Fair Elections Now Act
Latest action · Sep 23, 2008 Referred to the Subcommittee on Telecommunications and the Internet.
Progress
Where this bill reached, and when. A stage with no date was not reached; one that failed a vote and later carried shows the date it carried.
- IntroducedSep 23, 2008
- Passed HouseNot reached
- Passed SenateNot reached
- To the PresidentNot reached
- Became lawNot reached
Summary
Fair Elections Now Act - Amends the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 (FECA) with respect to: (1) eligibility and qualifying contribution requirements, seed money limits, and benefits of fair elections financing of campaigns for election to the U.S. House of Representatives; (2) establishment of a House Fair Elections Fund; (3) eligibility for Fund allocations as well as such allocations; (4) a seed money contribution requirement; (5) contribution and expenditure requirements; (6) certification of whether or not a federal election candidate is a participating candidate; (7) benefits for participating candidates; (8) payment of fair fight funds; (9) administration of the House Fair Elections System; (10) reporting requirements for nonparticipating candidates; (11) modification of electioneering communication reporting requirements; and (12) the limitation on coordinated expenditures by political party committees with participating candidates.
Amends the Communications Act of 1934 with respect to the deposit of proceeds from recovered spectrum auctions.
Establishes the Fair Elections Review Commission.
Amends the Communications Act of 1934 to: (1) entitle participating candidates to receive specified reduced broadcast rates in certain circumstances; and (2) provide for political advertisement vouchers for them.
Directs the Federal Election Commission (FEC) to charge non-public broadcast stations a spectrum use fee, which shall be deposited into the House Fair Elections Fund.
Amends federal postal law to prohibit franked mass mailings by Members of Congress (except notices of public meetings) during the 90 days before primary and general election periods, unless they are not candidates for re-election.
Amends FECA to: (1) empower the FEC to petition the U.S. Supreme Court for a proceeding on certiorari; (2) revise requirements for filing with the FEC by House candidates; and (3) reduce from 48 to 24 hours the deadline for electronic filing with the FEC of reports by each political committee of contributions received within 90 days before an election.
Cosponsors 1
Members who signed on, in the order they did. All signed on Sep 23, 2008.
| Seat | Cosponsor | Signed on | |
|---|---|---|---|
| R-NC | Walter B. Jones | Original | Sep 23, 2008 |
Actions 3
Everything that happened, newest first.
- Sep 23, 2008Introduced in House
- Sep 23, 2008Referred to the Committee on House Administration, and in addition to the Committees on Energy and Commerce, Oversight and Government Reform, and Rules, 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.
- Sep 23, 2008Referred to the Subcommittee on Telecommunications and the Internet.
Related bills 2
Companion bills and other measures the record links to this one.
| Bill | Title | Relationship | Latest action |
|---|---|---|---|
| S 936 | Fair Elections Now Act | Related bill | Mar 20, 2007 |
| S 1285 | Fair Elections Now Act | Related bill | Jun 20, 2007 |
Subjects
Assigned by the Library of Congress. Policy area: Government Operations and Politics.
- Administrative procedure
- Auctions
- Auditing
- Campaign funds
- Congress
- Congressional elections
- Congressional mail
- Congressional reporting requirements
- Economics and Public Finance
- Election administration
- Election candidates
- Electronic data interchange
- Executive reorganization
- Expedited congressional procedure
- Federal Election Commission
- Finance and Financial Sector
- Fines (Penalties)
- Franking privilege
- Government Operations and Politics
- Government paperwork
- Government trust funds
- Governmental investigations
- House rules and procedure
- Judicial review
- Law
- Legislation
- Licenses
- Negative campaigning
- Political action committees
- Political advertising
- Political parties
- Primaries
- Radio spectrum allocation
- Radio stations
- Science, Technology, Communications
- Senate
- Senate rules and procedure
- Supreme Court
- Taxation
- Telecommunication rates
- Television stations
- User charges
Text 1
Each version as it was printed, newest first.
- Sep 23, 2008Introduced in House
Everything here is as published by Congress: the summary is the Congressional Research Service's, the action wording is the clerks', and the subjects are the Library of Congress's. How far it got is read from the actions themselves, taking the most recent one of each kind, so a bill that failed a vote and later passed is shown as having passed. Records come from this bill on Congress.gov and govinfo.gov.