Title I — Participation in Funding of Elections

H.R. 20 · 113th Congress · Feb 5, 2014 · Lineage

I Participation in Funding of Elections

A My Voice Tax Credit

Sec. 101 Refundable tax credit for congressional House campaign contributions

(a)

In general— Subpart C of part IV of subchapter A of chapter 1 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 (relating to refundable credits) is amended by inserting after section 36B the following new section:

“36C. Credit for congressional House campaign contributions

“(a) In general—In the case of an individual, there shall be allowed as a credit against the tax imposed by this subtitle an amount equal to 50 percent of the qualified My Voice Federal congressional House campaign contributions paid or incurred by the taxpayer during the taxable year.

“(b) Limitations

“(1) Dollar limitation—The amount of qualified My Voice Federal congressional House campaign contributions taken into account under subsection (a) for the taxable year shall not exceed $50 (twice such amount in the case of a joint return).

“(2) Limitation on contributions to Federal congressional House candidates—No credit shall be allowed under this section to any taxpayer for any taxable year if such taxpayer made aggregate contributions in excess of $300 during the taxable year to—

“(A) any single Federal congressional House candidate, or

“(B) any political committee established and maintained by a national political party.

“(3) Provision of information—No credit shall be allowed under this section to any taxpayer unless the taxpayer provides the Secretary with such information as the Secretary may require to verify the taxpayer’s eligibility for the credit and the amount of the credit for the taxpayer.

“(4) Ineligibility of individuals receiving My Voice Vouchers

“(A) In general—No credit shall be allowed under this section with respect to any individual for any taxable year which occurs during an election cycle in which such individual received a My Voice Voucher under subtitle B of title I of the Government By the People Act of 2014. In the case of a joint return with respect to which this paragraph applies to one of the spouses, such return shall not be treated as a joint return for purposes of determining the dollar limitation under paragraph (1).

“(B) Election cycle defined—In subparagraph (A), the term election cycle has the meaning given such term in section 114 of the Government By the People Act of 2014.

“(c) Qualified My Voice Federal congressional House campaign contributions—For purposes of this section, the term My Voice Federal congressional House campaign contribution means any contribution of cash by an individual to a Federal congressional House candidate or to a political committee established and maintained by a national political party if such contribution is not prohibited under the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971.

“(d) Federal congressional House candidate—For purposes of this section—

“(1) In general—The term Federal congressional House candidate means any candidate for election to the office of Representative in, or Delegate or Resident Commissioner to, the Congress.

“(2) Treatment of authorized committees—Any contribution made to an authorized committee of a Federal congressional House candidate shall be treated as made to such candidate.

“(e) Inflation adjustment

“(1) In general—In the case of a taxable year beginning after 2015, the $50 amount under subsection (b)(1) shall be increased by an amount equal to—

“(A) such dollar amount, multiplied by

“(B) the cost-of-living adjustment determined under section 1(f)(3) for the calendar year in which the taxable year begins, determined by substituting “calendar year 2014” for “calendar year 1992” in subparagraph (B) thereof.

“(2) Rounding—If any amount as adjusted under subparagraph (A) is not a multiple of $5, such amount shall be rounded to the nearest multiple of $5.”

(b)

Conforming amendments—

(1)

Section 6211(b)(4)(A) of such Code is amended by inserting “36C,” after “36B,”.

(2)

Section 1324(b)(2) of title 31, United States Code, is amended by inserting “36C,” after “36B,”.

(3)

The table of sections for subpart C of part IV of subchapter A of chapter 1 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 is amended by inserting after the item relating to section 36B the following new item:

(c)

Forms— The Secretary of the Treasury, or his designee, shall ensure that the credit for contributions to Federal congressional House candidates allowed under section 36C of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as added by this section, may be claimed on Forms 1040EZ and 1040A.

(d)

Administration— At the request of the Secretary of the Treasury, the Federal Election Commission shall provide the Secretary of the Treasury with such information and other assistance as the Secretary may reasonably require to administer the credit allowed under section 36C of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as added by this section.

(e)

Effective date— The amendments made by this section shall apply to taxable years beginning after the date of the enactment of this Act.

B My Voice Voucher Pilot Program

Sec. 111 Establishment of pilot program

(a)

Establishment— The Government by the People Oversight Commission established under section 542 of the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 (as added by section 201) (hereafter in this subtitle referred to as the “Commission”) shall establish a pilot program under which the Commission shall select 3 eligible States to operate a voucher pilot program which is described in section 112.

(b)

Eligibility of States— A State is eligible to be selected to operate a voucher pilot program under this subtitle if the State submits to the Commission (at such time during the application period and in such form as the Commission may require) an application containing—

(1)

information and assurances that the State will operate a voucher program which contains the elements described in section 112(a);

(2)

information and assurances that the State will establish fraud prevention mechanisms described in section 112(b);

(3)

information and assurances that the State will establish a commission to oversee and implement the program as described in section 112(c);

(4)

information and assurances that the State will submit reports as required under section 113; and

(5)

such other information and assurances as the Commission may require.

(c)

Timing of Program—

(1)

Issuance of initial guidance— Not later than 90 days after the appointment of a quorum of its members, the Commission shall issue initial guidance regarding the process by which States may apply to operate voucher pilot programs under this subtitle and initial guidance regarding the implementation of such programs.

(2)

Selection of participating States— The Commission shall select the 3 States which will operate voucher pilot programs under this subtitle not later than 90 days before the end of the application period.

(3)

Period of operation of program— Each State selected to operate a voucher pilot program under this subtitle shall operate such program during each of the 3 election cycles which begin after the application period, and shall ensure that the program is ready to be operated not later than the first January 1 of the first election cycle which begins after the application period.

(4)

Termination— Each voucher pilot program under this subtitle shall terminate as of the first day after the third election cycle during which the State operated the program.

(d)

Reimbursement of Costs— Upon receiving the report submitted by a State under section 113 with respect to an election cycle, the Commission shall transmit a payment to the State in an amount equal to the reasonable costs incurred by the State in operating the voucher pilot program under this subtitle during the cycle.

(e)

Application Period Defined— In this section, the term application period means the first election cycle which begins after the date of the enactment of this Act.

Sec. 112 Voucher program described

(a)

General Elements of Program—

(1)

Elements described— The elements of a voucher pilot program operated by a State under this subtitle are as follows:

(A)

The State shall provide each qualified individual upon the individual’s request with a voucher worth $50 to be known as a “My Voice Voucher” during the election cycle which will be assigned a routing number and which at the option of the individual will be provided in either paper or electronic form.

(B)

Using the routing number assigned to the My Voice Voucher, the individual may submit the My Voice Voucher in either electronic or paper form to qualified candidates for election for Federal office and allocate such portion of the value of the My Voice Voucher in increments of $5 as the individual may select to any such candidate.

(C)

If the candidate transmits the My Voice Voucher to the Commission, the Commission shall pay the candidate the portion of the value of the My Voice Voucher that the individual allocated to the candidate, which shall be considered a contribution by the individual to the candidate for purposes of the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971.

(2)

Designation of qualified individuals— For purposes of paragraph (1)(A), a “qualified individual” with respect to a State means an individual—

(A)

who is a resident of the State;

(B)

who will be of voting age as of the date of the election for the candidate to whom the individual submits a My Voice Voucher;

(C)

who is not prohibited under Federal law from making contributions to candidates for election for Federal office; and

(D)

who meets such other requirements as the State may impose, except that the State may not require the individual to be a registered voter in the State as a condition of being a qualified individual.

(b)

Fraud Prevention Mechanism— In addition to the elements described in subsection (a), a State operating a voucher pilot program under this subtitle shall permit an individual to revoke a My Voice Voucher not later than 2 days after submitting the My Voice Voucher to a candidate.

(c)

Oversight Commission— In addition to the elements described in subsection (a), a State operating a voucher pilot program under this subtitle shall establish a commission or designate an existing entity to oversee and implement the program in the State, except that no such commission or entity may be comprised of elected officials.

Sec. 113 Reports

(a)

Election Cycle Reports— Not later than 6 months after each election cycle during which a State operates a voucher pilot program under this subtitle, the State shall submit a report to the Commission analyzing the operation and effectiveness of the program during the cycle and including such other information as the Commission may require.

(b)

Final Report— Not later than 6 months after the termination of the voucher pilot programs under this subtitle, each State which operated such a program shall submit a final report to the Commission on the operation of the program during the previous election cycles, and shall include in each such report such recommendations as the State considers appropriate regarding the expansion of the pilot program to all States and territories, along with such other recommendations and other information as the Commission may require.

Sec. 114 Election cycle defined

In this subtitle, the term election cycle means the period beginning on the day after the date of the most recent regularly scheduled general election for Federal office and ending on the date of the next regularly scheduled general election for Federal office.

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Feb 5, 2014viewing Introduced in House Mr. Sarbanes (for himself, Ms. Pelosi, Mr. Barber, Mrs. Beatty, Mr. Bera of California, Mr. Bishop of New York, Mr. Blumenauer, Ms. Bonamici, Mr. Brady of Pennsylvania, Mr. Braley of Iowa, Mr. Carney, Mr. Cartwright, Mr. Castro of Texas, Mr. Cicilline, Ms. Clarke of New York, Mr. Clay, Mr. Cleaver, Mr. Clyburn, Mr. Cohen, Mr. Conyers, Mr. Cooper, Mr. Courtney, Mr. Crowley, Mr. Cummings, Mrs. Davis of California, Mr. DeFazio, Mr. Delaney, Ms. DeLauro, Ms. DelBene, Mr. Deutch, Mr. Dingell, Mr. Doggett, Ms. Edwards, Mr. Ellison, Mr. Engel, Ms. Eshoo, Ms. Esty, Mr. Farr, Ms. Frankel of Florida, Ms. Fudge, Ms. Gabbard, Mr. Garcia, Mr. Grayson, Mr. Gene Green of Texas, Mr. Al Green of Texas, Mr. Grijalva, Mr. Gutiérrez, Mr. Hastings of Florida, Mr. Himes, Mr. Holt, Mr. Honda, Mr. Horsford, Mr. Hoyer, Mr. Huffman, Mr. Israel, Ms. Jackson Lee, Mr. Jeffries, Mr. Johnson of Georgia, Ms. Eddie Bernice Johnson of Texas, Mr. Jones, Ms. Kaptur, Ms. Kelly of Illinois, Mr. Kilmer, Mr. Kind, Mrs. Kirkpatrick, Ms. Kuster, Mr. Langevin, Mr. Larson of Connecticut, Ms. Lee of California, Mr. Lewis, Mr. Loebsack, Ms. Lofgren, Mr. Lowenthal, Mr. Ben Ray Luján of New Mexico, Ms. Michelle Lujan Grisham of New Mexico, Mr. Maffei, Mr. Sean Patrick Maloney of New York, Mrs. Carolyn B. Maloney of New York, Ms. Matsui, Ms. McCollum, Mr. McDermott, Mr. McGovern, Ms. Meng, Mr. Michaud, Mr. George Miller of California, Ms. Moore, Mr. Moran, Mr. Murphy of Florida, Mr. Nadler, Mr. Nolan, Ms. Norton, Mr. O'Rourke, Mr. Pallone, Mr. Pascrell, Mr. Payne, Mr. Perlmutter, Mr. Peters of California, Mr. Peters of Michigan, Ms. Pingree of Maine, Mr. Pocan, Mr. Polis, Mr. Quigley, Mr. Rangel, Mr. Rush, Ms. Linda T. Sánchez of California, Ms. Schakowsky, Ms. Schwartz, Mr. Scott of Virginia, Mr. Serrano, Ms. Shea-Porter, Mr. Sherman, Mr. Sires, Ms. Slaughter, Mr. Smith of Washington, Ms. Speier, Mr. Swalwell of California, Mr. Takano, Mr. Tierney, Mr. Tonko, Mr. Van Hollen, Mr. Vargas, Ms. Velázquez, Mr. Walz, Ms. Wasserman Schultz, Mr. Waxman, Mr. Welch, Mr. Yarmuth, Ms. Brownley of California, and Ms. Castor of Florida) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on House Administration, and in addition to the Committees on Energy and Commerce and Ways and Means, 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