I 
114TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 4179 
To direct the Federal Communications Commission to promulgate regulations 
requiring material in the online public inspection file of a covered entity 
to be made available in a format that is machine-readable. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
DECEMBER 3, 2015 
Mr. BEN RAY LUJA´N of New Mexico (for himself, Mr. PALLONE, Ms. ESHOO, 
Mr. YARMUTH, Mr. WELCH, Ms. MATSUI, Mr. MICHAEL F. DOYLE of 
Pennsylvania, and Ms. CLARKE of New York) introduced the following 
bill; which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce 
A BILL 
To direct the Federal Communications Commission to pro-
mulgate regulations requiring material in the online pub-
lic inspection file of a covered entity to be made available 
in a format that is machine-readable. 
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 ‘‘Fair and Clear Cam-
paign Transparency Act’’. 
SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 
Congress finds the following: 
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(1) On May 9, 2013, President Barack Obama 
issued an Executive order that made open and ma-
chine-readable data the new default for Government 
information. 
(2) Open data principles are essential for trans-
parency and efficiency in government. 
(3) In 2012, the Federal Communications Com-
mission required television stations to place on the 
Internet website of the Commission certain materials 
in the files such stations are required to maintain 
and make available for public inspection, including 
important information about the purchasing of polit-
ical advertisements. 
(4) The Commission declined to require such 
materials to be machine-readable, deciding at the 
time that it was more important to get the informa-
tion online faster. 
(5) Machine readability is a critical component 
of open government and provides interested parties 
with the necessary access to evaluate data in a more 
comprehensive way. 
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SEC. 3. MATERIAL IN ONLINE PUBLIC INSPECTION FILE RE-
QUIRED TO BE IN MACHINE-READABLE FOR-
MAT. 
(a) REGULATIONS.—Not later than 180 days after 
the date of the enactment of this Act, the Commission 
shall promulgate regulations that require a covered entity, 
to the extent such entity is required to make material in 
the public inspection file of such entity available on, or 
upload such material to, an Internet website, to make such 
material available or upload such material in a format that 
is machine-readable. 
(b) APPLICABILITY.—The regulations promulgated 
under subsection (a) shall apply— 
(1) to a covered entity for which an online pub-
lic inspection file requirement is in effect on the date 
of the promulgation of such regulations— 
(A) with respect to the political file portion 
of the public inspection file, beginning not later 
than the date that is 60 days after the date of 
such promulgation; and 
(B) with respect to the other portions of 
the public inspection file, at the same time as 
such regulations apply under subparagraph (A) 
with respect to the political file portion of the 
public inspection file or as soon thereafter as 
the Commission considers practicable; and 
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(2) to a covered entity for which an online pub-
lic inspection file requirement becomes effective after 
the date of the promulgation of such regulations— 
(A) with respect to the political file portion 
of the public inspection file, beginning on the 
later of— 
(i) the date of applicability of such 
regulations under paragraph (1)(A); or 
(ii) the date on which the online pub-
lic inspection file requirement becomes ef-
fective for such entity; and 
(B) with respect to the other portions of 
the public inspection file, at the same time as 
such regulations apply under subparagraph (A) 
with respect to the political file portion of the 
public inspection file or as soon thereafter as 
the Commission considers practicable. 
(c) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 
(1) COMMISSION.—The term ‘‘Commission’’ 
means the Federal Communications Commission. 
(2) COVERED ENTITY.—The term ‘‘covered en-
tity’’ means a television broadcast station, AM or 
FM radio broadcast station, cable operator, direct 
broadcast satellite service provider, or satellite dig-
ital audio radio service provider. 
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(3) MACHINE-READABLE.—The term ‘‘machine- 
readable’’ means, with respect to the format of ma-
terial in a public inspection file, that such format 
supports the automated searching for particular text 
within and among documents, the bulk downloading 
of data contained in such material, the aggregation, 
manipulation, sorting, and analysis of the data con-
tained in such material, and such other functionality 
as the Commission considers appropriate. 
(4) ONLINE
PUBLIC
INSPECTION
FILE
RE-
QUIREMENT.—The term ‘‘online public inspection 
file requirement’’ means a requirement for a covered 
entity to make material in the public inspection file 
of such entity available on, or upload such material 
to, an Internet website. 
(5) POLITICAL FILE.—The term ‘‘political file’’ 
means, with respect to a covered entity, the file that 
such entity is required to maintain and make avail-
able for public inspection under section 315(e) of the 
Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 315(e)) or 
under any similar requirement applicable to such en-
tity that is administered by the Commission. 
(6) PUBLIC
INSPECTION
FILE.—The term 
‘‘public inspection file’’, with respect to a covered en-
tity— 
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(A) means the file or files that such entity 
is required to maintain and make available for 
public 
inspection 
under 
section 
25.701, 
73.3526, 73.3527, or 76.1700 of title 47, Code 
of Federal Regulations (or any successor regu-
lation), as applicable to such entity, or under 
any similar requirement applicable to such enti-
ty that is administered by the Commission; and 
(B) includes any political file that such en-
tity is required to maintain and make available 
for public inspection. 
Æ 
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