H.R. 9488 would amend the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 to require political committees, when accepting online contributions made by credit or debit card, to collect the card’s verification value and proof of a U.S. billing or mailing address. The legislation also would prohibit political committees from accepting contributions made by gift cards and would prohibit any individual from making a political contribution on behalf of another person. Enacting H.R. 9488 could increase collections of criminal fines and civil penalties arising from violations of campaign finance laws. Civil penalties are recorded in the budget as revenues. Criminal fines are recorded as revenues, deposited into the Crime Victims Fund, and later spent without further appropriation. CBO estimates that any additional collections would not be significant because of the small number of anticipated violations. As a result, CBO estimates that enacting H.R. 9488 would have insignificant effects on direct spending and revenues. CBO has not estimated the legislation’s effects on spending subject to appropriation. H.R. 9488 would impose private-sector mandates as defined in the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act (UMRA) that would not exceed the annual private-sector threshold ($200 million in 2024, adjusted annually for inflation). The legislation contains no intergovernmental mandates as defined in UMRA.
