User:Jmjohnson43/Federal Election Campaign Act

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The Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 (FECA, Pub.L.  92–225, 86 Stat. 3, enacted February 7, 1972, 52 U.S.C. § 30101 et seq.) is the primary United States federal law regulating political campaign fundraising and spending. The law originally focused on creating limits for campaign spending on communication media, adding additional penalties to the criminal code for election law violations, and imposing disclosure requirements for federal political campaigns. The Act was signed into law by President Richard Nixon on February 7, 1972.

In 1974, the act was amended to create the Federal Election Commission (FEC) and to place legal limits on campaign contributions and expenditures.

The act was amended again in 1976, in response to the provisions ruled unconstitutional by Buckley v. Valeo, including the structure of the FEC and the limits on campaign expenditures, and again in 1979 to allow parties to spend unlimited amounts of hard money on activities like increasing voter turnout and registration. In 1979, the FEC ruled that political parties could spend unregulated or "soft" money for non-federal administrative and party building activities. Later, this money was used for candidate-related issue ads, which led to a substantial increase in soft money contributions and expenditures in elections. This in turn led to passage of the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002 ("BCRA"), effective on January 1, 2003, which banned soft money expenditure by parties. Some of the legal limits on giving of "hard money" were also changed by BCRA.

Background
As early as 1905, Theodore Roosevelt argued in favor of campaign finance reform and called for a ban of corporate contributions for political purposes. In response, the United States Congress passed the Tillman Act of 1907, which banned the corporate contributions. Further regulation followed in the Federal Corrupt Practices Act enacted in 1910, and subsequent amendments in 1910 and 1925, the Hatch Act, the Smith–Connally Act of 1943, and the Taft–Hartley Act in 1947. These acts sought to regulate corporate and union spending in campaigns for federal office, and mandated public disclosure of campaign donors. [find citations for this info? it's from the original article.]

Legislative History
In 1970, President Nixon vetoed the Political Broadcast Act of 1970, a bill that aimed to establish laws regulating campaign spending on television and radio. President Nixon claimed that the Political Broadcast Act did not sufficiently limit campaign expenditures, nothing that it "plugged only one hole in a sieve." This bill was an attempt to regulate election spending, but despite having the necessary membership to override the veto, Senate Democrats did not pass the law without the President's signature. Subsequently, Senator Mike Mansfield introduced S. 382, later to be known as FECA, to the Senate on January 26, 1971 in the 92nd Congress.

The Act was first introduced to the Senate Subcommittee on Communications of the Committee on Commerce on March 2, 1971 by Senator John Pastore. After passing the Senate Committee on Commerce by a vote of 18-0, the Act passed the Senate floor on August 5, 1971 by a vote of 88-2.

In the House, the Act passed on November 30, 1971 by a vote of 373-23. Because the House version was not identical to the Senate version, a conference committee was called. On December 14, 1971, the Senate agreed to the conference report, and on January 19, 1972, the House agreed to the conference report, sending the bill to President Nixon.

Campaign Communications
The Act limited campaign expenditures for broadcast media, newspaper advertisement, and telephone calls to $0.10 per voter in the district they're running in when adjusted for inflation using the Consumer Price Index. Additionally, FECA required broadcast and non-broadcast media to charge the lowest unit rate for advertisements for all candidates within the 45 days leading up to a primary election and the 60 days leading up to a general election. Despite several debates on the issue, the Act did not repeal Section 315 of the Communications Act of 1934, a requirement that media companies offer equal broadcast time to candidates for federal office.

Criminal Code Amendments
Promises of rewards or gifts were prohibited under FECA, meaning that a candidate for office could not offer employment or other benefits in exchange for donations or other forms of political aid. FECA also placed a cap on the amount a candidate could spend of their own money on their campaign at $50,000 for Presidential and Vice Presidential candidates, $35,000 for Senate candidates, and $25,000 for candidates for the House of Representatives.

Violations of the policies outlined in the Act carried fines of up to $1,000 and up to 1 year of imprisonment, or both.

Disclosure Requirements
The Act required candidates for federal office to disclose the expenditures they made and contributions they received if those amounts totaled more than $100. Candidates were also required to disclose the structure and membership of their political committees if they intended to receive and spend more than $1,000 during a calendar year. Political committees were required to keep track of the name, occupation, address, and amount that any person contributes if that amount exceeded $10. Additionally, the Act outlawed making contributions in the name of another person or knowingly accepting contributions that are being made in the name of another person.

Reports were to be sent to the Comptroller General of the Government Accountability Office.