Fourth. It does not apply in any manner to persons who appear voluntarily without compensation. Fifth. It does not apply to organizations formed for other purposes whose effort to influence legislation are merely incidental to the purposes for which formed. Sixth. It does not (as is true with the Federal Regulation of Lobbying Act) apply to practices or activities regulated by the Federal Corrupt Practices Act nor does it repeal in any way any provision of the latter Act. What the title does do: First. It applies to those who do not visit the Council or its members but may initiate propaganda from all over the District in the form of letters and telegrams, many of which have been based entirely upon misinformation as to facts. This class of persons and organizations will be required under the title, not to cease or curtail their activities in any respect, but merely to disclose the sources of their collections and the methods in which they are disbursed. Second. It applies to the second class of lobbyists who may be employed to lobby the Council under the false impression that they exert some powerful influence over its members. These individuals may spend their time presumably exerting some influence with respect to the legislation in which their employers are interested, but carefully conceal from the Council members whom they happen to contact the purpose of their presence. The title in no wise prohibits or curtails their activities. It merely requires that they shall register and disclose the sources and purposes of their employment and the amount of their compensation. Third. It applies to a third class of entirely honest and respectable representatives of business, professional, and philanthropic organizations who openly and frankly express their views for or against legislation, many of whom serve a useful and perfectly legitimate purpose in expressing the views and interpretations of their employers with respect to legislation which concerns them. They will likewise be required to register and state their compensation and the sources of their employment. It is the intention of the Committee that the newly-elected Council be authorized to change, modify or repeal this title if in its wisdom such a course is appropriate. Nothing contained in Title V should be viewed as affecting the authority under Public Law 93-198 to amend this title as any other title of this bill. TITLE VI TAX INCENTIVE FOR CAMPAIGN CONTRIBUTIONS In the D.C. individual income tax law, there is no allowance for itemized deductions or tax credit for political contributions. The Federal law permits both. H.R. 14754 (Sec. 602) provides a $12.50 credit per person on the individual income tax. HISTORY Hearings on earlier proposed legislation (H.R. 13539 and H.R. 12038) were held by the Subcommittee on Government Operations on April 3 and 4, 1974, which reported a clean bill, H.R. 14754, embodying amendments to the foregoing bills. The Full Committee held further hearings on May 20 and 21, 1974. Testimony in support of various aspects of campaign financing legislation was presented by representatives on behalf of the D.C. Government Executive and Legislative Branches. Numerous public witnesses, many of them declared candidates for this Fall's elections in the District, urged the enactment of such legislation in some form, from few limitations and restrictions on contributions and expenditures to very rigid prohibitions on fund raising, spending and disclosure. The reported bill (H.R. 15074) is a composite of the varying views and represents the unanimous judgment of the Committee Members who heard the evidence and voted to report the bill. VOTE The bill, H.R. 15074, as amended, was ordered reported to the House on May 30, 1974 by a Committee vote of 15 ayes, 0 nays. CONCLUSION By this legislation, the Committee has endeavored to rectify the major inadequacies of the existing D.C. Election Law and thus assure its adequate workability insofar as the first local elections in 100 years for Mayor and Council are concerned. The Committee believes the provisions of H.R. 15074 will assure fair play and as full disclosure of contributions and expenditures in the election procedures as is possible in such legislation. For the reasons indicated in the "Purpose Section," the Committee has adopted proposals to assure fair and clean elections in these first elections. The new Council may make such changes to achieve long-range reform in our electoral process. COST Following is an estimate of costs of the proposed legislation, as calculated by the Board of Elections for the District. The first estimate ($92,268) assumes the addition of 2 other Board members to the present Board, which the Committee did not approve. However, the Committee added a Director of Campaign Finance, as a full-time employee, so his salary would almost approximate that of the 2 part-time Board members not included in H.R. 15074 but shown below. The second estimate ($203,715) was predicated upon the Committee's establishment of a new commission, which the Committee. disapproved. Of course, the major expenditures presently faced by the District Government are occasioned by the elections themselves for the positions provided in the Home Rule Act, which itself included an au thorization of $750,000 therefor. It is understood that the Board of Elections is presently hiring additional personnel, pursuant thereto, to assist in the conduct of these 1974 elections. BOARD OF ELECTIONS, GOVERNMENT OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA, Hon. BROCK ADAMS, DEAR CHAIRMAN ADAMS: In response to your request for the estimated costs of campaign financing measures, the Board of Elections for the District of Columbia submits the following information. 1. The projected cost of implementing the Campaign Financing Act using the present Board of Elections as the administering agency is based on the following personnel and office management considerations. As suggested in the Board of Elections testimony before the Government Operations Subcommittee, there should be two additional Board members, serving part-time, who would be exclusively engaged in administering the regulations in the Campaign Financing Act, and a staff of four. The staff should consist of a general counsel, an accountant, and two clerical persons, a GS-7 secretary who can take shorthand and a GS-5 clerk-typist. It should be noted that the Board highly recommends making at least one member, the Chairman, full time with commensurate benefits and pay. If this request is given affirmative action, then, of course, the cost estimate must be adjusted accordingly. 2. The estimated cost of administering the Act by establishing a new commission is as follows: H.R. 12638 calls for the 5 commission members to be paid at the rate of $125 per day. In the first year of operation, with the large number of candidates expected (there were 68 for the first School Board election), the Commission might be sitting for about 1/2 to 3⁄4 of the year which would amount to about $15,000 to $20,000 per member or $75,000 to $100,000. Staff should include a general counsel, an accountant, and at least 5 clerical persons. These estimates are based on a projected work load and past experience in staffing. We would like to take this opportunity to call to the attention of the Committee that with the passage of Public Law 93-198 additional responsibilities have required Board members to serve on almost a daily basis. This is especially the case with the Chairman. The D.C. Board of Elections proposes that the ceiling on compensation to Election Board Members be removed in view of their additional duties and responsibilities required as a result of enactment of Public Law 93-198. The Board recommends that this proposed legislation be limited to FY 75 and be retroactive for Board Members who have reached the current limitation of $11,250 by the date of enactment. On behalf of the Board, I wish to thank you for giving us this opportunity to express our views on the vital subject of campaign financing legislation. If we can be of further assistance, please feel free to contact us. Sincerely, CHARLES B. FISHER, Chairman. SECTION-BY-SECTION ANALYSIS TITLE SHORT TITLE, DEFINITIONS Section 101. Short Title. This section contains the short title, "District of Columbia Campaign Finance Reform Act". Section 102. Definitions. This section includes "election" (each primary, runoff, general or special election); "candidate," "office," "official of political party," "political committee" (any committee, club, association, organization or other group of individuals organized for the purpose of, or engaged in, promoting or opposing a political party or the nomination or election of an individual to office); "contribution" (a gift, subscription, loan, advance or deposit of money or anything of value; a contract, promise or agreement to make a contribution; a transfer of funds; the payment of compensation for the personal services of another person rendered without charge or for less than reasonable value); "expenditure," "person," "Director," "political party;" and "Board." TITLE II-FINANCIAL DISCLOSURES Section 201. Organizations of Political Committees. Section 201(a). Every political Committee is required to have a chairman and a treasurer. No contribution and no expenditure shall be accepted or made when there is a vacancy in the office of treasurer, and no one has been designated and has agreed to perform the functions of the treasurer. Expenditures must be authorized by the chairman or treasurer or designated agents. Section 201(b). Every person who receives a contribution of $10 or more for or on behalf of a political committee shall submit to the committee a detailed account thereof, including the amount, the name and address (including occupation and business address) of the contributor and the date it was received. Section 201 (c). Except for expenditures made out of the permitted petty cash fund, the treasurer of a political committee and each candidate shall keep a detailed and exact account of (1) all contributions; (2) the identification of all contributors of $10 or more; (3) all expenditures made on the behalf of the Committee or candidate; and (4) the identification of every person to whom an expenditure is made. Section 201(d). The treasurer or candidate shall obtain such receipted bills and records as may be required by the Director. Section 201(e). Each political committee and each candidate shall indicate on the face of all fund-raising literature that a copy of its report is on file with the Director. Section 202. Principal Campaign Committee Section 202(a) (b) (c). Each candidate shall designate one political committee as his principal campaign committee. The principal campaign committee shall receive all reports made by any other political committee supporting that candidate. No political committee may be designated as the principal campaign committee of more than one candidate (except for political party office). The treasurer of each principal campaign committee and each candidate shall receive all reports furnished by other political committees and shall consolidate and furnish reports and statements to the Director of Campaign Finance of the D.C. Board of Elections, in accordance with the regulations of the Board. Section 203. Designation of Campaign Depository Section 203 (a). Each political committee and each candidate accepting contributions or making expenditures shall designate one national bank located in D.C. as the campaign depository. All expenditures are to be made by check from the account at such depository. Section 203(b). A political committee or candidate may maintain a petty cash fund out of which may be made expenditures not in excess of $50 to any person in connection with a single purchase or transaction. A record of petty cash receipts and disbursements shall be furnished to the Director. |