Sponsors of the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act (BCRA) have reintroduced legislation they pushed in 2005 and 2006 to subject independent section 527 political organizations to the same contribution limits and regulation as federal campaigns and political parties, with identical bills in the House (H.R.420) and Senate (S.463). The bills, both called the 527 Reform Act of 2007 and sponsored by Sens. John McCain (R-AZ) and Russ Feingold (D-WI) and Reps. Christopher Shays (R-CT) and Martin Meehan (D-MA), would amend the definition of political committees under the Federal Elections Campaign Act of 1971 (FECA) so that any 527 organization (a nonprofit independent political committee that qualifies under section 527 of the Internal Revenue Code) is subject to federal election law requirements if it is a committee, club, association, or other group that spends $1,000 or more on:

• (1) a public communication that promotes, supports, opposes, or attacks a candidate for federal office during the year prior to the general election, or
• (2) certain voter drive activity. Such voter drive activity includes work on voter registration, voter identification, get out the vote efforts, and even "generic campaign activity."

Upon introduction of S.463, Feingold commented on the Senate floor: "We put a limit of $25,000 per year on the contributions that can be accepted for that non-federal account. This means no more million dollar soft money contributions to pay for get-out-the-vote efforts in the presidential campaign. Nothing in this bill will affect legitimate 501(c) advocacy groups. The bill only applies to groups that claim a tax exemption under section 527." These lawmakers are relentlessly pressing for change, in both Congress and the courts. In light of the Federal Election Commission's (FEC) rejection of any plans to place 527s under the same regulations as campaigns and political parties, Shays and Meehan filed a federal lawsuit. A federal judge has set the end of May as a deadline to complete briefing in the ongoing case. In the meantime, the FEC has said it is taking a case-by-case approach to decide if 527s have a "major purpose" of influencing federal elections, which would subject them to increased regulation. The 2008 presidential campaign gives this issue some urgency. This debate stems from the ambiguity as to what election law regulates and can be regulated. 527s are currently expected to play a large role in the 2008 Presidential election, but the rules will be unclear until the courts, Congress and the FEC provide clearer direction.