I 

113TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 648 

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

Election Commission to establish and operate a website through which 

members of the public may view the contents of certain political advertisements, to require the sponsors of such advertisements to furnish 

the contents of the advertisements to the Commission, and for other 

purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

FEBRUARY 13, 2013 

Mr. DEUTCH 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 the Federal Election Commission to establish 

and operate a website through which members of the 

public may view the contents of certain political advertisements, to require the sponsors of such advertisements 

to furnish the contents of the advertisements to the 

Commission, 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 ‘‘Campaign Sunlight 

3 Act of 2013’’. 

4 SEC. 2. ESTABLISHMENT AND OPERATION OF WEBSITE OF 

5 POLITICAL ADVERTISEMENTS. 

6 (a) ESTABLISHMENT OF WEBSITE.—Section 318 of 

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

8 441d) is amended by adding at the end the following new 

9 subsection: 

10 ‘‘(e) WEBSITE FOR CONTENTS OF POLITICAL AD11 VERTISEMENTS.— 

12 ‘‘(1) WEBSITE DESCRIBED.— 

13 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The Commission shall 

14 establish and operate a website, to be known as 

15 the ‘Campaign Accountability Site’, through 

16 which members of the public may view the con17 tents of political advertisements. 

18 ‘‘(B) FORMAT.—In operating the website 

19 under this subsection, the Commission shall— 

20 ‘‘(i) make the contents of a political 

21 advertisement available for viewing in the 

22 same format through which the advertise23 ment was disseminated; and 

24 ‘‘(ii) make the sources of the contents 

25 of the advertisement available on the 

26 website directly or through hyperlinks to 


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1 the sources, as submitted to the Commis2 sion by the sponsor of the advertisement 

3 under paragraph (2)(B). 

4 ‘‘(C) HYPERLINK.—The Commission shall 

5 make the website established and operated 

6 under this subsection available through a 

7 hyperlink on the Commission’s official public 

8 website. 

9 ‘‘(2) REQUIRING SPONSORS OF ADVERTISE10 MENTS TO PROVIDE CONTENTS TO COMMISSION.— 

11 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The sponsor of a po12 litical advertisement shall submit the contents 

13 of the advertisement to the Commission in such 

14 format as the Commission may require to en15 able the Commission to include the advertise16 ment on the website established and operated 

17 under paragraph (1). 

18 ‘‘(B) INCLUSION OF SOURCES CITED IN

19 CONTENTS.—If the contents of a political ad20 vertisement include references to any quotation, 

21 article, hyperlink, or other source for any state22 ment made in the advertisement, the sponsor of 

23 the advertisement shall include the full contents 

24 of the source (or a hyperlink to the full conVerDate Mar 15 2010 04:41 Feb 20, 2013 Jkt 029200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H648.IH H648

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1 tents of the source) in the contents submitted 

2 to the Commission under this paragraph. 

3 ‘‘(C) DEADLINE FOR SUBMISSION.—The 

4 sponsor of a political advertisement shall submit 

5 the contents of the advertisement to the Com6 mission under subparagraph (A) not later 

7 than— 

8 ‘‘(i) 24 hours after the advertisement 

9 is disseminated, in the case of an adver10 tisement that is disseminated during the 7- 

11 day period that ends on the date of the 

12 election involved; or 

13 ‘‘(ii) 72 hours after the advertisement 

14 is disseminated, in the case of an adver15 tisement that is disseminated during any 

16 other period. 

17 ‘‘(D) PAYMENT OF FEE.—If the Commis18 sion determines that it is appropriate to impose 

19 fees on the sponsors of political advertisements 

20 in amounts which do not exceed the amount 

21 necessary to cover the costs to the Commission 

22 of establishing and operating the website under 

23 paragraph (1), at the time the sponsor of a po24 litical advertisement submits the contents of the 

25 advertisement to the Commission under subVerDate Mar 15 2010 04:41 Feb 20, 2013 Jkt 029200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H648.IH H648

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1 paragraph (A), the sponsor shall pay the Com2 mission the amount of any such fee (as deter3 mined under a fee schedule established by the 

4 Commission). 

5 ‘‘(E) SPONSOR DEFINED.—For purposes of 

6 this subsection, the ‘sponsor’ of a political ad7 vertisement is— 

8 ‘‘(i) in the case of a political adver9 tisement that is described in paragraph (1) 

10 or (2) of subsection (a), the authorized po11 litical committee involved; or 

12 ‘‘(ii) in the case of a political adver13 tisement that is described in paragraph (3) 

14 of subsection (a), the person who is re15 quired under such paragraph to be identi16 fied as the person who paid for the adver17 tisement. 

18 ‘‘(3) POLITICAL ADVERTISEMENT DEFINED.— 

19 In this subsection, a ‘political advertisement’ means 

20 a communication that is subject to subsection (a) 

21 that refers to a clearly identified candidate and is 

22 disseminated during the 1-year period which ends on 

23 the date of the election for the office sought by the 

24 candidate.’’. 


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1 (b) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendment made by 

2 subsection (a) shall apply with respect to political adver3 tisements disseminated after the expiration of the 120-day 

4 period that begins on the date of the enactment of this 

5 Act. 

Æ 


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