H.R. 1826 (111th): Fair Elections Now Act

111th Congress, 2009–2010

To reform the financing of House elections, and for other purposes.

Introduced:
Mar 31, 2009
Sponsor:
Rep. John Larson [D-CT1]
Status:
Died (Referred to Committee)
See Instead:
This bill was re-introduced as H.R. 1404 on Apr 06, 2011. See H.R. 1404 for current action on this subject.

Bill titles and summaries are written by the sponsor. H.R. stands for House bill.

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Bill Overview

Status:
Introduced Mar 31, 2009
This bill was introduced on March 31, 2009, in a previous session of Congress, but was not enacted.
Text:
Cosponsors:
show cosponsors (165)
Committees:

House Committee on Energy and Commerce

House Committee on House Administration

House Committee on Ways and Means

The committee chair determines whether a bill will move past the committee stage.

Subject Areas:

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Related Bills:

Related bills above are identified by the Congressional Research Service.

This bill was a re-introduction of H.R. 7022 (110th) (Sep 23, 2008).

Primary Source

THOMAS (The Library of Congress)
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Official Summary

The following summary was written by the Congressional Research Service, a nonpartisan arm of the Library of Congress, which serves Congress. GovTrack did not write and has no control over these summaries.

3/31/2009--Introduced.
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 House of Representatives 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) matching payments for qualified 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) a specified limitation on coordinated expenditures by political party committees with participating candidates. Amends the Communications Act of 1934 to require the deposit into the Fair Elections Fund of 10% of the proceeds from competitive auctions for recovered analog spectrum. Amends the Internal Revenue Code to allow for designation of a certain amount of income tax liability to the Fair Elections Fund. Amends the Communications Act of 1934 to: (1) prohibit the preemption of the use of a broadcasting station by a legally qualified House 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 House 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.