Stop Illegal Campaign Coordination Act

[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 9589 Introduced in House (IH)]

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118th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 9589

      To amend the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 to treat 
 expenditures as coordinated with a candidate, an authorized committee 
of a candidate, or a committee of a national, State, or local political 
 party if the making of the expenditures is materially consistent with 
instructions, directions, guidance, and suggestions from such candidate 
                 or committee, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                           September 12, 2024

    Ms. Tokuda (for herself, Mr. Pocan, Ms. Jayapal, and Mr. Case) 
 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 treat 
 expenditures as coordinated with a candidate, an authorized committee 
of a candidate, or a committee of a national, State, or local political 
 party if the making of the expenditures is materially consistent with 
instructions, directions, guidance, and suggestions from such candidate 
                 or committee, 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 ``Stop Illegal Campaign Coordination 
Act''.

SEC. 2. TREATMENT OF CERTAIN EXPENDITURES AS COORDINATED EXPENDITURES.

    (a) In General.--Section 315(a) of the Federal Election Campaign 
Act of 1971 (52 U.S.C. 30116(a)) is amended--
            (1) in paragraph (7)(B)(i), by striking ``or their agents'' 
        and inserting ``or their agents, including expenditures 
        described in paragraph (10),'';
            (2) in paragraph (7)(B)(ii) by striking ``political 
        party,'' and inserting ``political party, including 
        expenditures described in paragraph (10),''; and
            (3) by adding at the end the following new paragraph:
    ``(10)(A) For purposes of paragraph (7)(B)(i) and (ii), an 
expenditure is described in this paragraph if the making of the 
expenditure is materially consistent with instructions, directions, 
guidance, or suggestions from a candidate, an authorized committee of a 
candidate, or a national, State, or local committee of a political 
party, or from an agent of any such candidate or committee, regardless 
of whether the instructions, directions, guidance, or suggestions are 
made available to the general public or are communicated directly or 
indirectly to the person making the expenditure.
    ``(B) To determine whether the making of an expenditure is 
materially consistent with instructions, directions, guidance, or 
suggestions from a candidate or committee for purposes of this 
paragraph, the Commission shall consider each of the factors described 
in subparagraph (C), and if the Commission determines that one or more 
of such factors apply with respect to the making of the expenditure, 
the making of the expenditure shall be presumed to be materially 
consistent with instructions, directions, guidance, or suggestions from 
a candidate or committee for purposes of this paragraph.
    ``(C) The factors described in this subparagraph are the following:
            ``(i) Whether the instructions, directions, guidance, or 
        suggestions indicate that information regarding a clearly 
        identified candidate or political party should be communicated 
        or disseminated to voters or any subset of voters.
            ``(ii) In the case of an expenditure consisting of Federal 
        election activity or a communication which disseminates to any 
        person information about a candidate or political party, 
        whether the instructions, directions, guidance, or suggestions 
        include information regarding the target audience for the 
        communication or the information, such as the demographics, 
        location, or political party affiliation of recipients.
            ``(iii) Whether the instructions, directions, guidance, or 
        suggestions include suggested methods of making a communication 
        or disseminating information, such as references to the 
        distribution or receipt of direct mail, audio, video, social 
        media, digital, or other media.
            ``(iv) In the case of an expenditure consisting of Federal 
        election activity or a communication which disseminates to any 
        person information about a candidate or political party, 
        whether the instructions, directions, guidance, or suggestions 
        include or are accompanied by any phrase, image, video, or 
        audio is subsequently used, in whole or in part, in 
        communicating or disseminating the information.
            ``(v) Whether the instructions, directions, guidance, or 
        suggestions containing one or more other factors identified in 
        this subparagraph are set apart using a signal or cue.
            ``(vi) Such other factors as the Commission considers 
        appropriate.''.
    (b) Effective Date.--The amendments made by subsection (a) shall 
apply with respect to expenditures made on or after the date of the 
enactment of this Act.
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