OPEN Act
Latest action · Nov 17, 2016 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.
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.
- IntroducedNov 17, 2016
- Passed HouseNot reached
- Passed SenateNot reached
- To the PresidentNot reached
- Became lawNot reached
Summary
Openness in Political Expenditures Now Act or OPEN Act
This bill amends the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 to require a corporation that submits regular, periodic reports to its shareholders 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. The amount of disbursements reported, however, is limited to the amount that equals or exceeds the applicable threshold for the covered political activity.
"Applicable threshold" for a disbursement is defined 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 social welfare organization.
A Corporation reporting such expenditures shall: (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.
This bill amends the Internal Revenue Code to deny a tax exemption for a social welfare organization if: (1) its expenditures for the taxable year for covered political activity exceed the lesser of 10% of its total expenditures or $10 million, or (2) its governing instrument does not effectively prohibit its expenditures for a covered political activity from exceeding these thresholds.
Cosponsors 4
Members who signed on, in the order they did. All signed on Nov 17, 2016.
| Seat | Cosponsor | Signed on | |
|---|---|---|---|
| D-CA | Adam B. Schiff | Original | Nov 17, 2016 |
| D-TX | Gene Green | Original | Nov 17, 2016 |
| D-OH | Marcy Kaptur | Original | Nov 17, 2016 |
| D-OR | Peter A. DeFazio | Original | Nov 17, 2016 |
Actions 2
Everything that happened, newest first.
- Nov 17, 2016Introduced in House
- Nov 17, 2016Referred 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.
Subjects
Assigned by the Library of Congress. Policy area: Government Operations and Politics.
Text 1
Each version as it was printed, newest first.
- Nov 17, 2016Introduced 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.