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105TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 653

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.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

FEBRUARY 6, 1997

Mr. WHITE (for himself, Mr. BOUCHER, Ms. DUNN, Mr. BOEHNER, Mr.

GOODLATTE, and Mr. ENGLISH of Pennsylvania) 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

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,

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Internet Election In5 formation Act of 1997’’.

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

7 Congress finds the following:
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1 (1) For the purposes of enhancing public debate

2 and awareness, candidates for Federal office should

3 be encouraged to provide voters with meaningful and

4 substantive information about their candidacy and

5 important public policy issues.

6 (2) The Internet and other interactive computer

7 services did not exist when the laws that currently

8 govern Federal elections were enacted, and these

9 services represent a new medium where voters can

10 obtain meaningful and substantive information about

11 issues and candidates.

12 SEC. 3. EXEMPTION OF DONATED INTERACTIVE COMPUTER

13 SERVICES FROM COVERAGE UNDER FED14 ERAL ELECTION CAMPAIGN ACT OF 1971.

15 (a) EXEMPTION FROM TREATMENT AS CONTRIBU16 TION.—Section 301(8)(B) of the Federal Election Cam17 paign Act of 1971 (2 U.S.C. 431(8)(B)) is amended—

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

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

20 (xiv) and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and

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

22 clause:

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

24 charge to a candidate by an interactive computer

25 service (defined as any information service that is
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1 generally available to the public or access software

2 provider that provides or enables computer access by

3 multiple users to a computer server, including spe4 cifically a service or system that provides access to

5 the Internet and such systems operated or services

6 offered by libraries or educational institutions) in

7 permitting the candidate to use its facilities for dis8 tributing election or candidate information, posting

9 position papers, responding to campaign related in10 quiries, soliciting lawful contributions, convening

11 electronic campaign forums, or otherwise lawfully

12 utilizing the resources of the interactive computer

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

14 for such purposes under the same terms and condi15 tions by all other candidates in the election for the

16 same office.’’.

17 (b) EXEMPTION FROM TREATMENT AS EXPENDI18 TURE.—Section 301(9)(B) of such Act (2 U.S.C.

19 431(9)(B)) is amended—

20 (1) by striking ‘‘and’’ at the end of clause (ix);

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

22 (x) and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and

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

24 clause:
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1 ‘‘(xi) any direct costs incurred by an interactive

2 computer service (defined as any information service

3 that is generally available to the public or access

4 software provider that provides or enables computer

5 access by multiple users to a computer server, in6 cluding specifically a service or system that provides

7 access to the Internet and such systems operated or

8 services offered by libraries or educational institu9 tions) in permitting a candidate to use its facilities

10 for distributing election or candidate information,

11 posting position papers, responding to campaign re12 lated inquiries, soliciting lawful contributions, con13 vening electronic campaign forums, or otherwise law14 fully utilizing the resources of the interactive com15 puter service, if the service permits its facilities to

16 be used for such purposes under the same terms and

17 conditions by all other candidates in the election for

18 the same office.’’.

19 SEC. 4. EFFECTIVE DATE.

20 The amendments made by this Act shall take effect

21 on the date of the enactment of this Act.

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