H.R. 8738 · 119th Congress

FEC Administrative Improvements Act

Introduced on May 12, 2026 by Joseph D. Morelle (D-NY-25). 3 cosponsors, 2 of them from another party. Latest action (Jul 14, 2026): Received in the Senate and Read twice and referred to the Committee on Rules and Administration.

Stage
Passed one chamber
Introduced
May 12, 2026
Cosponsors
3
2 from the other party
Policy area
Government Operations and Politics
Open in the Congress explorerCongress.govAlert me

Progress

The furthest stage the measure reached. Simple and concurrent resolutions do not go to the President.

  1. Introduced
  2. Reported by committee
  3. Passed one chamber
  4. 4Passed both chambers
  5. 5Sent to the President
  6. 6Became law

Official title

To amend the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 to require electronic report filing for persons making certain electioneering communications and to permit political committees to make disbursements other than by check.

Subjects

  • Computers and information technology
  • Elections, voting, political campaign regulation
  • Government information and archives
  • Political advertising
  • State and local government operations

Summary

By the Congressional Research Service (Introduced in House, May 12, 2026). Public domain.

FEC Administrative Improvements Act

This bill expands electronic filing requirements and allows political committees to make disbursements by methods other than check.

First, current law requires the Federal Election Commission (FEC) to make electronic filing mandatory for political committees and others required to file with the FEC who, in a calendar year, have, or have reason to expect to have, total contributions or expenditures exceeding a threshold amount set by the FEC (which is currently $50,000). Many independent expenditure reports are also subject to mandatory electronic filing. However, the current mandatory electronic filing provision does not apply to certain reports. This bill expands the types of reports that are required to be filed electronically to include electioneering communications (subject to the threshold amount).

Second, current law requires political committees to maintain at least one campaign depository account and make all disbursements (other than petty cash disbursements) by check drawn on such accounts. This bill removes the requirement that disbursements must be made by check drawn on campaign depository accounts. Therefore, the bill allows political committees to make disbursements in other forms (e.g., credit or debit cards).

Sponsor and cosponsors

Cosponsors by party as of the day they signed on. Original cosponsors signed on the day of introduction.

Joseph D. MorelleD-NY-25Sponsor

Democrats · 1

Republicans · 2

Roll calls

Recorded votes on the measure. Most measures move by voice vote or unanimous consent, which record no individual positions.

No recorded roll call on this measure: it moved by voice vote or unanimous consent, or has not reached the floor.

History

Every action as published, oldest first. Roll calls link to how each member voted.

  1. May 12, 2026Introduced in House
  2. May 12, 2026Introduced in House
  3. May 12, 2026 · HouseReferred to the House Committee on House Administration.
  4. May 14, 2026 · HouseCommittee Consideration and Mark-up Session Held
  5. May 14, 2026 · HouseOrdered to be Reported by the Yeas and Nays: 11 - 0.
  6. Jul 13, 2026 · HouseMr. Steil moved to suspend the rules and pass the bill.
  7. Jul 13, 2026 · HouseConsidered under suspension of the rules. (consideration: CR H4401-4402)
  8. Jul 13, 2026 · HouseDEBATE - The House proceeded with forty minutes of debate on H.R. 8738.
  9. Jul 13, 2026Passed/agreed to in House: On motion to suspend the rules and pass the bill Agreed to by voice vote. (text: CR H4401-4402)
  10. Jul 13, 2026 · HouseOn motion to suspend the rules and pass the bill Agreed to by voice vote. (text: CR H4401-4402)
  11. Jul 13, 2026 · HouseMotion to reconsider laid on the table Agreed to without objection.
  12. Jul 14, 2026 · SenateReceived in the Senate and Read twice and referred to the Committee on Rules and Administration.

Committees

Committees and subcommittees the measure was referred to.

Agencies in its committees' jurisdiction

Analisa's mapping of committee jurisdiction to federal agencies; the bill may touch others, or none of these.

Sources and method

Every figure on this page traces to these records.

  • Bill status: bills and resolutions, sponsors, actions, subjects and CRS summaries (U.S. Government Publishing Office (GovInfo), from Congress.gov (Library of Congress))GovInfo Bill Status bulk data (Congress.gov; summaries by the Congressional Research Service) · data current to Oct 10, 2026 · loaded Oct 10, 2026 · license: Public domain (U.S. Government work, 17 U.S.C. § 105)
  • Members of Congress, their terms, committees and identifiers (The @unitedstates project (from the Biographical Directory of the U.S. Congress, the House and the Senate))unitedstates/congress-legislators: legislators, committees and current committee membership · data current to Oct 3, 2026 · loaded Oct 3, 2026 · license: CC0 1.0 (public domain dedication)
  • House roll-call votes (Office of the Clerk, U.S. House of Representatives)Office of the Clerk, U.S. House of Representatives, roll-call vote records · data current to Oct 3, 2026 · loaded Oct 3, 2026 · license: Public domain (U.S. Government work, 17 U.S.C. § 105)
  • Senate roll-call votes and DW-NOMINATE scores (Voteview (UCLA Department of Political Science))Lewis, Jeffrey B., Keith Poole, Howard Rosenthal, Adam Boche, Aaron Rudkin, and Luke Sonnet (2026). Voteview: Congressional Roll-Call Votes Database. https://voteview.com/ · data current to Oct 3, 2026 · loaded Oct 3, 2026 · license: Free to use with the required citation
  • Lobbying disclosures (LD-1 registrations, LD-2 quarterly reports, LD-203 contribution reports) (Clerk of the U.S. House of Representatives)Clerk of the House, Lobbying Disclosure Act filings (organizations only; lobbyists' names are not loaded) · data current to Oct 10, 2026 · loaded Oct 10, 2026 · license: Public domain (U.S. Government work, 17 U.S.C. § 105)
  • Positions are shown only where a roll call recorded them; voice votes and unanimous consent record none.