of Statement to Commission.--
``(1) Submission of statement.--If a corporation or labor
organization includes information in a report pursuant to this
section, at the time the corporation or labor organization
submits the report to its shareholders or members, the
corporation or labor organization shall file a statement with
the Commission consisting of the information included in the
report pursuant to this section.
``(2) Hyperlink to information.--
``(A) Requiring posting of hyperlink.--If a
corporation or labor organization maintains an Internet
site, the corporation or labor organization shall post
on such Internet site a hyperlink from its homepage to
the location on the Internet site of the Commission
which contains the statement filed by the corporation
or labor organization under paragraph (1).
``(B) Deadline; duration of posting.--The
corporation or labor organization shall post the
hyperlink described in subparagraph (A) not later than
24 hours after the Commission posts the statement filed
by the corporation or labor organization under
paragraph (1) on the Internet site of the Commission,
and shall ensure that the hyperlink remains on the
Internet site of the corporation or labor organization
until the expiration of the 1-year period which begins
on the date of the election with respect to which the
disbursements included in the statement are made.
``(c) Covered Political Activity Defined.--In this section, the
term `covered political activity' means each of the following:
``(1) An independent expenditure (as defined in section
301(17)).
``(2) An electioneering communication (as defined in
section 304(f)(3)).
``(3) A communication which would be treated as an
electioneering communication under section 304(f)(3) if the
communication had been a broadcast, cable, or satellite
communication.
``(4) The payment of dues or other amounts to a trade
association or to a section 501(c)(4) organization.
``(d) Other Definitions.--In this section, the following
definitions apply:
``(1) The term `corporation' means any corporation which is
subject to section 316(a).
``(2) The term `labor organization' has the meaning given
such term in section 316.
``(3) The term `section 501(c)(4) organization' means any
organization described in paragraph (4) of section 501(c) of
the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 and exempt from tax under
section 501(a) of such Code.''.
(b) Effective Date.--The amendment made by subsection (a) shall
apply with respect to reports described in section 325(a)(1) of the
Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 (as added by subsection (a))
which are filed after the expiration of the 90-day period which begins
on the date of the enactment of this Act.
SEC. 3. LIMITATION ON ENGAGING IN COVERED POLITICAL ACTIVITIES BY
SOCIAL WELFARE ORGANIZATIONS.
(a) In General.--Section 501(c)(4) of the Internal Revenue Code of
1986 is amended by adding at the end the following:
``(C)(i) Subparagraph (A) shall not apply to an
entity for a taxable year if the total expenditures of
such entity for the taxable year for covered political
activity exceed the lesser of--
``(I) 10 percent of the total expenditures
of such entity for the taxable year, or
``(II) $10,000,000.
``(ii) Subparagraph (A) shall not apply to an
entity for a taxable year unless its governing
instrument includes provisions the effects of which are
to prohibit the expenditures of the entity for a
covered political activity from exceeding the threshold
specified in clause (i).
``(iii) For purposes of this subparagraph, the term
`covered political activity' means--
``(I) any activity described in paragraphs
(1) through (3) of section 325(c) of the
Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971; and
``(II) any payment by the entity to any
other entity described in this paragraph or to
an organization described in paragraph (6)
which the payor entity knows, or has reason to
know, will be used directly or indirectly by
the payee entity or organization for any
activity referred to in subclause (I).
``(iv) Clause (i) shall not apply for a taxable
year for which the 10 percent threshold specified in
clause (i)(I) is exceeded by not more than a de minimis
amount if the Secretary determines that the reason for
exceeding the threshold was not willful and is due to
reasonable cause.
``(v) The Secretary shall prescribe such
regulations as may be necessary or appropriate to
prevent the avoidance of clause (i), including
regulations relating to a direct or indirect transfer
of all or part of the assets of an entity to an entity
controlled (directly or indirectly) by the same person
or persons who control the transferor entity.''.
(b) Effective Date.--The amendment made by subsection (a) shall
apply to taxable years beginning after the date of the enactment of
this Act.
SEC. 4. SEVERABILITY.
If any provision of this Act or amendment made by this Act, or the
application of a provision or amendment to any person or circumstance,
is held to be unconstitutional, the remainder of this Act and
amendments made by this Act, and the application of the provisions and
amendment to any person or circumstance, shall not be affected by the
holding.
<all>
Introduced in House
Introduced in House
Referred to the Committee on Ways and Means, and in addition to the Committee on House Administration, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned.
Referred to the Committee on Ways and Means, and in addition to the Committee on House Administration, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned.
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