Legislation to Replace FEC with New Election Administration Agency Introduced in Senate and House

On July 10, 2003 U.S. Senators John McCain (R-AZ) and Russ Feingold (D-WI) and U.S. Representatives Christopher Shays (R-CT) and Marty Meehan (D-MA) introduced legislation to replace the Federal Election Commission (FEC) with a new agency structured to strengthen administration and enforcement of Federal campaign finance law. The legislation is titled, "The Federal Election Administration Act of 2003."

The Federal Election Administration Act of 2003 would replace the current FEC with a new agency charged with implementing and enforcing Federal campaign finance law. The name of the new agency would be the "Federal Election Administration." In creating the new Federal Election Administration, the legislation aims to remedy flaws in the structure and operation of the FEC that have resulted in improper implementation and weak enforcement of Federal campaign finance law by the agency. Significantly:

* The new Federal Election Administration would consist of a Chair and two additional members, appointed by the President with the advice and consent of the Senate. The two members not serving as Chair could not come from the same political party. The Chairman would have broad powers to manage and administer the agency.

Among other things, this will avoid the deadlocks that have plagued the current FEC, stemming from its six-Commissioner structure (consisting of no more than three Commissioners from one political party). These deadlocks have, among other things, prevented the FEC from enforcing the law properly - such as in the case of the soft money abuses by the presidential candidates and national party committees in the 1996 elections.

* The new Federal Election Administration would have the power to impose civil monetary penalties or issue cease-and-desist orders in the event of violations. Enforcement proceedings would be conducted before impartial administrative law judges.

By comparison, the FEC has no power to impose civil monetary penalties or issue cease-and-desist orders with respect to violators who are unwilling to reach acceptable settlements with the agency. At the end of cumbersome internal enforcement proceedings (not involving administrative law judges), FEC Commissioners may only vote in favor of suing a violator in Federal court (and secure the imposition of civil penalties and equitable relief at the conclusion of the court case). Serious delay in "time-to-sanction" and a lack of will to enforce the law on important occasions have crippled the FEC enforcement process.

* The new Federal Election Administration would have other enforcement powers not possessed by the current FEC, including the ability to apply to a Federal court for a temporary restraining order or preliminary injunction to prevent violations of Federal campaign finance law that would result in substantial harm to the public interest, as well as the authority to conduct a limited number of random audits of campaign committees.

The FEC's failure over the years to properly implement and enforce Federal election law permitted campaign finance practices that undermined public confidence in the Federal political process. Most prominently, the "soft money" loophole was the creation of the FEC - not of any act of Congress. Having opened this loophole in the late 1970's, the FEC proceeded to open the floodgates for soft money in Federal elections by failing to treat national party spending on election ads coordinated with the 1996 presidential campaigns as subject to longstanding "hard money" financing requirements and spending limits and by allowing outside groups to coordinate their soft money spending with the Federal candidates who benefited. Recently, the FEC has issued regulations to implement the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002 which are contrary to the text and intent of the new law and resurrect elements of the soft money system Congress aimed to banish. A lawsuit filed by Congressmen Shays and Meehan with the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia seeks to overturn these regulations.

Please click here to view a copy of the "Federal Election Administration Act of 2003".

Please click here to view a summary of the "Federal Election Administration Act of 2003".

Please click here to view a document listing the principal differences between the proposed Federal Election Administration and the current FEC.

Please click here to view "No Bark, No Bite, No Point," a report on the FEC's failures by the Project FEC Task Force (assembled by the Democracy 21 Education Fund).

Please click here to view recent comments filed by the Campaign Legal Center with the FEC, discussing problems with the FEC's enforcement of Federal campaign finance law.