IIA
105TH CONGRESS
2D SESSION
H. R. 3582
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
MARCH 31, 1998
Received; read twice and referred to the Committee on Rules and
Administration
AN ACT
To amend the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 to
expedite the reporting of information to the Federal
Election Commission, to expand the type of information
required to be reported to the Commission, to promote
the effective enforcement of campaign laws by the Com-
mission, and for other purposes.
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Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Campaign Reporting
and Disclosure Act of 1998’’.
SEC. 2. EXPEDITING REPORTING OF INFORMATION.
(a) REQUIRING REPORTS FOR CONTRIBUTIONS AND
EXPENDITURES MADE WITHIN 90 DAYS OF ELECTION TO
BE FILED WITHIN 24 HOURS AND POSTED ON INTER-
NET.—
(1) IN
GENERAL.—Section 304(a)(6) of the
Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 (2 U.S.C.
434(a)(6)) is amended to read as follows:
‘‘(6)(A) Each political committee shall notify the Sec-
retary or the Commission, and the Secretary of State, as
appropriate, in writing, of any contribution received and
expenditure made by the committee during the period
which begins on the 90th day before an election and ends
at the time the polls close for such election. This notifica-
tion shall be made within 24 hours (or, if earlier, by mid-
night of the day on which the contribution is deposited)
after the receipt of such contribution or the making of
such expenditure and shall include the name of the can-
didate involved (as appropriate) and the office sought by
the candidate, the identification of the contributor or the
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person to whom the expenditure is made, and the date
of receipt and amount of the contribution or the date of
disbursement and amount of the expenditure.
‘‘(B) The notification required under this paragraph
shall be in addition to all other reporting requirements
under this Act.
‘‘(C) The Commission shall make the information
filed under this paragraph available on the Internet imme-
diately upon receipt.’’.
(2) INTERNET DEFINED.—Section 301(19) of
such Act (2 U.S.C. 431(19)) is amended to read as
follows:
‘‘(19) The term ‘Internet’ means the international
computer network of both Federal and non-Federal inter-
operable packet-switched data networks.’’.
(b) REQUIRING REPORTS OF CERTAIN FILERS TO BE
TRANSMITTED
ELECTRONICALLY; CERTIFICATION
OF
PRIVATE SECTOR SOFTWARE.—Section 304(a)(11)(A) of
such Act (2 U.S.C. 434(a)(11)(A)) is amended by striking
the period at the end and inserting the following: ‘‘, except
that in the case of a report submitted by a person who
reports an aggregate amount of contributions or expendi-
tures (as the case may be) in all reports filed with respect
to the election involved (taking into account the period
covered by the report) in an amount equal to or greater
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than $50,000, the Commission shall require the report to
be filed and preserved by such means, format, or method.
The Commission shall certify (on an ongoing basis) pri-
vate sector computer software which may be used for filing
reports by such means, format, or method.’’.
(c) CHANGE IN CERTAIN REPORTING FROM A CAL-
ENDAR YEAR BASIS TO AN ELECTION CYCLE BASIS.—
Section 304(b) of such Act (2 U.S.C. 434(b)) is amended
by inserting ‘‘(or election cycle, in the case of an author-
ized committee of a candidate for Federal office)’’ after
‘‘calendar year’’ each place it appears in paragraphs (2),
(3), (4), (6), and (7).
SEC. 3. EXPANSION OF TYPE OF INFORMATION REPORTED.
(a) REQUIRING RECORD KEEPING AND REPORT OF
SECONDARY PAYMENTS BY CAMPAIGN COMMITTEES.—
(1) REPORTING.—Section 304(b)(5)(A) of the
Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 (2 U.S.C.
434(b)(5)(A)) is amended by striking the semicolon
at the end and inserting the following: ‘‘, and, if
such person in turn makes expenditures which ag-
gregate $500 or more in an election cycle to other
persons (not including employees) who provide goods
or services to the candidate or the candidate’s au-
thorized committees, the name and address of such
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other persons, together with the date, amount, and
purpose of such expenditures;’’.
(2) RECORD
KEEPING.—Section 302 of such
Act (2 U.S.C. 432) is amended by adding at the end
the following new subsection:
‘‘(j) A person described in section 304(b)(5)(A) who
makes expenditures which aggregate $500 or more in an
election cycle to other persons (not including employees)
who provide goods or services to a candidate or a can-
didate’s authorized committees shall provide to a political
committee the information necessary to enable the com-
mittee to report the information described in such sec-
tion.’’.
(3) NO EFFECT ON OTHER REPORTS.—Nothing
in the amendments made by this subsection may be
construed to affect the terms of any other record-
keeping or reporting requirements applicable to can-
didates or political committees under title III of the
Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971.
(b) INCLUDING REPORT ON CUMULATIVE CONTRIBU-
TIONS
AND EXPENDITURES
IN POST ELECTION RE-
PORTS.—Section 304(a)(7) of such Act (2 U.S.C.
434(a)(7)) is amended—
(1) by striking ‘‘(7)’’ and inserting ‘‘(7)(A)’’;
and
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(2) by adding at the end the following new sub-
paragraph:
‘‘(B) In the case of any report required to be filed
by this subsection which is the first report required to be
filed after the date of an election, the report shall include
a statement of the total contributions received and expend-
itures made as of the date of the election.’’.
(c) INCLUDING INFORMATION ON AGGREGATE CON-
TRIBUTIONS IN REPORT ON ITEMIZED CONTRIBUTIONS.—
Section 304(b)(3) of such Act (2 U.S.C. 434(b)(3)) is
amended—
(1) in subparagraph (A), by inserting after
‘‘such contribution’’ the following: ‘‘and the total
amount of all such contributions made by such per-
son with respect to the election involved’’; and
(2) in subparagraph (B), by inserting after
‘‘such contribution’’ the following: ‘‘and the total
amount of all such contributions made by such com-
mittee with respect to the election involved’’.
SEC. 4. PROMOTING EFFECTIVE ENFORCEMENT BY FED-
ERAL ELECTION COMMISSION.
(a) REQUIRING FEC TO PROVIDE WRITTEN RE-
SPONSES TO QUESTIONS.—
(1) IN
GENERAL.—Title III of the Federal
Election Campaign Act of 1971 (2 U.S.C. 431 et
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seq.) is amended by inserting after section 308 the
following new section:
‘‘OTHER WRITTEN RESPONSES TO QUESTIONS
‘‘SEC. 308A. (a) PERMITTING RESPONSES.—In addi-
tion to issuing advisory opinions under section 308, the
Commission shall issue written responses pursuant to this
section with respect to a written request concerning the
application of this Act, chapter 95 or chapter 96 of the
Internal Revenue Code of 1986, a rule or regulation pre-
scribed by the Commission, or an advisory opinion issued
by the Commission under section 308, with respect to a
specific transaction or activity by the person, if the Com-
mission finds the application of the Act, chapter, rule, reg-
ulation, or advisory opinion to the transaction or activity
to be clear and unambiguous.
‘‘(b) PROCEDURE FOR RESPONSE.—
‘‘(1) ANALYSIS BY STAFF.—The staff of the
Commission shall analyze each request submitted
under this section. If the staff believes that the
standard described in subsection (a) is met with re-
spect to the request, the staff shall circulate a state-
ment to that effect together with a draft response to
the request to the members of the Commission.
‘‘(2) ISSUANCE OF RESPONSE.—Upon the expi-
ration of the 3-day period beginning on the date the
statement and draft response is circulated (excluding
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weekends or holidays), the Commission shall issue
the response, unless during such period any member
of the Commission objects to issuing the response.
‘‘(c) EFFECT OF RESPONSE.—
‘‘(1) SAFE
HARBOR.—Notwithstanding any
other provisions of law, any person who relies upon
any provision or finding of a written response issued
under this section and who acts in good faith in ac-
cordance with the provisions and findings of such re-
sponse shall not, as a result of any such act, be sub-
ject to any sanction provided by this Act or by chap-
ter 95 or chapter 96 of the Internal Revenue Code
of 1986.
‘‘(2) NO RELIANCE BY OTHER PARTIES.—Any
written response issued by the Commission under
this section may only be relied upon by the person
involved in the specific transaction or activity with
respect to which such response is issued, and may
not be applied by the Commission with respect to
any other person or used by the Commission for en-
forcement or regulatory purposes.
‘‘(d) 
PUBLICATION
OF
REQUESTS
AND
RE-
SPONSES.—The Commission shall make public any re-
quest for a written response made, and the responses
issued, under this section. In carrying out this subsection,
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the Commission may not make public the identity of any
person submitting a request for a written response unless
the person specifically authorizes to Commission to do so.
‘‘(e) COMPILATION
OF INDEX.—The Commission
shall compile, publish, and regularly update a complete
and detailed index of the responses issued under this sec-
tion through which responses may be found on the basis
of the subjects included in the responses.’’.
(2) 
CONFORMING
AMENDMENT.—Section
307(a)(7) of such Act (2 U.S.C. 437d(a)(7)) is
amended by striking ‘‘of this Act’’ and inserting
‘‘and other written responses under section 308A’’.
(b) STANDARD
FOR INITIATION
OF ACTIONS
BY
FEC.—Section 309(a)(2) of such Act (2 U.S.C.
437g(a)(2)) is amended by striking ‘‘it has reason to be-
lieve’’ and all that follows through ‘‘of 1954,’’ and insert-
ing the following: ‘‘it has a reason to investigate a possible
violation of this Act or of chapter 95 or chapter 96 of
the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 that has occurred or
is about to occur (based on the same criteria applicable
under this paragraph prior to the enactment of the Cam-
paign Reform and Election Integrity Act of 1998),’’.
(c) STANDARD FORM FOR COMPLAINTS; STRONGER
DISCLAIMER LANGUAGE.—