{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://tokuda.house.gov/media/press-releases/rep-tokuda-introduces-bill-tackle-illegal-campaign-coordination-outside-groups", "Rep. Tokuda Introduces Bill to Tackle Illegal Campaign Coordination with Outside Groups", "2024-09-12", "2024", "2024-09", "Democrat", "House", "HI", "Jill N. Tokuda", "T000487", "tokuda.house.gov", "tokuda", "https://tokuda.house.gov/media/press-releases?PageNum_rs=6&", "scraper", "Washington, D.C. \u2013 Today, U.S. Representative Jill Tokuda (HI-02) introduced the Stop Illegal Campaign Coordination Act to end efforts by campaigns to circumvent federal election laws and illegally coordinate with outside groups.\n\nFederal law already prohibits campaigns from coordinating their messaging and communications with outside groups like super PACs that can raise and spend unlimited amounts of money from corporate and special interests. However, campaigns have skirted around these laws through a practice known as \u201credboxing\u201d in which they publish data and content \u2013 such as messaging points and pictures - aimed at supportive outside groups.\n\nThe Stop Illegal Campaign Coordination Act would amend the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 to treat expenditures by outside groups as \u201ccoordinated\u201d with a political candidate, campaign, or party if those expenditures are materially consistent with instructions, direction, guidance, or suggestions from campaigns. The bill also establishes factors for the Federal Election Commission (FEC) to assess and determine coordination.\n\n\u201cFor too long, corporate and special interests have poured dark money in our political system and undermined the trust of millions of Americans in our elections. Redboxing has become just another way for campaigns to violate the intent of the laws meant to prohibit illegal coordination and allows them to take advantage of unlimited spending by special interests,\u201d stated Rep. Tokuda. \u201cMy bill fixes this gap in our election laws, restores some integrity to our elections, and helps put American voters and people above special interests.\u201d\n\n\u201cThe Stop Coordinated Campaign Spending Act is a much-needed step forward to address the risk of corruption fostered by unlawful coordination strategies like \u2018redboxing.\u2019 By establishing clear rules and guidelines that better define what makes campaign spending 'coordinated' with outside groups like super PACs and dark money 501(c) groups, we can stop candidates from directing the activities of these allied groups, which are largely funded by wealthy special interests seeking more power and influence over elected officials. This important bill will ensure the integrity of our elections and put a stop to this brazen avenue for political corruption that marginalizes the electoral voices of everyday Americans,\u201d said Saurav Ghosh, Director of Federal Campaign Finance Reform at Campaign Legal Center.\n\nThe Stop Illegal Campaign Coordination Act has been endorsed by the Campaign Legal Center and Public Citizen. Original cosponsors of the bill are Reps. Ed Case, Pramila Jayapal, and Mark Pocan.\n\nText of the bill can be found here.", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-07T21:43:57Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://tokuda.house.gov/media/press-releases/rep-tokuda-introduces-bill-tackle-illegal-campaign-coordination-outside-groups"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.8943649008870125, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}