I
105TH CONGRESS
2D SESSION
H. R. 3174
To amend the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 to require electronic
preservation and filing of reports filed with the Federal Election Commis-
sion by certain persons, to require such reports to be made available
through the Internet, and for other purposes.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
FEBRUARY 5, 1998
Mr. WHITE (for himself, Mr. HASTINGS of Washington, Mr. FRANKS of New
Jersey, Mrs. MALONEY of New York, and Mr. NETHERCUTT) introduced
the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on House Over-
sight
A BILL
To amend the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 to
require electronic preservation and filing of reports filed
with the Federal Election Commission by certain per-
sons, to require such reports to be made available
through the Internet, and for other purposes.
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 ‘‘Electronic Campaign
Disclosure Act of 1998’’.
SEC. 2. MANDATORY ELECTRONIC PRESERVATION AND FIL-
ING OF FEDERAL ELECTION COMMISSION RE-
PORTS; ACCESS THROUGH INTERNET SITE.
(a) ELECTRONIC FILING THROUGH
THE INTER-
NET.—Section 304(a)(11) of the Federal Election Cam-
paign Act of 1971 (2 U.S.C. 434(a)(11)) is amended to
read as follows:
‘‘(11)(A) Through a competitive bidding process, the
Commission shall establish a public Internet site not later
than January 1, 1999, with the following features:
‘‘(i) Any person filing a report required by this
Act may post the report directly on the site.
‘‘(ii) Any member of the public may obtain the
reports posted on the site (together with any other
information the Commission may make available
through the site) at any time.
‘‘(iii) Any information in a report posted on the
site shall be subject to the same prohibition on sale
and use as information from a report or statement
under paragraph (4).
‘‘(iv) All information posted on the site shall be
integrated in a manner which permits users to
search the information across categories and
sources.
‘‘(B)(i) The Commission shall permit each person re-
quired to file a report under this Act to file the report
by posting it directly on the Internet site established under
subparagraph (A), or by filing it by such electronic method
as the Commission may designate to enable the Commis-
sion to post the report on such site immediately upon re-
ceipt.
‘‘(ii) The Commission shall require a person to file
a report under this Act in accordance with the methods
described in clause (i) during an election cycle if the aggre-
gate amount of contributions or expenditures reported
previously by the person during the cycle exceeds $25,000.
‘‘(C) The Commission shall provide for one or more
methods (other than requiring a signature on the report
being filed) for verification of reports filed in accordance
with the methods described in subparagraph (B)(i). Any
verification under the preceding sentence shall be treated
for all purposes (including penalties for perjury) in the
same manner as a verification by signature.
‘‘(D) As used in this paragraph, the term ‘‘report’’
means, with respect to the Commission, a report, designa-
tion, or statement required by this Act to be filed with
the Commission.’’.
(b) REQUIRING COMMISSION TO MAKE SOFTWARE
AVAILABLE.—Section 311(a) of such Act (2 U.S.C.
438(a)) is amended—