Section 1 Short title
This Act may be cited as the “Small Dollar Donor Protection Act”.
Small Dollar Donor Protection Act
A BILL
To amend the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 to require authorized committees of candidates for election for Federal office to include in the reports the committees are required to file under such Act information on contributions received from small dollar donors, and for other purposes.
Sec. 2 Disclosure of contributions received from small dollar donors
Disclosure required— Section 304(b)(2) of the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 (52 U.S.C. 30104(b)(2)) is amended—
by striking “and” at the end of subparagraph (J);
by adding “and” at the end of subparagraph (K); and
by adding at the end the following new subparagraph:
“(L) for an authorized committee, contributions from persons whose identification the committee does not report under subparagraph (A), (F), or (G) of paragraph (3) because the receipts described in such subparagraph which are provided from such persons do not have an aggregate amount or value in excess of $200 within the election cycle, together with the number of such contributions received within the election cycle;”
Guidance— Not later than 90 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Federal Election Commission shall publish guidance to assist committees with complying with the requirements of section 304(b)(2)(L) of the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971, as added by subsection (a)(3).
Effective date— The amendments made by subsection (a) shall apply with respect to reports filed under section 304(b) of the Federal Election Campaign Act on or after the date of the enactment of this Act, except that in the case of a committee which filed a report under such section during the 90-day period which ends on the date of the enactment of this Act, the amendments shall apply with respect to the second report a committee is required to file under section after such date and each subsequent report.
Sec. 3 Analysis of deceptive and fraudulent methods of solicitation of small dollar donors by candidate committees
Report— The Federal Election Commission shall conduct a study of the methods used by committees of candidates for election for Federal office under the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 to solicit contributions from individuals in amounts below the threshold for disclosing the identification of donors under the Act, and shall include in the study an analysis of the extent to which committees use methods which are deceptive or fraudulent to solicit such contributions.
Deadline— Not later than 180 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Commission shall submit a report to Congress on the study conducted under subsection (a), and shall include in the report such recommendations as the Commission considers appropriate to prevent the use of deceptive and fraudulent methods to solicit the contributions described in subsection (a).