H.R. 7304
OMAR Act
Sponsor: Thomas P. Tiffany
1 cosponsor
Official summary
Written by the Congressional Research Service.
Oversight for Members And Relatives Act or the OMAR Act
This bill prohibits the use of campaign funds to compensate the spouse of a candidate or an individual holding federal office. It also requires disclosure of payments made to spouses or immediate family members.
Specifically, the bill prohibits an authorized committee of a candidate or any other political committee that is established, maintained, or controlled by a candidate or an individual holding federal office from directly or indirectly compensating the spouse of the candidate or individual for services provided to or on behalf of the committee. The prohibition does not apply to a political committee of a political party.
Next, the bill requires a political committee to report on disbursements to the spouse or an immediate family member of the candidate or the individual holding federal office.
Finally, the bill requires any penalty for a violation of the bill to be imposed on the candidate or the individual holding federal office if the candidate or individual involved knew of the violation. Further, it prohibits the committee involved from reimbursing the candidate or individual for the penalty.
Text of the bill
(a) Prohibition; Disclosure. Section 313 of the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 (52 U.S.C. 30114) is amended by adding at the end the following new subsection:
(c) Prohibiting Compensation of Spouses; Disclosure of Payments to Spouses and Family Members
(1) Prohibiting compensation of spouses. Notwithstanding any other provision of this Act, no authorized committee of a candidate or any other political committee established, maintained, or controlled by a candidate or an individual holding Federal office (other than a political committee of a political party) shall directly or indirectly compensate the spouse of the candidate or individual (as the case may be) for services provided to or on behalf of the committee.
(2) Disclosure of payments to spouses and immediate family members. In addition to any other information included in a report submitted under section 304 by a committee described in paragraph (1), the committee shall include in the report a separate statement of any payments, including direct or indirect compensation, made to the spouse or any immediate family member of the candidate or individual involved during the period covered by the report.
(3) Immediate family member defined. In this subsection, the term immediate family member means the son, daughter, son-in-law, daughter-in-law, mother, father, brother, sister, brother-in-law, sister-in-law, or grandchild of the candidate or individual involved.
(b) Conforming Amendment. Section 313(a)(1) of such Act (52 U.S.C. 30114(a)(1)) is amended by striking for otherwise and inserting subject to subsection (c), for otherwise.