Fair Elections Now Act
Latest action · Feb 12, 2014 Read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance. (text of measure as introduced: CR S951-957)
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.
- IntroducedFeb 12, 2014
- Passed SenateNot reached
- Passed HouseNot 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 and benefits of fair elections financing of Senate election campaigns, (2) establishment of a Fair Elections Fund, (3) eligibility for Fund allocations, (4) contribution and expenditure requirements, (5) a public debate requirement, (6) certification of whether or not a federal election candidate is a participating candidate, (7) benefits for participating candidates, (8) 600% matching payments to candidates for certain small dollar contributions, (9) political advertising vouchers, (10) establishment of a Fair Elections Oversight Board, (11) civil penalties for violation of contribution and expenditure requirements, (12) prohibition of joint fundraising committees with any political committee other than a candidate's authorized committee, and (13) an exception to a specified limitation on coordinated expenditures by political party committees with participating candidates for any expenditure from a qualified political party-participating candidate coordinated expenditure fund.
Amends the Communications Act of 1934 to: (1) prohibit the preemption of the use of a broadcasting station by a legally qualified Senate candidate who has purchased and paid for such use, (2) revise Federal Communications Commission (FCC) authority to revoke licenses for broadcasting stations who fail to provide access to Senate candidates, and (3) revise the formula for determining reduced broadcast rates for participating candidates in certain circumstances.
Directs the FCC to initiate a rulemaking proceeding to establish a standardized form to be used by broadcasting stations to record and report the purchase of advertising time by or on behalf of a candidate for nomination for election, or for election, to federal elective office.
Amends FECA to: (1) empower the Federal Election Commission (FEC) to petition the U.S. Supreme Court for a writ of certiorari to appeal a civil action; (2) require all designations, statements, and reports required to be filed under FECA to be filed directly with the FEC, and in computer-accessible electronic form; and (3) reduce from 48 to 24 hours after their receipt the deadline for the FEC to make designations, statements, reports, or notifications available to the public in the FEC office and on the Internet.
Amends the Internal Revenue Code to allow a refundable tax credit in the amount of 50% of the qualified My Voice Federal Senate campaign contributions paid or incurred by the taxpayer during the taxable year. Limits such credit to a maximum $50 (twice such amount in the case of a joint return). Prohibits any such credit to any taxpayer who made aggregate contribuitons in excess of $300 during the taxable year to any single federal Senate candidate or to any political committee established and maintained by a national party.
Imposes an excise tax on any payment made pursuant to a U.S. government contract to any person that is not a state or local government, a foreign nation, or a tax-exempt organization and that has contracts with the U.S. government in excess of $10 million. Sets the rate of such tax imposed on any payment to a qualified person under any such contract at 0.50% of the amount paid and limits the aggregate annual amount of tax so imposed for any calendar year to not more than $500,000.
Expresses the sense of the Senate that the tax revenues raised by this Act should be used for the financing of a Fair Elections Fund and the public financing of Senate elections.
Cosponsors 19
Members who signed on, in the order they did. Signatures ran from Feb 12, 2014 to Jul 30, 2014, with 16 there on the day it was introduced.
| Seat | Cosponsor | Signed on | |
|---|---|---|---|
| D-MN | Al Franken | Original | Feb 12, 2014 |
| D-MN | Amy Klobuchar | Original | Feb 12, 2014 |
| D-CA | Barbara Boxer | Original | Feb 12, 2014 |
| D-MD | Benjamin L. Cardin | Original | Feb 12, 2014 |
| I-VT | Bernard Sanders | Original | Feb 12, 2014 |
| D-CT | Christopher Murphy | Original | Feb 12, 2014 |
| D-MA | Edward J. Markey | Original | Feb 12, 2014 |
| D-MA | Elizabeth Warren | Original | Feb 12, 2014 |
| D-NH | Jeanne Shaheen | Original | Feb 12, 2014 |
| D-OR | Jeff Merkley | Original | Feb 12, 2014 |
| D-NY | Kirsten E. Gillibrand | Original | Feb 12, 2014 |
| D-NM | Martin Heinrich | Original | Feb 12, 2014 |
| D-VT | Patrick J. Leahy | Original | Feb 12, 2014 |
| D-NJ | Robert Menendez | Original | Feb 12, 2014 |
| D-OH | Sherrod Brown | Original | Feb 12, 2014 |
Actions 3
Everything that happened, newest first.
- Feb 12, 2014Introduced in Senate
- Feb 12, 2014Read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance. (text of measure as introduced: CR S951-957)
- Feb 12, 2014Sponsor introductory remarks on measure. (CR S949-951)
Related bills 1
Companion bills and other measures the record links to this one.
| Bill | Title | Relationship | Latest action |
|---|---|---|---|
| HR 269 | Fair Elections Now Act | Related bill | Jan 15, 2013 |
Subjects
Assigned by the Library of Congress. Policy area: Government Operations and Politics.
- Administrative law and regulatory procedures
- Broadcasting, cable, digital technologies
- Congressional elections
- Elections, voting, political campaign regulation
- Federal Communications Commission (FCC)
- Federal Election Commission (FEC)
- Government information and archives
- Government Operations and Politics
- Government trust funds
- House of Representatives
- Income tax credits
- Inflation and prices
- Judicial review and appeals
- Licensing and registrations
- Political parties and affiliation
- Public contracts and procurement
- Sales and excise taxes
- Senate
- Supreme Court
Text 1
Each version as it was printed, newest first.
- Feb 12, 2014Introduced in Senate
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.