House File 2601 - Introduced HOUSE FILE 2601 BY COMMITTEE ON STATE GOVERNMENT (SUCCESSOR TO HF 2044) (COMPANION TO SF 2204 BY COMMITTEE ON STATE GOVERNMENT) A BILL FOR An Act relating to campaign finance, including participation 1 in ballot issue campaigns by foreign nationals and 2 investigations of election misconduct, and making penalties 3 applicable. 4 BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF IOWA: 5 TLSB 5420HV (2) 91 ss/ns

H.F. 2601 Section 1. Section 68A.102, Code 2026, is amended by adding 1 the following new subsections: 2 NEW SUBSECTION . 12A. “Directly or indirectly” means acting 3 either independently or jointly with, through, or on behalf of 4 a committee or other person. 5 NEW SUBSECTION . 14A. “Foreign national” means any of the 6 following: 7 a. An individual who is not a citizen or lawful permanent 8 resident of the United States. 9 b. A government or political subdivision of a foreign 10 country. 11 c. A foreign political party. 12 d. An entity, such as a partnership, association, 13 corporation, organization, or other combination of persons, 14 that is organized under the laws of, or has its principal place 15 of business in, a foreign country. 16 e. A United States entity, such as a partnership, 17 association, corporation, or organization, that is wholly owned 18 or majority-owned by a foreign national, unless both of the 19 following apply: 20 (1) All contributions and expenditures made by the entity 21 are derived entirely from funds generated by the entity’s 22 operations in the United States. 23 (2) All decisions concerning contributions and expenditures 24 are made by an individual who is a citizen or lawful permanent 25 resident of the United States, except that a person who is not 26 a citizen or lawful permanent resident of the United States may 27 set overall budget amounts for the entity. 28 Sec. 2. Section 68A.203, subsection 3, Code 2026, is amended 29 by adding the following new paragraph: 30 NEW PARAGRAPH . f. All affirmations obtained pursuant to 31 subsection 5, if applicable. 32 Sec. 3. Section 68A.203, Code 2026, is amended by adding the 33 following new subsection: 34 NEW SUBSECTION . 5. Upon receipt of a contribution from 35 -1- LSB 5420HV (2) 91 ss/ns 1/ 6

H.F. 2601 a donor by a political committee expressly advocating the 1 passage or defeat of a ballot issue, the treasurer shall obtain 2 from the donor an affirmation that the donor is not a foreign 3 national and has not knowingly or willfully accepted funds in 4 excess of one hundred thousand dollars in aggregate from one 5 or more foreign nationals within the four years immediately 6 preceding the date the contribution is made. 7 Sec. 4. Section 68A.402, subsection 8, Code 2026, is 8 amended by adding the following new paragraphs after unnumbered 9 paragraph 1: 10 NEW PARAGRAPH . a. A report filed by a political committee 11 pursuant to this subsection shall include an affirmation by 12 the treasurer of the political committee that the political 13 committee has not knowingly or willfully received, solicited, 14 or accepted a contribution from a foreign national. 15 NEW PARAGRAPH . b. A report filed by a political committee 16 pursuant to this subsection shall include an affirmation by the 17 treasurer of the political committee that no donor associated 18 with a contribution covered by the report is a foreign national 19 and that no donor associated with a contribution covered by 20 the report has knowingly or willfully received, solicited, or 21 accepted, whether directly or indirectly, funds in excess of 22 one hundred thousand dollars in aggregate from one or more 23 foreign nationals within the four years immediately preceding 24 the date the contribution was made to the political committee. 25 Sec. 5. Section 68A.404, subsection 2, paragraph c, Code 26 2026, is amended to read as follows: 27 c. A foreign national shall not make an independent 28 expenditure, directly or indirectly, that advocates the 29 nomination, election, or defeat of any candidate or the 30 passage or defeat of any ballot issue. As used in this 31 section , “foreign national” means a person who is not a citizen 32 of the United States and who is not lawfully admitted for 33 permanent residence. “Foreign national” includes a foreign 34 principal, such as a government of a foreign country or a 35 -2- LSB 5420HV (2) 91 ss/ns 2/ 6

H.F. 2601 foreign political party, partnership, association, corporation, 1 organization, or other combination of persons that has its 2 primary place of business in or is organized under the laws of 3 a foreign country. “Foreign national” does not include a person 4 who is a citizen of the United States or who is a national of 5 the United States. 6 Sec. 6. Section 68A.404, subsection 5, Code 2026, is amended 7 by adding the following new paragraph: 8 NEW PARAGRAPH . i. For an independent expenditure statement 9 for a communication which expressly advocates the passage or 10 defeat of a ballot issue, an affirmation that the person making 11 the independent expenditure has not knowingly or willfully 12 accepted funds in excess of one hundred thousand dollars in 13 aggregate from one or more foreign nationals within the four 14 years immediately preceding the date the expenditure was made 15 and will not do so through the date of the election in which the 16 ballot issue will appear on the ballot. 17 Sec. 7. NEW SECTION . 68A.507 Influence by foreign national 18 prohibited —— investigation. 19 1. A foreign national shall not direct, dictate, control, 20 or directly or indirectly participate in the decision-making 21 process of a person regarding the person’s activities to 22 influence a ballot issue, including decisions concerning the 23 making of contributions or expenditures to influence a ballot 24 issue. 25 2. A foreign national shall not solicit, directly or 26 indirectly, the making of a contribution or expenditure by 27 another person to influence a ballot issue. 28 3. a. An investigation of a violation of this section, 29 section 68A.203, subsection 5, section 68A.402, subsection 30 8, section 68A.404, subsection 2, paragraph “c” , or section 31 68A.404, subsection 5, paragraph “i” , or an investigation 32 undertaken pursuant to a court order issued following a 33 complaint submitted under section 68B.32B, shall, to the 34 greatest extent possible, shield the identity of lawful donors 35 -3- LSB 5420HV (2) 91 ss/ns 3/ 6

H.F. 2601 to a tax-exempt organization. 1 b. A governmental entity or employee of a governmental 2 entity engaged in the investigation of a violation of this 3 chapter shall not collect, or require the submission of, 4 information concerning the identity of a donor to a tax-exempt 5 organization other than those directly related to a violation 6 of this chapter. 7 c. In addition to the penalty provided in section 68A.701, 8 a person who knowingly or willfully violates this section, 9 section 68A.203, subsection 5, section 68A.402, subsection 10 8, section 68A.404, subsection 2, paragraph “c” , or section 11 68A.404, subsection 5, paragraph “i” , shall be subject to a 12 civil penalty of ten thousand dollars or three times the amount 13 of the contribution or expenditure, whichever is greater, to 14 be collected by the board and deposited in the general fund of 15 the state. 16 4. A governmental entity or employee of a governmental 17 entity shall not disclose information concerning the identity 18 of a donor to a tax-exempt organization to the public or 19 another governmental entity, other than to another governmental 20 entity directly involved in an investigation described in 21 subsection 3. This subsection does not apply to information 22 concerning the identity of a donor after a final determination 23 has been made that the donor violated a provision of this 24 chapter. 25 EXPLANATION 26 The inclusion of this explanation does not constitute agreement with 27 the explanation’s substance by the members of the general assembly. 28 This bill relates to campaign finance. The bill defines 29 the terms “directly or indirectly” and “foreign national” for 30 purposes of the bill and for independent campaign expenditures 31 and transfers of campaign funds under current law. 32 The bill requires the treasurer of a political committee 33 expressly advocating the passage or defeat of a ballot 34 issue that receives a contribution from a donor to obtain an 35 -4- LSB 5420HV (2) 91 ss/ns 4/ 6

H.F. 2601 affirmation that the donor is not a foreign national and has 1 not knowingly or willfully accepted funds in excess of $100,000 2 in aggregate from one or more foreign nationals within the four 3 years immediately preceding the date the contribution is made. 4 The bill also requires a political committee expressly 5 advocating the passage or defeat of a ballot issue to include 6 with its required reports to the Iowa ethics and campaign 7 disclosure board affirmations that the political committee has 8 not knowingly or willfully received, solicited, or accepted 9 contributions from a foreign national, or from a donor that has 10 knowingly or willfully accepted funds in excess of $100,000 11 in aggregate from one or more foreign nationals within the 12 four years immediately preceding the date the contribution is 13 made. A person required to file an independent expenditure 14 report must also affirm that the person will not knowingly or 15 willfully accept funds in excess of $100,000 in aggregate from 16 one or more foreign nationals through the date of the election 17 in which the ballot issue will appear on the ballot. 18 The bill prohibits a foreign national from directly or 19 indirectly participating in the decision-making process of a 20 person regarding the person’s activities to influence a ballot 21 issue. The bill requires a governmental entity conducting an 22 investigation related to certain forms of election misconduct 23 to, to the greatest extent possible, shield the identity of 24 lawful donors to tax-exempt organizations. The bill prohibits 25 a governmental entity from collecting information regarding the 26 identity of a donor to a tax-exempt organization that is not 27 directly related to a violation of Code chapter 68A (campaign 28 finance). The bill also prohibits a governmental entity from 29 disclosing information concerning the identity of a donor to a 30 tax-exempt organization to the public or another governmental 31 entity, other than to another governmental entity directly 32 involved in an investigation, unless a final determination has 33 been made that the donor violated a provision of Code chapter 34 68A. 35 -5- LSB 5420HV (2) 91 ss/ns 5/ 6

H.F. 2601 A person who knowingly or willfully violates a provision 1 of the bill shall be subject to a civil penalty of $10,000 or 2 three times the amount of the contribution or expenditure, 3 whichever is greater, to be collected by the Iowa ethics 4 and campaign disclosure board and deposited in the general 5 fund of the state. By operation of law, a person who 6 willfully violates a provision of the bill is also guilty of a 7 serious misdemeanor. A serious misdemeanor is punishable by 8 confinement for no more than one year and a fine of at least 9 $430 but not more than $2,560. 10 -6- LSB 5420HV (2) 91 ss/ns 6/ 6