I 

112TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 3585 

To amend the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 to require personal 

disclosure statements in all third-party communications advocating the 

election or defeat of a candidate, to require the disclosure of identifying 

information within communications made through the Internet, to apply 

disclosure requirements to prerecorded telephone calls, and for other 

purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

DECEMBER 7, 2011 

Mr. PRICE of North Carolina introduced the following bill; which was referred 

to the Committee on House Administration 

A BILL 

To amend the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 to 

require personal disclosure statements in all third-party 

communications advocating the election or defeat of a 

candidate, to require the disclosure of identifying information within communications made through the Internet, to apply disclosure requirements to prerecorded telephone calls, and for other purposes. 

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


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1 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

2 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Stand By Every Ad 

3 Act of 2011’’. 

4 SEC. 2. REQUIRING PERSONAL DISCLOSURE STATEMENTS 

5 IN EXPRESS ADVOCACY COMMUNICATIONS. 

6 (a) APPLICATION OF DISCLOSURE REQUIREMENTS

7 TO COMMUNICATIONS CONSISTING OF FUNCTIONAL

8 EQUIVALENT OF EXPRESS ADVOCACY.—Section 318(a) of 

9 the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 (2 U.S.C. 

10 441d(a)) is amended by striking ‘‘clearly identified can11 didate,’’ and inserting ‘‘clearly identified candidate or con12 sisting of the functional equivalent of express advocacy,’’. 

13 (b) REQUIRING STATEMENT IDENTIFYING HEAD OF

14 ENTITY PAYING FOR COMMUNICATION.—Section 318(d) 

15 of such Act (2 U.S.C. 441d(d)) is amended— 

16 (1) in paragraph (2), by striking ‘‘Any commu17 nication’’ and inserting ‘‘Except as provided in para18 graph (3), any communication’’; and 

19 (2) by adding at the end the following new 

20 paragraph: 

21 ‘‘(3) SPECIAL RULES FOR EXPRESS ADVOCACY

22 COMMUNICATIONS.— 

23 ‘‘(A) PERSONAL DISCLOSURE STATEMENT

24 REQUIRED.—Any communication described in 

25 paragraph (3) of subsection (a) which expressly 

26 advocates the election or defeat of a clearly 


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1 identified candidate, or which consists of the 

2 functional equivalent of express advocacy, and 

3 which is transmitted through radio or television 

4 shall include, in addition to the requirements of 

5 that paragraph— 

6 ‘‘(i) the individual disclosure state7 ment described in subparagraph (C) (if the 

8 person paying for the communication is an 

9 individual) or the organizational disclosure 

10 statement described in subparagraph (D) 

11 (if the person paying for the communica12 tion is not an individual); and 

13 ‘‘(ii) if the person who paid for the 

14 communication received any disbursement 

15 from another person for purposes of fi16 nancing the communication, a statement of 

17 the names of the persons providing the 

18 largest disbursements for such purposes, 

19 except that the number of persons identi20 fied in the statement may not exceed 5. 

21 ‘‘(B) METHOD OF CONVEYANCE OF STATE22 MENT.— 

23 ‘‘(i) COMMUNICATIONS TRANSMITTED

24 THROUGH RADIO.—In the case of a com25 munication to which this paragraph applies 


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1 which is transmitted through radio, the 

2 disclosure statements required under sub3 paragraph (A)— 

4 ‘‘(I) shall be made by audio in a 

5 clearly spoken manner; and 

6 ‘‘(II) in the case of the individual 

7 disclosure statement described in sub8 paragraph (C) or the organization dis9 closure statement described in sub10 paragraph (D), shall be made by the 

11 applicable individual. 

12 ‘‘(ii) COMMUNICATIONS TRANSMITTED

13 THROUGH TELEVISION.—In the case of a 

14 communication to which this paragraph 

15 applies which is transmitted through tele16 vision, the disclosure statements required 

17 under subparagraph (A)— 

18 ‘‘(I) shall appear in writing at 

19 the end of the communication in a 

20 clearly readable manner, with a rea21 sonable degree of color contrast be22 tween the background and the printed 

23 statement, for a period of at least 4 

24 seconds; and 


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1 ‘‘(II) in the case of the individual 

2 disclosure statement described in sub3 paragraph (C) or the organization dis4 closure statement described in sub5 paragraph (D), shall be conveyed by 

6 an unobscured, full-screen view of the 

7 applicable individual, or by the appli8 cable individual making the statement 

9 in voice-over accompanied by a clearly 

10 identifiable photograph or similar 

11 image of the individual. 

12 ‘‘(C) INDIVIDUAL DISCLOSURE STATEMENT

13 DESCRIBED.—The individual disclosure state14 ment described in this subparagraph is the fol15 lowing: ‘I am lllllll, and I am re16 sponsible for the content of this advertising.’, 

17 with the blank filled in with the name of the ap18 plicable individual. 

19 ‘‘(D) ORGANIZATIONAL DISCLOSURE

20 STATEMENT DESCRIBED.—The organizational 

21 disclosure statement described in this subpara22 graph is the following: ‘I am lllllll, 

23 the lllllll of lllllll, and 

24 lllllll is responsible for the content 

25 of this advertising.’, with— 


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1 ‘‘(i) the first blank to be filled in with 

2 the name of the applicable individual; 

3 ‘‘(ii) the second blank to be filled in 

4 with the title of the applicable individual; 

5 and 

6 ‘‘(iii) the third and fourth blank each 

7 to be filled in with the name of the person 

8 paying for the communication. 

9 ‘‘(E) APPLICABLE INDIVIDUAL DE10 FINED.—In this paragraph, the term ‘applicable 

11 individual’ means, with respect to a communica12 tion to which this paragraph applies— 

13 ‘‘(i) if the communication is paid for 

14 by an individual, the individual paying for 

15 the communication; 

16 ‘‘(ii) if the communication is paid for 

17 by a corporation, the chief executive officer 

18 of the corporation (or, if the corporation 

19 does not have a chief executive officer, the 

20 highest ranking official of the corporation); 

21 ‘‘(iii) if the communication is paid for 

22 by a labor organization, the highest rank23 ing officer of the labor organization; or 

24 ‘‘(iv) if the communication is paid for 

25 by any other person, the president, chief 


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1 executive officer, highest ranking official, 

2 or similar officer of the person who serves 

3 in an executive, decision-making capacity 

4 with respect to the making of communica5 tions to which this paragraph applies.’’. 

6 (c) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendment made by 

7 subsection (a) shall apply with respect to communications 

8 made on or after the date of the enactment of this Act. 

9 SEC. 3. APPLICATION OF DISCLOSURE REQUIREMENTS 

10 FOR AUDIO AND VIDEO COMMUNICATIONS 

11 TO AUDIO AND VIDEO PORTIONS OF COMMU12 NICATIONS TRANSMITTED THROUGH INTER13 NET OR ELECTRONIC MAIL. 

14 (a) COMMUNICATIONS BY CANDIDATES OR AUTHOR15 IZED PERSONS.—Section 318(d)(1) of the Federal Elec16 tion Campaign Act of 1971 (2 U.S.C. 441d(d)(1)) is 

17 amended by adding at the end the following new subpara18 graph: 

19 ‘‘(C) AUDIO AND VIDEO PORTIONS OF

20 COMMUNICATIONS TRANSMITTED THROUGH

21 INTERNET OR ELECTRONIC MAIL.—In the case 

22 of a communication described in paragraph (1) 

23 or (2) of subsection (a) which is transmitted 

24 through the Internet or through any form of 

25 electronic mail— 


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1 ‘‘(i) any audio portion of the commu2 nication shall meet the requirements appli3 cable under subparagraph (A) to commu4 nications transmitted through radio; and 

5 ‘‘(ii) any video portion of the commu6 nication shall meet the requirements appli7 cable under subparagraph (B) to commu8 nications transmitted through television.’’. 

9 (b) COMMUNICATIONS BY OTHERS.— 

10 (1) IN GENERAL.—Section 318(d)(2) of such 

11 Act (2 U.S.C. 441d(d)(2)) is amended by adding at 

12 the end the following: ‘‘In the case of a communica13 tion described in paragraph (3) of subsection (a) 

14 which is transmitted through the Internet or 

15 through any form of electronic mail, any audio por16 tion of the communication shall meet the require17 ments applicable under this paragraph to commu18 nications transmitted through radio and any video 

19 portion of the communication shall meet the require20 ments applicable under this paragraph to commu21 nications transmitted through television.’’. 

22 (2) APPLICATION OF SPECIAL PERSONAL DIS23 CLOSURE RULES FOR EXPRESS ADVOCACY COMMU24 NICATIONS.—Section 318(d)(3) of such Act, as 

25 added by section 2(a), is amended— 


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1 (A) in subparagraph (A), by striking 

2 ‘‘radio or television’’ and inserting ‘‘radio or tel3 evision, through the Internet, or through any 

4 form of electronic mail’’; and 

5 (B) in subparagraph (B), by adding at the 

6 end the following new clause: 

7 ‘‘(iii) COMMUNICATIONS TRANS8 MITTED THROUGH INTERNET OR ELEC9 TRONIC MAIL.—In the case of a commu10 nication to which this paragraph applies 

11 which is transmitted through the Internet 

12 or through any form of electronic mail, any 

13 audio portion of the communication shall 

14 meet the requirements applicable under 

15 this paragraph to communications trans16 mitted through radio and any video portion 

17 of the communication shall meet the re18 quirements applicable under this para19 graph to communications transmitted 

20 through television.’’. 

21 SEC. 4. DISCLOSURE REQUIREMENTS FOR CAMPAIGN COM22 MUNICATIONS MADE THROUGH 

23 PRERECORDED TELEPHONE CALLS. 

24 (a) APPLICATION OF REQUIREMENTS.—Section 

25 318(a) of the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 (2 


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1 U.S.C. 441d(a)) is amended by inserting after ‘‘mailing,’’ 

2 each place it appears the following: ‘‘telephone call which 

3 consists in substantial part of a prerecorded audio mes4 sage,’’. 

5 (b) TREATMENT AS AUDIO COMMUNICATION.— 

6 (1) COMMUNICATIONS BY CANDIDATES OR AU7 THORIZED PERSONS.—Section 318(d)(1) of such Act 

8 (2 U.S.C. 441d(d)(1)), as amended by section 3(a), 

9 is further amended by adding at the end the fol10 lowing new subparagraph: 

11 ‘‘(D) PRERECORDED TELEPHONE

12 CALLS.—Any communication described in para13 graph (1) or (2) of subsection (a) which is a 

14 telephone call which consists in substantial part 

15 of a prerecorded audio message shall meet the 

16 requirements applicable under subparagraph 

17 (A) to communications transmitted through 

18 radio, except that the statement required under 

19 such subparagraph shall be made at the begin20 ning of the telephone call.’’. 

21 (2) COMMUNICATIONS BY OTHERS.— 

22 (A) IN GENERAL.—Section 318(d)(2) of 

23 such Act (2 U.S.C. 441d(d)(2)), as amended by 

24 section 3(b), is further amended by adding at 

25 the end the following: ‘‘Any communication deVerDate Mar 15 2010 04:48 Dec 13, 2011 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3585.IH H3585

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1 scribed in paragraph (3) of subsection (a) which 

2 is a telephone call which consists in substantial 

3 part of a prerecorded audio message shall meet 

4 the requirements applicable under this para5 graph to communications transmitted through 

6 radio, except that the statement required shall 

7 be made at the beginning of the telephone 

8 call.’’. 

9 (B) APPLICATION OF SPECIAL PERSONAL

10 DISCLOSURE RULES FOR EXPRESS ADVOCACY

11 COMMUNICATIONS.—Section 318(d)(3) of such 

12 Act, as added by section 2(a) and as amended 

13 by section 3(b)(2), is further amended— 

14 (i) in subparagraph (A), by striking 

15 ‘‘electronic mail’’ and inserting ‘‘electronic 

16 mail, or which is a telephone call which 

17 consists in substantial part of a 

18 prerecorded audio message,’’; and 

19 (ii) in subparagraph (B), by adding at 

20 the end the following new clause: 

21 ‘‘(iv) COMMUNICATIONS MADE

22 THROUGH PRERECORDED TELEPHONE

23 CALLS.—Any communication to which this 

24 paragraph applies which is a telephone call 

25 which consists in substantial part of a 


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1 prerecorded audio message shall meet the 

2 requirements applicable under this para3 graph to communications transmitted 

4 through radio.’’. 

5 SEC. 5. NO EXPANSION OF PERSONS SUBJECT TO DIS6 CLAIMER REQUIREMENTS ON INTERNET 

7 COMMUNICATIONS. 

8 Nothing in this Act or the amendments made by this 

9 Act may be construed to require any person who is not 

10 required under section 318 of the Federal Election Cam11 paign Act of 1971 (as provided under section 110.11 of 

12 title 11 of the Code of Federal Regulations) to include 

13 a disclaimer on communications made by the person 

14 through the Internet to include any disclaimer on any such 

15 communications. 

16 SEC. 6. EFFECTIVE DATE. 

17 Except as provided in section 2(c), the amendments 

18 made by this Act shall apply with respect to communica19 tions made on or after the expiration of the 90-day period 

20 which begins on the date of the enactment of this Act. 

Æ 


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