52 U.S.C. § 30118
Contributions or expenditures by national banks, corporations, or labor organizations
United States · Title 52 — VOTING AND ELECTIONS · Status: effective
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- Citation
- 52 U.S.C. § 30118, Contributions or expenditures by national banks, corporations, or labor organizations, United States, version 1 as recorded 2026-07-09, yourstate.us, https://yourstate.us/provision/493476
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Full text
It is unlawful for any national bank, or any corporation organized by authority of any law of Congress, to make a contribution or expenditure in connection with any election to any political office, or in connection with any primary election or political convention or caucus held to select candidates for any political office, or for any corporation whatever, or any labor organization, to make a contribution or expenditure in connection with any election at which presidential and vice presidential electors or a Senator or Representative in, or a Delegate or Resident Commissioner to, Congress are to be voted for, or in connection with any primary election or political convention or caucus held to select candidates for any of the foregoing offices, or for any candidate, political committee, or other person knowingly to accept or receive any contribution prohibited by this section, or any officer or any director of any corporation or any national bank or any officer of any labor organization to consent to any contribution or expenditure by the corporation, national bank, or labor organization, as the case may be, prohibited by this section.
It shall be unlawful—
Except as provided in subparagraphs (B), (C), and (D), it shall be unlawful—
For purposes of this section, the term “applicable electioneering communication” means an electioneering communication (within the meaning of section 30104(f)(3) of this title) which is made by any entity described in subsection (a) of this section or by any other person using funds donated by an entity described in subsection (a) of this section.
Notwithstanding paragraph (1), the term “applicable electioneering communication” does not include a communication by a section 501(c)(4) organization or a political organization (as defined in section 527(e)(1) of title 26) made under section 30104(f)(2)(E) or (F) of this title if the communication is paid for exclusively by funds provided directly by individuals who are United States citizens or nationals or lawfully admitted for permanent residence (as defined in section 1101(a)(20) of title 8). For purposes of the preceding sentence, the term “provided directly by individuals” does not include funds the source of which is an entity described in subsection (a) of this section.
An electioneering communication shall be treated as made by an entity described in subsection (a) if an entity described in subsection (a) directly or indirectly disburses any amount for any of the costs of the communication.
A section 501(c)(4) organization that derives amounts from business activities or receives funds from any entity described in subsection (a) shall be considered to have paid for any communication out of such amounts unless such organization paid for the communication out of a segregated account to which only individuals can contribute, as described in section 30104(f)(2)(E) of this title.
For purposes of this subsection—
the term “section 501(c)(4) organization” means—
Nothing in this subsection shall be construed to authorize an organization exempt from taxation under section 501(a) of title 26 to carry out any activity which is prohibited under such title.
Paragraph (2) shall not apply in the case of a targeted communication that is made by an organization described in such paragraph.
For purposes of subparagraph (A), the term “targeted communication” means an electioneering communication (as defined in section 30104(f)(3) of this title) that is distributed from a television or radio broadcast station or provider of cable or satellite television service and, in the case of a communication which refers to a candidate for an office other than President or Vice President, is targeted to the relevant electorate.
For purposes of this paragraph, a communication is “targeted to the relevant electorate” if it meets the requirements described in section 30104(f)(3)(C) of this title.
Legislative history
The public laws that enacted or amended this section. Tallies are for the whole bill as it passed each chamber — often an omnibus covering far more than this provision — not a vote on this section alone. The law that originally enacted this section predates the public laws loaded here, so only later amendments are listed.
- Federal Election Campaign Act Amendments of 1976House: no recorded tallySenate: no recorded tally
- Federal Election Campaign Act Amendments of 1979House: no recorded tallySenate: no recorded tally
- Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002