I 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 5016 

To direct the Federal Communications Commission to promulgate regulations 

requiring material in the online public inspection file of a covered entity 

to be made available in a format that is machine-readable. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

NOVEMBER 8, 2019 

Mr. LUJA ́N (for himself, Mr. YARMUTH, Mr. WELCH, Mr. SARBANES, Ms. 

ESHOO, Ms. SCHAKOWSKY, Mr. MCNERNEY, Ms. CLARKE of New York, 

Mr. LOEBSACK, Mr. RUIZ, Ms. KUSTER of New Hampshire, Ms. NORTON, Mr. COHEN, Mr. SMITH of Washington, Ms. MCCOLLUM, Mr. 

HIMES, Mr. POCAN, Mr. MCGOVERN, Mr. KHANNA, Mr. LOWENTHAL, 

Mr. TAKANO, Ms. BROWNLEY of California, Ms. JACKSON LEE, Mr. 

MORELLE, Mr. COOPER, Mr. DEFAZIO, Mrs. NAPOLITANO, Mr. KIM, Mr. 

TED LIEU of California, and Mr. RUSH) introduced the following bill; 

which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce 

A BILL 

To direct the Federal Communications Commission to promulgate regulations requiring material in the online public inspection file of a covered entity to be made available 

in a format that is machine-readable. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Fair and Clear Cam5 paign Transparency Act’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

2 Congress finds the following: 

3 (1) On May 9, 2013, President Barack Obama 

4 issued an Executive order that made open and ma5 chine-readable data the new default for government 

6 information. 

7 (2) Open data principles are essential for trans8 parency and efficiency in government. 

9 (3) In 2012, the Federal Communications Com10 mission required television broadcast stations to 

11 place on the internet website of the Commission cer12 tain materials in the files such stations are required 

13 to maintain and make available for public inspection, 

14 including important information about the pur15 chasing of political advertisements. In 2016, the 

16 Commission extended the online public inspection 

17 file requirement to providers of cable and satellite 

18 television service, radio broadcast stations, and pro19 viders of satellite radio service. 

20 (4) The Commission declined to require such 

21 materials to be machine-readable, deciding at the 

22 time that it was more important to get the informa23 tion online faster. 

24 (5) Machine readability is a critical component 

25 of open government and provides interested parties 


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1 with the necessary access to evaluate data in a more 

2 comprehensive way. 

3 SEC. 3. MATERIAL IN ONLINE PUBLIC INSPECTION FILE RE4 QUIRED TO BE IN MACHINE-READABLE FOR5 MAT. 

6 (a) REGULATIONS.—Not later than 180 days after 

7 the date of the enactment of this Act, the Commission 

8 shall promulgate regulations that require a covered entity, 

9 to the extent such entity is required to make material in 

10 the public inspection file of such entity available on, or 

11 upload such material to, an internet website, to make such 

12 material available or upload such material in a format that 

13 is machine-readable. 

14 (b) APPLICABILITY.—The regulations promulgated 

15 under subsection (a) shall apply— 

16 (1) to a covered entity for which an online pub17 lic inspection file requirement is in effect on the date 

18 of the promulgation of such regulations— 

19 (A) with respect to the political file portion 

20 of the public inspection file, beginning not later 

21 than the date that is 60 days after the date of 

22 such promulgation; and 

23 (B) with respect to the other portions of 

24 the public inspection file, at the same time as 

25 such regulations apply under subparagraph (A) 


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1 with respect to the political file portion of the 

2 public inspection file or as soon thereafter as 

3 the Commission considers practicable; and 

4 (2) to a covered entity for which an online pub5 lic inspection file requirement becomes effective after 

6 the date of the promulgation of such regulations— 

7 (A) with respect to the political file portion 

8 of the public inspection file, beginning on the 

9 later of— 

10 (i) the date of applicability of such 

11 regulations under paragraph (1)(A); or 

12 (ii) the date on which the online pub13 lic inspection file requirement becomes ef14 fective for such entity; and 

15 (B) with respect to the other portions of 

16 the public inspection file, at the same time as 

17 such regulations apply under subparagraph (A) 

18 with respect to the political file portion of the 

19 public inspection file or as soon thereafter as 

20 the Commission considers practicable. 

21 (c) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

22 (1) COMMISSION.—The term ‘‘Commission’’ 

23 means the Federal Communications Commission. 

24 (2) COVERED ENTITY.—The term ‘‘covered en25 tity’’ means a television broadcast station, AM or 


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1 FM radio broadcast station, cable operator, direct 

2 broadcast satellite service provider, or satellite dig3 ital audio radio service provider. 

4 (3) MACHINE-READABLE.—The term ‘‘machine5 readable’’ means, with respect to the format of ma6 terial in a public inspection file, that such format 

7 supports the automated searching for particular text 

8 within and among documents, the bulk downloading 

9 of data contained in such material, the aggregation, 

10 manipulation, sorting, and analysis of the data con11 tained in such material, and such other functionality 

12 as the Commission considers appropriate. 

13 (4) ONLINE PUBLIC INSPECTION FILE RE14 QUIREMENT.—The term ‘‘online public inspection 

15 file requirement’’ means a requirement for a covered 

16 entity to make material in the public inspection file 

17 of such entity available on, or upload such material 

18 to, an internet website. 

19 (5) POLITICAL FILE.—The term ‘‘political file’’ 

20 means, with respect to a covered entity, the file that 

21 such entity is required to maintain and make avail22 able for public inspection under section 315(e) of the 

23 Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 315(e)) or 

24 under any similar requirement applicable to such en25 tity that is administered by the Commission. 


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1 (6) PUBLIC INSPECTION FILE.—The term 

2 ‘‘public inspection file’’, with respect to a covered en3 tity— 

4 (A) means the file or files that such entity 

5 is required to maintain and make available for 

6 public inspection under section 25.701, 25.702, 

7 73.3526, 73.3527, or 76.1700 of title 47, Code 

8 of Federal Regulations (or any successor regu9 lation), as applicable to such entity, or under 

10 any similar requirement applicable to such enti11 ty that is administered by the Commission; and 

12 (B) includes any political file that such en13 tity is required to maintain and make available 

14 for public inspection. 

Æ 


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