Senators Collins, McCain And Feingold Again Team Up To Strengthen Campaign Finance Laws

Senators Susan Collins (R-ME), John McCain (R-AZ), Russ Feingold (D-WI), and others introduced legislation today to strengthen federal campaign finance laws. The 527 Reform Act would require 527 groups to comply with the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act. 527 groups are tax exempt organizations "organized and operated primarily" to influence elections or the appointment of officials to non-elective office. During the 2002 elections, 527 groups were not required by the Federal Election Commission to register as political committees nor comply with federal campaign finance law, including contribution and spending limits. Senator Collins has long been a champion of campaign finance reform and was an original cosponsor of the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act, as the third Republican to sign onto the landmark legislation.

"No sooner had the ink dried on the McCain-Feingold Act, than 527 groups found a way to circumvent federal campaign finance laws, and were able to spend and receive unlimited amounts of campaign dollars. Tens of millions of dollars in unchecked soft money spending was used to support and attack both Democratic and Republican candidates. This is an end run that needs to be stopped in order to ensure fairness and transparency in the elections process," said Senator Collins.

The 527 Reform legislation, of which Senator Collins is an original cosponsor, would require 527 groups to register as political committees with the FEC and to comply with federal campaign finance laws. The groups would be required to use only so-called "hard money" contributions to finance advertisements that promote or attack federal candidates, regardless of whether the ads expressly advocate the election or defeat of the candidate. Hard money is defined as funding given by a political party and individual contributors to a candidate for office that is subject to maximum limits on contributions, rules for public disclosure, and other campaign finance laws. The Reform Act establishes that when a 527 group makes expenditures for voter mobilization activities or public communications solely related to federal candidates, all of the costs would have to be paid for with federal hard money contributions. If expenditures pertain in part to federal candidates or elections, at least 50% of the costs would have to be paid for with federal hard money. Also, the legislation puts a $25,000 maximum limit on nonfederal contributions made by an individual donor.

Any 527 group with annual receipts of less than $25,000 or whose activities pertain solely to non-federal elections, state or local ballot initiatives or non-elected offices would be exempt from compliance.

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