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The Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 (FECA, Pub.L. 92-225, 86 Stat. 3, enacted 1972-02-07, 2 U.S.C. § 431 et seq. Public law is a theory of law governing the relationship between Individuals ( Citizens companies) and the State. The United States Statutes at Large, commonly referred to as the Statutes at Large and abbreviated Stat Year 1972 ( MCMLXXII) was a Leap year starting on Saturday (link will display full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. Events 457 - Leo I becomes emperor of the Byzantine Empire. 1074 - Battle of Montesarchio in which the Prince Title 2 of the United States Code outlines the role of Congress in the United States Code. ) is a United States federal law which increased disclosure of contributions for federal campaigns, and amended in 1974 to place legal limits on the campaign contributions. The law of the United States was originally largely derived from the Common law system of English law, which was in force at the time of the Revolutionary Campaign finance in the United States is the financing of electoral campaigns at the federal, state, and local levels. The amendment also created the Federal Election Commission (FEC). The Federal Election Commission (or FEC) is an independent regulatory agency that was founded in 1975 by the United States Congress to regulate the

It was amended again in 1976, in response to the provisions ruled unconstitutional by Buckley v. Valeo and again in 1979 to allow parties to spend unlimited amounts of hard money on activities like increasing voter turnout and registration. Buckley v Valeo, 424 US 1 ( 1976) was a case in which the Supreme Court of the United States upheld a federal law which set limits In 1979, the Commission ruled that political parties could spend unregulated or "soft" money for non-federal administrative and party building activities. Later, this money was used for candidate related issue ads, which led to a substantial increase in soft money contributions and expenditures in elections. This in turn created political pressures leading to passage of the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act ("BCRA"), banning soft money expenditure by parties. The Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002 ( BCRA, McCain–Feingold Act,) is United States federal law that amended the Federal Election Campaign Some of the legal limits on giving of "hard money" were also changed in by BCRA.

As important as transparency is to the election process, an unintended consequence of this transparency is that some potential donors feel that publication of their donation could have a negative effect on the donor, particularly with respect to their employment. A donor's name, address, and place of employment is considered public information and donor lists are widely available on the internet. Some potential donors have chosen not to make a donation out of fear their employer may find out about the donation and either withhold a raise, promotion, or outright fire the person. In general, employers can fire at will, and if the employer does not explain that the firing is due to the political persuasion of the employee, proving any kind of discrimination would be impossible. Fear of this kind of retaliation effectively shuts many out of making financial contributions to support a candidate. Campaigns are not legally required to report donations totalling under $200 but may do so; some have proposed that the limit should be raised to $500 or $1000 and that campaigns would not report donations from an individual until the total exceeds the established limit during an election cycle.

Contents

Major provisions

The major provisions of the 1971 Act and the 1974 amendment. Note that some provisions, including legal limits of contributions, have been modified by subsequent Acts.

Contribution Limits

The FECA placed limits on contributions by individuals and groups to candidates, party committees and PACs. The chart below shows how the original limits applied to the various participants in federal elections. It should be noted that many of these limits were later changed as part of the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act:

To each candidate or candidate committee per election cycle To national party committee per calendar year To any other political committee per calendar year Total per calendar year
Individual may give $1,000 $20,000 $5,000 $25,000
Multi candidate committee $5,000 $15,000 $5,000 No limit
Other political Committee may give: $1,000 $20,000 $5,000 No limit

History

As early as 1905, President Theodore Roosevelt asserted the need for campaign finance reform and called for legislation to ban corporate contributions for political purposes. The Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002 ( BCRA, McCain–Feingold Act,) is United States federal law that amended the Federal Election Campaign Theodore Roosevelt (ˈroʊzəvɛlt October 27 1858 January 6 1919 also known as T In response, in 1907 the United States Congress enacted the Tillman Act, named for Senator Benjamin Tillman, banning corporate contributions. The United States Congress is the bicameral Legislature of the federal government of the United States of America, consisting of two houses Benjamin Ryan Tillman ( August 11, 1847 &ndash July 3, 1918) was an American politician who served as Governor of South Carolina Several other statutes followed between 1907 and 1966 which, taken together, sought to:

In 1971, Congress consolidated its earlier reform efforts in the Federal Election Campaign Act (FECA), instituting more stringent disclosure requirements for federal candidates, political parties and Political action committees (PACs). A political party is a Political organization that seeks to attain and maintain political power within Government, usually by participating in electoral In the US, a Political Action Committee, or PAC, is the name commonly given to a private group regardless of size organized to elect political candidates Still, without a central administrative authority, the campaign finance laws were difficult to enforce.

Public funding of federal elections, originally proposed by President Roosevelt in 1907, began to take shape as part of the 1971 law, as Congress established the income tax checkoff to provide for the financing of Presidential general election campaigns and national party conventions. The Presidential election campaign fund checkoff appears on US income tax return forms as Do you want $3 of your federal tax to go to the Presidential Election Campaign Fund? Amendments to the Internal Revenue Code in 1974 established the matching fund program for Presidential primary campaigns.

Following reports of serious financial abuses in the 1972 Presidential campaign, Congress amended the FECA in 1974 to set limits on contributions by individuals, political parties and PACs. The 1974 amendments also established an independent agency, the Federal Election Commission (FEC) to enforce the law, facilitate disclosure and administer the public funding program. The Federal Election Commission (or FEC) is an independent regulatory agency that was founded in 1975 by the United States Congress to regulate the The FEC opened its doors in 1975 and administered the first publicly funded Presidential election in 1976.

The Supreme Court struck down or narrowed several provisions of the 1974 amendments to the Act, including limits on spending and limits on the amount of money a candidate could donate to his or her own campaign in Buckley v. Valeo (1976). The Supreme Court of the United States is the highest judicial body in the United States and leads the federal judiciary. Buckley v Valeo, 424 US 1 ( 1976) was a case in which the Supreme Court of the United States upheld a federal law which set limits

Congress made further amendments to the FECA in 1976 following those decisions; major amendments were also made in 1979 to streamline the disclosure process and expand the role of political parties.

Public perception of the corruption of the political process because of soft money lead to the next set of major amendments, the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002 (BCRA). The Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002 ( BCRA, McCain–Feingold Act,) is United States federal law that amended the Federal Election Campaign Among other things, the BCRA banned national parties from raising or spending soft money, restricted broadcast issue ads that mentioned candidates within 30 days of a primary election or 60 days of a general election, increased the contribution limits, and indexed certain limits for inflation.

See also

External links

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