SHIELD Act

Secure Handling of Internet Electronic Donations Act or the SHIELD Act

This bill addresses campaign finance in federal elections.

Specifically, the bill requires political committees, when accepting a credit or debit card contribution over the internet, to collect the credit or debit card's verification value. The card's billing address must be in the United States, with an exception. For a contributor who is living outside of the United States and, at the time of the contribution, is a U.S. national or lawfully admitted for permanent residence, the bill requires the contributor to provide the political committee with his or her voter registration address or identification document (e.g., U.S. passport).

Additionally, the bill prohibits political committees from accepting a contribution made through the use of a general-use prepaid card, gift certificate, or store gift card.

The bill also prohibits knowingly directing, helping, or assisting any person in making a contribution in the name of another person.

The Federal Election Commission must, within 10 days, promulgate regulations to carry out this bill.

[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 9488 Introduced in House (IH)]

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118th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 9488

   To amend the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 to require the 
    disclosure of the card verification value as a condition of the 
 acceptance of online contributions made through the use of credit or 
    debit cards in elections for Federal office and to prohibit the 
  acceptance of contributions made through the use of gift cards and 
    prepaid credit cards in such elections, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                           September 6, 2024

    Mr. Steil (for himself, Mrs. Bice, Ms. Lee of Florida, and Mr. 
 D'Esposito) 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 require the 
    disclosure of the card verification value as a condition of the 
 acceptance of online contributions made through the use of credit or 
    debit cards in elections for Federal office and to prohibit the 
  acceptance of contributions made through the use of gift cards and 
    prepaid credit cards in such elections, 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 ``Secure Handling of Internet 
Electronic Donations Act'' or the ``SHIELD Act''.

SEC. 2. REQUIRING DISCLOSURE OF CARD VERIFICATION VALUE AS CONDITION OF 
              ACCEPTANCE OF ONLINE CONTRIBUTIONS MADE USING CREDIT OR 
              DEBIT CARDS IN FEDERAL ELECTIONS.

    (a) Requirement.--Section 302 of the Federal Election Campaign Act 
of 1971 (52 U.S.C. 30102) is amended by adding at the end the 
following:
    ``(j)(1) No political committee shall accept any Internet credit or 
debit card contribution unless--
            ``(A) the individual or entity making such contribution is 
        required, at the time such individual makes such contribution, 
        to disclose the card verification value of such credit or debit 
        card; and
            ``(B)(i) the billing address associated with such credit or 
        debit card is located in the United States; or
            ``(ii) in the case of a contribution made by an individual 
        who is a United States national or lawful permanent resident 
        living outside of the United States, the individual provides 
        the committee with--
                    ``(I) the United States mailing address the 
                individual uses for voter registration purposes;
                    ``(II) a copy of the individual's United States 
                passport;
                    ``(III) a copy of the individual's permanent 
                resident card; or
                    ``(IV) a copy of a comparable acceptable 
                identification document, or the unique identifying 
                number from such a document, for the individual.
    ``(2) Notwithstanding subsection (b) or (c), in the case of an 
Internet credit or debit card contribution--
            ``(A) no later than 10 days after receiving the 
        contribution, the person who receives the contribution shall 
        forward to the treasurer such contribution, the name and 
        address of the person making the contribution, and the date of 
        receipt; and
            ``(B) the treasurer of a political committee shall keep an 
        account of the name and address of any person making any such 
        contribution, together with the date and amount of such 
        contribution by any person.
    ``(3) In this subsection, the term `Internet credit or debit card 
contribution' means a contribution that--
            ``(A) is made using a credit or debit card; and
            ``(B) is received through an Internet website.''.
    (b) Regulations.--
            (1) Deadline.--Not later than 10 days after the date of the 
        enactment of this Act, the Federal Election Commission shall 
        promulgate regulations to carry out the amendments made by 
        subsection (a).
            (2) Consultation with credit card payment networks.--In 
        promulgating regulations under paragraph (1), the Commission 
        shall consult with representatives of payment card networks, as 
        defined under section 921(c) of the Electronic Fund Transfer 
        Act (15 U.S.C. 1693o-2(c)).
    (c) Effective Date.--The amendment made by subsection (a) shall 
apply with respect to contributions made after the expiration of the 
180-day period which begins on the date of the enactment of this Act.

SEC. 3. PROHIBITING ACCEPTANCE OF CONTRIBUTIONS MADE USING GIFT CARDS 
              AND PREPAID CREDIT CARDS IN FEDERAL ELECTIONS.

    (a) Prohibition.--Section 302 of the Federal Election Campaign Act 
of 1971 (52 U.S.C. 30102), as amended by section 2(a), is amended by 
adding at the end the following:
    ``(k) No political committee shall accept a contribution made 
through the use of a general-use prepaid card, gift certificate, or 
store gift card, as such terms are defined, respectively, under section 
915(a) of the Electronic Fund Transfer Act (15 U.S.C. 1693l-1(a)).''.
    (b) Effective Date.--The amendment made by subsection (a) shall 
apply with respect to contributions made after the expiration of the 
180-day period which begins on the date of the enactment of this Act.

SEC. 4. PROHIBITING AIDING OR ABETTING MAKING OF CONTRIBUTION IN THE 
              NAME OF ANOTHER.

    Section 320 of the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 (52 U.S.C. 
30122) is amended by adding at the end the following new sentence: ``No 
person shall knowingly direct, help, or assist any person in making a 
contribution in the name of another person.''.
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