Sponsors (169)
Official title: To amend the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 to provide for additional disclosure requirements for corporations, labor organizations, Super PACs and other entities, and for other purposes.
Introduced March 4, 2026 by Chris Pappas · Last progress March 4, 2026
The bill increases transparency and strengthens rules to limit foreign and concealed money in U.S. politics, but it does so by imposing significant new disclosure, compliance, and legal risks that reduce privacy and raise costs for nonprofits, small actors, platforms, and some donors.
Voters and taxpayers will see who pays for political ads and communications because the bill requires disclosure of top funders, donor/beneficial‑owner information above thresholds, and searchable FEC records.
Federal, state, and local elections will be better protected from foreign influence because the bill clarifies that disbursements tied to illicit foreign funds are treated as prohibited contributions and expands covered activity (including some ballot initiatives).
The bill strengthens enforcement by creating new criminal penalties for concealing foreign contributions and giving the FEC and DOJ specific tools (civil penalties, injunctions) to deter and punish unlawful concealment and misuse of funds.
Nonprofits, small businesses, local groups, and campaigns will face substantially higher compliance costs and administrative burdens from new reporting thresholds, rapid disclosure deadlines, recordkeeping requirements, and ad‑display rules.
Donors, beneficial owners, and some targeted communities risk loss of privacy and possible harassment because names, addresses, and targeting details may be published when organizations exceed reporting thresholds.
Broad definitions (e.g., of 'campaign-related disbursement' and covered communications), tight deadlines, and the removal of some exceptions could chill issue advocacy and routine communications by nonprofits, media, and small actors.
Based on analysis of 6 sections of legislative text.
Tightens disclosure and reporting, expands the foreign-money ban, creates new minor-contribution rules, updates disclaimers for modern media, and centralizes expedited judicial review.
Tightens federal campaign finance rules by expanding what counts as a contribution or campaign-related disbursement, requiring new disclosures from organizations (including beneficial-owner data in some cases), creating additional disclaimer rules for modern digital and audio/video communications, imposing reporting requirements and civil penalties for minors and covered organizations, and directing GAO studies on illicit foreign money in federal elections. It also centralizes and speeds judicial review of certain election-law challenges in the D.C. courts and includes procedural and timing rules and a severability clause. The bill changes definitions and enforcement tools across federal election law to close perceived loopholes for foreign money and opaque funding, adds new near-real-time disclosure duties for organizations that spend above set thresholds, updates disclaimers for modern media formats, creates a new minor-contribution regime with small safe harbors and FEC reporting, and requires recurring GAO reports on foreign influence in election cycles through 2036 (with a sunset for those provisions thereafter).