Code of Massachusetts Regulations › 970 CMR - OFFICE OF CAMPAIGN AND POLITICAL FINANCE › Title 970 CMR 1.00 - Campaign finance activity › Section 1.11 - Electronic Filing

Current through Register 1525, July 5, 2024
(1)
Definitions
. For the purposes of M.G.L. c. 55, §
			 18C and 970 CMR 1.11, the following words shall have the following meanings:
Authentication
shall mean the method
				used to identify a person signing and creating electronic signatures and
				records.
CPF ID Number
shall mean the unique
				identification number assigned to a candidate or political committee by the
				Director pursuant to
				970
				CMR 2.07(8)  and the unique
				identification number assigned to depository banks pursuant to M.G.L. c. 55,
				§ 19.
Depository Bank
shall mean a financial
				institution which a candidate or political committee has designated as a
				depository for the campaign funds of such candidate or political committee in
				accordance with M.G.L. c. 55, § 19(a).
EFS
shall mean the OCPF Electronic
				Filing and Campaign Disclosure System that is the electronic reporting system
				developed for the submission, retrieval, storage and public disclosure of
				campaign finance reports and financial activity statements required to be filed
				with the Director pursuant to M.G.L. c. 55, § 18C(a).
Election Cycle
shall mean, for local
				party committees, the period beginning on the first day of January following
				the most recent biennial state election and ending on the
				31st day of December following the next biennial
				state election.
Electronic Record
shall mean a record
				created, generated, sent, communicated, received or stored by electronic
				means.
Electronic Signature
shall mean an
				electronic process attached to or logically associated with an electronic
				record and executed or adopted by a person with the intent to sign the
				record.
User
shall mean a candidate, duly
				appointed treasurer of a political committee or the cashier or treasurer of a
				depository bank to whom a CPF ID number and password have been assigned or a
				person acting under the authority or on behalf of the candidate, political
				committee or depository bank to whom a CPF ID number and password have been
				assigned. The term "user" shall also mean a person who has registered with OCPF
				using his or her e-mail address and a password created by the user for the
				purpose of completing and filing a Report of Independent Expenditures, a Report
				of Electioneering Communications, or any other report required to be
				electronically filed by M.G.L. c. 55, either as the person making such
				expenditures, or as the person authorized to do so by an entity making such
				expenditures.
(2) Pursuant
			 to M.G.L. c. 55, § 18C, electronic campaign finance reports and financial
			 activity statements created and filed with the Director shall be electronically
			 signed by means of the following process:
(a)
Authentication
. The EFS shall be maintained on secure
			 servers. Access to the EFS servers for the purpose of creating and submitting
			 electronic records shall be accomplished by a login protocol requiring users to
			 use both their CPF ID number and a unique eight-digit, alpha-numeric password
			 or their registered e-mail address and password.
(b)
Demonstration of Intent to
			 Sign the Record
. A user shall demonstrate his or her intent to
			 electronically sign an electronic campaign finance report or financial activity
			 statement by the affirmative act of clicking through an electronic interface to
			 file an electronic record with this office. The electronic interface that this
			 office shall employ for electronically signing records will provide written
			 notice upon the web page presented to the user for electronic signature that
			 clearly indicates to the user that the click-through method used is a binding
			 signature and the pages or data to which the user is agreeing when he or she
			 signs electronically.
(c)
Binding
. For candidates and political committees, the
			 electronic signature shall be bound to the electronic record(s) by two means:
			 the candidate's, committee's or depository bank's CPF ID number shall be
			 encoded into the electronic record(s) at the time of its creation; and at
			 submission, each signed electronic record shall be assigned a unique
			 transaction identification number maintained on the EFS secure server. Proof of
			 electronic signature shall be provided to the user at the time of signing the
			 record(s) in the form of a file submission receipt that shall clearly identify
			 the user's CPF ID number and the transaction number for the electronic
			 record(s) submitted. For all other persons required to file reports
			 electronically, the signature shall be bound to the electronic record(s) by the
			 encoding of the person's name, title, and (if applicable) the entity the person
			 is filing on behalf of.
(d)
Data Integrity
. The Director shall ensure the data
			 integrity of the signed electronic records submitted, stored and maintained in
			 the EFS by:
1. employing encryption technology
			 for the transmission of data from remote locations to the EFS secure
			 servers;
2. managing the servers so
			 that the EFS provides an audit trail for every electronic record created,
			 submitted and stored in the EFS; and
3. by immediately electronically locking
			 electronic records at signing so that they cannot be subsequently
			 altered.
(e)
Notice
. Pursuant to M.G.L. c. 55, § 18C, notice
			 shall be provided on the web page presented to the user for electronic
			 signature that electronic records shall be signed under penalties of perjury as
			 required by M.G.L. c. 55, § 24, and
			 970 CMR
			 2.14(6). Such electronic
			 signature shall, in the case of a candidate's committee report, be attributable
			 to both the candidate and the duly appointed treasurer of the candidate's
			 political committee, in the case of other types of committees, to the duly
			 appointed treasurer of the political committee or, in the case of depository
			 banks, to the cashier or treasurer of the bank.