Legal Definitions - BCRA

The term BCRA stands for the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act.

Enacted in 2002, the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act (BCRA), often referred to as "McCain-Feingold" after its primary sponsors, was a landmark federal law designed to regulate money in political campaigns. Its main goals were to limit the influence of large, unregulated contributions and to ensure greater transparency in election spending. The BCRA primarily achieved this through two key mechanisms:

• Banning "Soft Money": This refers to large contributions made to political parties for "party-building" activities (like voter registration or get-out-the-vote efforts) that were not subject to federal limits or disclosure requirements. BCRA largely prohibited national political parties, federal candidates, and federal officeholders from soliciting or spending this type of unregulated money. It also restricted how state and local parties could use soft money in connection with federal elections.
• Regulating "Electioneering Communications": BCRA created new rules for certain broadcast, cable, or satellite advertisements that referred to a clearly identified federal candidate shortly before an election. These communications, often disguised as "issue ads," were previously unregulated. The law prohibited corporations and labor unions from using their general treasury funds to pay for these ads, requiring them instead to use funds from separate political action committees (PACs), which are subject to contribution limits and disclosure rules. It also mandated disclosure for who paid for these ads.

While some provisions of BCRA faced legal challenges and were later modified or overturned by Supreme Court decisions, it significantly reshaped how political campaigns are financed in the United States by attempting to reduce the role of large, undisclosed contributions and expenditures.

Examples of BCRA in Action:

• Example 1 (Soft Money Ban): Imagine a national political party wants to launch a massive, nationwide campaign to register new voters and encourage them to vote in the upcoming federal elections. Before BCRA, a single wealthy individual or corporation could donate an unlimited amount of "soft money" directly to the national party for this purpose, without federal limits or strict disclosure. After BCRA, the national party is largely prohibited from soliciting or receiving such unregulated funds for activities that could influence federal elections. They would instead need to raise "hard money" (federally regulated contributions with limits) or rely on state and local parties using limited "Levin Amendment" soft money for generic activities, subject to strict rules on amount and source.

  Explanation: This illustrates the "soft money" ban. The national party's inability to accept unlimited, unregulated funds for a voter registration drive directly from a wealthy donor demonstrates how BCRA aimed to close loopholes that allowed large sums of money to flow into federal election-related activities outside of federal contribution limits.

• Example 2 (Corporate Electioneering Communications): A large manufacturing corporation is concerned about a particular U.S. Senate candidate's stance on trade policy, believing it could negatively impact their business. Three weeks before the general election, the corporation wants to run a series of television advertisements in the candidate's state, highlighting the candidate's past votes and statements on trade, without explicitly telling viewers to vote for or against them.

  Explanation: Under BCRA, these ads would likely be classified as "electioneering communications" because they refer to a clearly identified federal candidate, are broadcast shortly before an election, and target the relevant electorate. BCRA would prohibit the corporation from using money directly from its corporate treasury to pay for these ads. Instead, if the corporation wished to run such ads, it would have to do so through a separate Political Action Committee (PAC) funded by voluntary contributions from employees, which operates under federal campaign finance laws regarding limits and disclosure. This shows how BCRA regulated "issue ads" that functioned like campaign ads.

• Example 3 (Disclosure of Electioneering Communications): A prominent labor union decides to run a series of radio advertisements in a specific congressional district, just two weeks before a House of Representatives election. The ads discuss the incumbent representative's voting record on minimum wage and worker safety, mentioning the representative by name and highlighting specific legislative actions.

  Explanation: BCRA would classify these radio advertisements as "electioneering communications." Not only would the union be prohibited from using its general treasury funds for these ads (requiring a PAC instead), but BCRA also mandates that the union disclose who paid for these communications. This disclosure requirement ensures that the public knows the source of funding behind ads that influence federal elections, thereby increasing transparency in campaign spending and allowing voters to understand who is attempting to sway their opinion.