{ "id": "RL31402", "type": "CRS Report", "typeId": "REPORTS", "number": "RL31402", "active": false, "source": "EveryCRSReport.com, University of North Texas Libraries Government Documents Department", "versions": [ { "source": "EveryCRSReport.com", "id": 101193, "date": "2004-01-09", "retrieved": "2016-04-08T14:30:47.727544", "title": "Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002: Summary and Comparison with Previous Law", "summary": "The Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002 (BCRA) was enacted on March 27, 2002 as P.L.\n107-155 . It passed the House on February 14, 2002, as H.R. 2356 (Shays-Meehan), by\na 240-189 vote. Its companion measure, on which it was largely based, had initially been passed by\nthe Senate in 2001 as S. 27 (McCain-Feingold). On March 20, 2002, however, the\nSenate approved the House-passed H.R. 2356 by a 60-40 vote, thus avoiding a\nconference to reconcile differences between S. 27 and H.R. 2356 . A series\nof technical amendments to the bill was passed later that day by the House, in the form of\n H.Con.Res. 361 , which directed the Clerk of the House to make specified corrections\nin the enrolled H.R. 2356 . The Senate approved the concurrent resolution on March\n22, thus clearing the measure for the President.\n The two primary features of P.L. 107-155 are restrictions on party soft money and issue\nadvocacy. First, the new Act generally bans the raising of soft money by national parties and federal\ncandidates or officials and restricts soft money spending by state parties on what the Act defines as\n\"federal election activities.\" The Act does, however, allow for some use of soft money under certain\nconditions for specified federal election activities by state and local parties.\n Second, the Act regulates issue advocacy by creating a new term in federal election law,\n\"electioneering communication\"-- political advertisements that \"refer\" to a clearly identified federal\ncandidate and are broadcast within 30 days of a primary or 60 days of a general election. Generally,\nthe Act prohibits unions and certain corporations from spending treasury funds for such\n\"electioneering communications.\" For those individuals and groups permitted to finance such\ncommunications, it requires disclosure of disbursements of over $10,000 and the identity of donors\nof $1,000 or more.\n The Act generally took effect on November 6, 2002, the day after the 2002 general elections. \nCertain provisions, however, had different effective dates, either to allow a transition period or, as\nin the case of increased contribution limits, to make the new rules coincide with the calendar year.\n On December 10, 2003, in McConnell v. FEC (No. 02-1674), the U.S. Supreme\n Court upheld\nthe constitutionality of key provisions of BCRA. A 5-to-4 majority of the Court upheld most\nportions of the law, including the key provisions relating to political party soft money and\nelectioneering communications. The Court, however, invalidated two provisions of the law: the\nprohibition of contributions by minors age 17 and under and the provision requiring political parties\nto choose between coordinated and independent expenditures during the post-nomination,\npre-election campaign period.", "type": "CRS Report", "typeId": "REPORTS", "active": false, "formats": [ { "format": "HTML", "encoding": "utf-8", "url": "http://www.crs.gov/Reports/RL31402", "sha1": "fed31763faa235c1a029e7c7270280d925fa72da", "filename": "files/20040109_RL31402_fed31763faa235c1a029e7c7270280d925fa72da.html", "images": null }, { "format": "PDF", "encoding": null, "url": "http://www.crs.gov/Reports/pdf/RL31402", "sha1": "1fd677d85a371da5611e9233046d9dca56d171b2", "filename": "files/20040109_RL31402_1fd677d85a371da5611e9233046d9dca56d171b2.pdf", "images": null } ], "topics": [] }, { "source": "University of North Texas Libraries Government Documents Department", "sourceLink": "https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc812932/", "id": "RL31402_2003Jan31", "date": "2003-01-31", "retrieved": "2016-03-19T13:57:26", "title": "Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002: Summary and Comparison with Previous Law", "summary": null, "type": "CRS Report", "typeId": "REPORT", "active": false, "formats": [ { "format": "PDF", "filename": "files/20030131_RL31402_6aa2837d20865da0b3d17291415e9f42d48a20f1.pdf" }, { "format": "HTML", "filename": "files/20030131_RL31402_6aa2837d20865da0b3d17291415e9f42d48a20f1.html" } ], "topics": [] }, { "source": "University of North Texas Libraries Government Documents Department", "sourceLink": "https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metacrs6524/", "id": "RL31402 2002-05-03", "date": "2002-05-03", "retrieved": "2005-08-03T10:13:16", "title": "Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002: Summary and Comparison with Previous Law", "summary": "The Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002 was enacted on March 27, 2002 as P.L. 107-155. It passed the House on February 14, 2002, as H.R. 2356 (Shays- Meehan), by a 240-189 vote. Its companion measure, on which it was largely based, had initially been passed by the Senate in 2001 as S. 27 (McCain-Feingold). On March 20, 2002, however, the Senate approved the House-passed H.R. 2356 by a 60- 40 vote, thus avoiding a conference to reconcile differences between S. 27 and H.R. 2356. The two primary features of P.L. 107-155 are restrictions on party soft money and issue advocacy.", "type": "CRS Report", "typeId": "REPORT", "active": false, "formats": [ { "format": "PDF", "filename": "files/20020503_RL31402_aa0f3d11867c8225a0fa9b2b2aff59a69129b1e1.pdf" }, { "format": "HTML", "filename": "files/20020503_RL31402_aa0f3d11867c8225a0fa9b2b2aff59a69129b1e1.html" } ], "topics": [ { "source": "LIV", "id": "Elections", "name": "Elections" }, { "source": "LIV", "id": "Campaign finance reform - Law and legislation", "name": "Campaign finance reform - Law and legislation" } ] } ], "topics": [ "Constitutional Questions" ] }