I
106TH CONGRESS
2D SESSION
H. R. 4621
To amend the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 and the Communica-
tions Act of 1934 to require sponsors of certain election-related commu-
nications to provide information regarding their identities and sources
of funds used to make the communications, and for other purposes.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
JUNE 9, 2000
Mr. CASTLE (for himself, Mr. LEACH, Mr. BOEHLERT, Mrs. MORELLA, Mr.
HORN, Mr. BILBRAY, Mr. GANSKE, Mr. GILCHREST, Mr. BASS, Mr.
SHAYS, Mr. UPTON, Mr. GREENWOOD, Mr. FRANKS of New Jersey, Mrs.
JOHNSON of Connecticut, and Mr. RAMSTAD) introduced the following
bill; which was referred to the Committee on House Administration, and
in addition to the Committee on Commerce, for a period to be subse-
quently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such
provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned
A BILL
To amend the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 and
the Communications Act of 1934 to require sponsors
of certain election-related communications to provide in-
formation regarding their identities and sources of funds
used to make the communications, and for other pur-
poses.
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 ‘‘Accountability and
Disclosure Act of 2000’’.
SEC. 2. DISCLOSURE REQUIREMENTS FOR CERTAIN CAM-
PAIGN-RELATED COMMUNICATIONS.
(a) PRINT COMMUNICATIONS.—Section 318 of the
Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 (2 U.S.C. 441d)
is amended by adding at the end the following new sub-
section:
‘‘(c)(1) In addition to any other information required
to be reported under this Act, any person who makes any
payments described in paragraph (2) during a calendar
year shall meet the following requirements with respect
to any communication described in such paragraph which
is disseminated on or after the date on which the aggre-
gate amount or value of such communications made by
the person during the year equals or exceeds $10,000:
‘‘(A) The person shall include in the commu-
nication involved (in a reasonably legible manner)—
‘‘(i) the person’s name, address, and day-
time telephone number; or
‘‘(ii) the person’s Internet site which con-
tains the information described in clause (i) and
any information required to be provided under
subparagraph (B).
‘‘(B) Beginning on the date the communication
is disseminated, the person shall provide to any per-
son on request not later than 24 hours after the re-
quest is made or post on the person’s Internet site
the following information:
‘‘(i) If the person is an entity with officers
or directors, the name, address, and daytime
telephone number of such officers or directors.
‘‘(ii) If the person is an entity without offi-
cers or directors, the name, address, and day-
time telephone number of any person respon-
sible for the communication involved.
‘‘(iii) The identification of each person who
provided funds to the person during the cal-
endar year in an amount equal to or greater
than $1,000, together with the amount the per-
son provided.
‘‘(2) A payment described in this paragraph is a pay-
ment for any communication disseminated through any
method other than through a radio or television broadcast
which mentions an individual holding Federal office or a
clearly identified candidate for election for Federal office
(including any individual who has formed an exploratory
committee for such election) or the political party of such
an individual or candidate, or which contains the likeness
of such an individual or candidate, (other than a payment
which would be described in clause (i), (iii), or (v) of sec-
tion 301(9)(B) if the payment were an expenditure under
such section).’’.
(b) RADIO
AND TELEVISION COMMUNICATIONS.—
Section 317 of the Communications Act of 1934 (47
U.S.C. 317) is amended—
(1) by striking ‘‘radio station’’ each place it ap-
pears and inserting ‘‘broadcast station’’; and
(2) by adding at the end of subsection (a) the
following new paragraph:
‘‘(3)(A) Each person who provides a broadcast sta-
tion with any communication described in subparagraph
(E) for broadcast shall provide the station with the fol-
lowing information:
‘‘(i) If the person is an entity with officers
or directors, the name, address, and daytime
telephone number of such officers or directors.
‘‘(ii) If the person is an entity without offi-
cers or directors, the name, address, and day-
time telephone number of any person respon-
sible for the communication involved.
‘‘(iii) The identification of each person who
provided funds to the person during the cal-
endar year in an amount equal to or greater
than $1,000, together with the amount the per-
son provided.
‘‘(B) In addition to any other records required to be
kept under this subsection, each broadcast station which
broadcasts any communication described in subparagraph
(E) shall—
‘‘(i) retain the information provided to the sta-
tion pursuant to subparagraph (A);
‘‘(ii) if the station has a site on the Internet,
post such information on the site;
‘‘(iii) provide the information described in
clause (i) or clause (ii) of subparagraph (A) upon re-
quest to any person by telephone, electronic mail, or
facsimile device; and
‘‘(iv) in addition to the methods described in
clauses (ii) and (iii), make the information provided
to the station pursuant to subparagraph (A) avail-
able for public inspection through such other meth-
ods as the station considers appropriate.
‘‘(C)(i) In addition to any other announcements re-
quired to be made under this subsection, each communica-
tion described in subparagraph (E) shall include, in a
clearly 
spoken 
manner, 
the 
following 
statement:
‘llllllll is responsible for the content of this
advertisement.’ (with the blank to be filled in with the
‘‘(iii) The Commission may refer a knowing and will-
ful violation of subparagraph (A) or subparagraph (C) to
the Attorney General, who may bring a criminal action
against the person involved. If the person is convicted in
any such action, the person shall be fined not more than
$25,000 or 300 percent of the aggregate amount spent
on the communication involved (whichever is greater) for
each such violation, imprisoned for not more than one
year, or both.
‘‘(E)(i) A communication described in this subpara-
graph is any communication which mentions an individual
holding Federal office or a clearly identified candidate for
election for Federal office (including any individual who
has formed an exploratory committee for such election)
or the political party of such an individual or candidate,
or which contains the likeness of such an individual or
candidate, (other than a payment which would be de-
scribed in clause (i), (iii), or (v) of section 301(9)(B) of
the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 if the pay-
ment were an expenditure under such section).
‘‘(ii) In clause (i), the term ‘Federal office’ has the
meaning given such term in section 301(3) of the Federal
Election Campaign Act of 1971.
‘‘(F) This paragraph does not apply with respect to
a communication if (prior to spending funds on the com-
munication) the person providing the communication to
the broadcast station has not spent an aggregate amount
or value of $10,000 or more on all such communications
during the calendar year involved.
‘‘(G) This paragraph shall apply with respect to a
video programmer and a multi-channel video program dis-
tributor in the same manner as it applies to a broadcast
station.’’.
SEC. 3. EFFECTIVE DATE.
This Act and the amendments made by this Act shall
take effect January 1, 2001.
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