II

104TH CONGRESS

2D SESSION H. R. 3700

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

SEPTEMBER 26, 1996

Received

AN ACT

To amend the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 to

permit interactive computer services to provide their facilities free of charge to candidates for Federal offices

for the purpose of disseminating campaign information

and enhancing public debate.

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 ‘‘Internet Election In3 formation Act of 1996’’.

4 SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

5 Congress finds the following:

6 (1) For the purposes of enhancing public debate

7 and awareness, candidates for Federal office should

8 be encouraged to provide voters with meaningful and

9 substantive information about their candidacy and

10 important public policy issues.

11 (2) The Internet and other interactive computer

12 services did not exist when the laws that currently

13 govern Federal elections were enacted, and these

14 services represent a new medium where voters can

15 obtain meaningful and substantive information about

16 issues and candidates.

17 SEC. 3. EXEMPTION OF DONATED INTERACTIVE COMPUTER

18 SERVICES FROM COVERAGE UNDER FED19 ERAL ELECTION CAMPAIGN ACT OF 1971.

20 (a) EXEMPTION FROM TREATMENT AS CONTRIBU21 TION.—Section 301(8)(B) of the Federal Election Cam22 paign Act of 1971 (2 U.S.C. 431(8)(B)) is amended—

23 (1) by striking ‘‘and’’ at the end of clause (xiii);

24 (2) by striking the period at the end of clause

25 (xiv) and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and
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1 (3) by adding at the end the following new

2 clause:

3 ‘‘(xv) the value of services provided without

4 charge to a candidate by an interactive computer

5 service (defined as any information service that is

6 generally available to the public or access software

7 provider that provides or enables computer access by

8 multiple users to a computer server, including spe9 cifically a service or system that provides access to

10 the Internet and such systems operated or services

11 offered by libraries or educational institutions) in

12 permitting the candidate to use its facilities for dis13 tributing election or candidate information, posting

14 position papers, responding to campaign related in15 quiries, soliciting lawful contributions, convening

16 electronic campaign forums, or otherwise lawfully

17 utilizing the resources of the interactive computer

18 service, if the service permits its facilities to be used

19 for such purposes under the same terms and condi20 tions by all other candidates in the election for the

21 same office.’’.

22 (b) EXEMPTION FROM TREATMENT AS EXPENDI23 TURE.—Section 301(9)(B) of such Act (2 U.S.C.

24 431(9)(B)) is amended—

25 (1) by striking ‘‘and’’ at the end of clause (ix);
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1 (2) by striking the period at the end of clause

2 (x) and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and

3 (3) by adding at the end the following new

4 clause:

5 ‘‘(xi) any direct costs incurred by an interactive

6 computer service (defined as any information service

7 that is generally available to the public or access

8 software provider that provides or enables computer

9 access by multiple users to a computer server, in10 cluding specifically a service or system that provides

11 access to the Internet and such systems operated or

12 services offered by libraries or educational institu13 tions) in permitting a candidate to use its facilities

14 for distributing election or candidate information,

15 posting position papers, responding to campaign re16 lated inquiries, soliciting lawful contributions, con17 vening electronic campaign forums, or otherwise law18 fully utilizing the resources of the interactive com19 puter service, if the service permits its facilities to

20 be used for such purposes under the same terms and

21 conditions by all other candidates in the election for

22 the same office.’’.
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1 SEC. 4. EFFECTIVE DATE.

2 The amendments made by this Act shall take effect

3 on the date of the enactment of this Act.

Passed the House of Representatives September 26,

1996.

Attest: ROBIN H. CARLE,

Clerk.