I

104TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 2527

To amend the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 to improve the electoral

process by permitting electronic filing and preservation of Federal Election Commission reports, and for other purposes.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

OCTOBER 24, 1995

Mr. THOMAS introduced the following bill; which was referred to the

Committee on House Oversight

A BILL

To amend the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 to

improve the electoral process by permitting electronic

filing and preservation of Federal Election Commission

reports, 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,

3 SECTION 1. ELECTRONIC FILING AND PRESERVATION OF

4 FEDERAL ELECTION COMMISSION REPORTS.

5 (a) SECTION 304 AMENDMENT.—Subsection (a) of

6 section 304 of the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971

7 (2 U.S.C. 434(a)) is amended by adding at the end the

8 following new paragraph:
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1 ‘‘(11)(A) The Commission shall permit reports re2 quired by this Act to be filed and preserved by means of

3 computer disk or any other appropriate electronic format

4 or method, as determined by the Commission.

5 ‘‘(B) In carrying out subparagraph (A) with respect

6 to filing of reports, the Commission shall provide for one

7 or more methods (other than requiring a signature on the

8 report being filed) for verifying reports filed by means of

9 computer disk or other electronic format or method. Any

10 verification under the preceding sentence shall be treated

11 for all purposes (including penalties for perjury) in the

12 same manner as a verification by signature.

13 ‘‘(C) As used in this paragraph, the term ‘report’

14 means, with respect to the Commission, a report, designa15 tion, or statement required by this Act to be filed with

16 the Commission.’’.

17 (b) SECTION 302 AMENDMENT.—Subsection (d) of

18 section 302 of the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971

19 (2 U.S.C. 432(d)) is amended by adding at the end the

20 following new sentence: ‘‘For any report filed in electronic

21 format under section 304(a)(11), the treasurer shall retain

22 a machine-readable copy of the report as the copy pre23 served under the preceding sentence.’’.
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1 (c) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by

2 subsection (a) and subsection (b) shall apply with respect

3 to reports for periods beginning after December 31, 1996.

4 SEC. 2. WAIVER OF DUPLICATE FILING REQUIREMENT FOR

5 STATES WITH ELECTRONIC ACCESS TO FED6 ERAL ELECTION COMMISSION REPORTS AND

7 STATEMENTS.

8 Section 312 of the Federal Election Campaign Act

9 of 1971 (2 U.S.C. 439) is amended by adding at the end

10 the following new subsection:

11 ‘‘(c) Subsections (a) and (b) shall not apply with re12 spect to any State that, as determined by the Commission,

13 has a system that permits electronic access to, and dupli14 cation of, reports and statements that are filed with the

15 Commission.’’.

16 SEC. 3. FILING OF HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES ELECTION

17 REPORTS WITH THE FEDERAL ELECTION

18 COMMISSION, RATHER THAN WITH THE

19 CLERK OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTA20 TIVES.

21 (a) SECTION 302 AMENDMENTS.—Subsection (g) of

22 section 302 of the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971

23 (2 U.S.C. 432(g)) is amended—

24 (1) by striking out paragraph (1);
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1 (2) by redesignating paragraphs (2) through

2 (5) as paragraphs (1) through (4), respectively;

3 (3) in paragraph (2), as so redesignated by

4 paragraph (2) of this subsection—

5 (A) by striking out ‘‘Clerk of the House of

6 Representatives and the’’; and

7 (B) by striking out ‘‘them’’ and inserting

8 in lieu thereof ‘‘the Secretary’’;

9 (4) in paragraph (3), as so redesignated by

10 paragraph (2) of this subsection, by striking out

11 ‘‘and (2)’’; and

12 (5) in paragraph (4), as so redesignated by

13 paragraph (2) of this subsection, by striking out

14 ‘‘Clerk of the House of Representatives and the’’.

15 (b) SECTION 304 AMENDMENTS.—Section 304 of the

16 Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 (2 U.S.C. 434)

17 is amended—

18 (1) in the first sentence of subsection (a)(6), by

19 striking out ‘‘Clerk, the Secretary,’’ and inserting in

20 lieu thereof ‘‘Secretary’’; and

21 (2) in the third sentence of subsection (c)(2),

22 by striking out ‘‘Clerk, the Secretary,’’ and inserting

23 in lieu thereof ‘‘Secretary’’.

24 (c) SECTION 311 AMENDMENT.—Section 311(a)(4)

25 of the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 (2 U.S.C.
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1 438(a)(4)) is amended by striking out ‘‘Clerk, Secretary,’’

2 and inserting in lieu thereof ‘‘Secretary’’.

3 (d) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by

4 this section shall apply with respect to reports, designa5 tions, and statements required to be filed after December

6 31, 1995.

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