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1 1 (February 5, 2019)

handle is hein.crs/govydz0001 and id is 1 raw text is: Congressional Research Service ~ Informing the legislative debate since 1914 S February 5, 2019 H.R. 1: Overview and Related CRS Products Brief Overview H.R. 1 proposes major amendments to federal law governing campaign finance and elections. The bill's provisions, unless otherwise noted, would affect federal elections, although states would be responsible for implementing some provisions. H.R. 1 also proposes amendments to federal ethics and lobbying statutes. The bill generally proposes additional disclosure requirements, regulation, or both in each policy area it addresses. It would authorize federal funding for some activities. This CRS In Focus highlights major provisions in the bill and lists selected CRS products that provide related information. It does not address legal or constitutional issues. H.R. I and Recent Congressional Activity Representative Sarbanes introduced H.R. 1 on January 3, 2019. On January 29, 2019, the Judiciary Committee held the first hearing on the bill. As of this writing, no Senate companion measure has been introduced. H.R. I is one of the broadest legislative proposals addressing campaign finance, elections, ethics, and lobbying introduced in recent decades. The bill is both similar to and different from other recent legislation on these topics. Specifically, several titles or subtitles in H.R. 1 were introduced as stand-alone bills in previous Congresses or the current one. In those cases, H.R. 1 text typically is the same as in other legislation or is slightly altered. H.R. 1 is, however, broader than most such legislation. The bill is 570 pages long and contains three divisions. * Division A concerns elections and voting. * Division B concerns campaign finance. * Division C concerns ethics and lobbying. Given the bill's broad scope, it was referred to 10 House committees. The Committee on House Administration is the primary committee of jurisdiction. The bill also was referred to Education and Labor; Ethics; Financial Services; Homeland Security; Intelligence; Judiciary; Oversight and Reform; Science, Space, and Technology; and Ways and Means. Highlights of Major Provisions If enacted, H.R. 1 could substantially affect campaigns, elections, ethics, and lobbying in the United States. In each of those areas, some parts of the bill would create new federal requirements or roles. In others, the bill proposes to amend existing ones. A brief discussion of the bill's major provisions appears below. Campaign Finance Campaign finance provisions in H.R. 1 would substantially amend the Federal Election Campaign Act (FECA) and related statutes. Major provisions would (1) require additional disclosure of campaign-related fundraising and spending, including by some entities that do not currently typically report to the Federal Election Commission (FEC); (2) establish a voluntary public financing system for U.S. House campaigns; (3) substantially revise the current presidential public financing system; (4) require additional disclaimers surrounding certain political advertising, and restrict coordination between campaigns and other organizations; and (5) restructure the FEC. These proposals largely would expand existing disclosure requirements or programs. The disclosure provisions are adapted from the DISCLOSE Act proposal, introduced regularly since the Supreme Court's 2010 Citizens United ruling, which permitted corporate and union independent spending to elect or defeat electoral candidates. If enacted, the proposed House public financing program would be the first of its kind at the federal level. FEC membership and enforcement procedures would be substantially altered. Congressional Redistricting H.R. 1 would require states to establish independent redistricting commissions that meet specified requirements regarding commission membership, procedures, and criteria for redistricting plans for U.S. House elections. The federal requirements that H.R. 1 proposes would mark a major change in U.S. House redistricting. Currently, the federal government plays a limited role in congressional redistricting, primarily by, for example, enforcing relevant portions of the Voting Rights Act. If the bill were enacted, states would retain responsibility for the redistricting process, but federal law would substantially affect how they do so. Election Administration and Security Major election administration provisions would (1) require states to adopt certain policies, such as using paper ballots, offering early voting and no-excuse absentee voting, and accepting sworn written statements to satisfy voter identification (ID) requirements; and (2) authorize election administration grants and payments, including for absentee ballot tracking programs, voting and registration access for individuals with disabilities, and poll worker recruitment and training. Major election security provisions would (1) maintain the designation of election infrastructure as critical infrastructure; (2) authorize funding to replace voting systems and improve voting system security, implement /crsreports.congress.gc

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