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) In General. Section 309 of the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 (52 U.S.C. 30109) is amended by adding at the end the following new subsection:
(e) In the case of a violation of section 313(c) committed by a committee described in such section, if the candidate or individual involved knew of the violation, any penalty imposed under this section shall be imposed on the candidate or individual and not on the committee.
(b) Prohibiting Reimbursement by Committee. Section 313(c) of such Act (52 U.S.C. 30114(c)), as added by section 2(a), is amended—
(1) by redesignating paragraph (3) as paragraph (4); and
(2) by inserting after paragraph (2) the following new paragraph:
(3) Prohibiting reimbursement by committee of penalty paid by candidate for violations. A committee described in paragraph (1) may not make any payment to reimburse the candidate or individual involved for any penalty imposed for a violation of this subsection which is required to be paid by the candidate or individual under section 309(e).