To amend the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 to require the Federal Election Commission to establish and operate a website through which members of the public may view the contents of certain political advertisements, to require the sponsors of such advertisements to furnish the contents of the advertisements to the Commission, and for other purposes.

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Campaign Sunlight Act of 2012''.

SEC. 2. ESTABLISHMENT AND OPERATION OF WEBSITE OF POLITICAL 
              ADVERTISEMENTS.

    (a) Establishment of Website.--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 subsection:
    ``(e) Website for Contents of Political Advertisements.--
            ``(1) Website described.--
                    ``(A) In general.--The Commission shall establish 
                and operate a website, to be known as the `Campaign 
                Accountability Site', through which members of the 
                public may view the contents of political 
                advertisements.
                    ``(B) Format.--In operating the website under this 
                subsection, the Commission shall--
                            ``(i) make the contents of a political 
                        advertisement available for viewing in the same 
                        format through which the advertisement was 
                        disseminated; and
                            ``(ii) make the sources of the contents of 
                        the advertisement available on the website 
                        directly or through hyperlinks to the sources, 
                        as submitted to the Commission by the sponsor 
                        of the advertisement under paragraph (2)(B).
                    ``(C) Hyperlink.--The Commission shall make the 
                website established and operated under this subsection 
                available through a hyperlink on the Commission's 
                official public website.
            ``(2) Requiring sponsors of advertisements to provide 
        contents to commission.--
                    ``(A) In general.--The sponsor of a political 
                advertisement shall submit the contents of the 
                advertisement to the Commission in such format as the 
                Commission may require to enable the Commission to 
                include the advertisement on the website established 
                and operated under paragraph (1).
                    ``(B) Inclusion of sources cited in contents.--If 
                the contents of a political advertisement include 
                references to any quotation, article, hyperlink, or 
                other source for any statement made in the 
                advertisement, the sponsor of the advertisement shall 
                include the full contents of the source (or a hyperlink 
                to the full contents of the source) in the contents 
                submitted to the Commission under this paragraph.
                    ``(C) Deadline for submission.--The sponsor of a 
                political advertisement shall submit the contents of 
                the advertisement to the Commission under subparagraph 
                (A) not later than--
                            ``(i) 24 hours after the advertisement is 
                        disseminated, in the case of an advertisement 
                        that is disseminated during the 7-day period 
                        that ends on the date of the election involved; 
                        or
                            ``(ii) 72 hours after the advertisement is 
                        disseminated, in the case of an advertisement 
                        that is disseminated during any other period.
                    ``(D) Payment of fee.--If the Commission determines 
                that it is appropriate to impose fees on the sponsors 
                of political advertisements in amounts which do not 
                exceed the amount necessary to cover the costs to the 
                Commission of establishing and operating the website 
                under paragraph (1), at the time the sponsor of a 
                political advertisement submits the contents of the 
                advertisement to the Commission under subparagraph (A), 
                the sponsor shall pay the Commission the amount of any 
                such fee (as determined under a fee schedule 
                established by the Commission).
                    ``(E) Sponsor defined.--For purposes of this 
                subsection, the `sponsor' of a political advertisement 
                is--
                            ``(i) in the case of a political 
                        advertisement that is described in paragraph 
                        (1) or (2) of subsection (a), the authorized 
                        political committee involved; or
                            ``(ii) in the case of a political 
                        advertisement that is described in paragraph 
                        (3) of subsection (a), the person who is 
                        required under such paragraph to be identified 
                        as the person who paid for the advertisement.
            ``(3) Political advertisement defined.--In this subsection, 
        a `political advertisement' means a communication that is 
        subject to subsection (a) that refers to a clearly identified 
        candidate and is disseminated during the 1-year period which 
        ends on the date of the election for the office sought by the 
        candidate.''.
    (b) Effective Date.--The amendment made by subsection (a) shall 
apply with respect to political advertisements disseminated after the 
expiration of the 120-day period that begins on the date of the 
enactment of this Act.

Summary: Campaign Sunlight Act of 2012 - Amends the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 to direct the Federal Election Commission (FEC) to establish and operate a website (Campaign Accountability Site) through which members of the public may view the contents of political advertisements.

Requires the sponsor of a political advertisement to submit its contents to the FEC in a format the FEC may require. Requires the format to make the sources of such contents available on the website directly or through hyperlinks to the sources.

Requires the sponsor to submit an advertisement to the FEC within: (1) 24 hours after its dissemination, if it is disseminated during the 7 days before the election involved; or (2) 72 hours after dissemination during any other period.