[Congressional Bills 105th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 2433 Introduced in House (IH)]







105th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 2433

     To amend the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 to require 
   candidates for the House of Representatives or the Senate to file 
 information included in quarterly candidate reports with the Federal 
Election Commission within 48 hours of the time the information becomes 
   available, to require all reports filed with the Federal Election 
   Commission to be filed electronically, to require the information 
 contained in such reports to be made available through the Internet, 
                        and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                           September 8, 1997

  Ms. Rivers introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
                      Committee on House Oversight

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
     To amend the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 to require 
   candidates for the House of Representatives or the Senate to file 
 information included in quarterly candidate reports with the Federal 
Election Commission within 48 hours of the time the information becomes 
   available, to require all reports filed with the Federal Election 
   Commission to be filed electronically, to require the information 
 contained in such reports to be made available through the Internet, 
                        and for other purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Citizens' Right to Know Act''.

SEC. 2. 48 HOUR DEADLINE FOR FILING REPORTS OF AUTHORIZED COMMITTEES.

    Section 304(a) of the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 (2 
U.S.C. 434(a)) is amended by adding at the end the following new 
paragraph:
    ``(12) Notwithstanding any other provision of this section, in 
addition to filing reports under paragraph (2), each principal campaign 
committee of a candidate for the House of Representatives or for the 
Senate shall file the information required to be included in such 
reports with the Commission not later than 48 hours after the 
information becomes available to the committee.''.

SEC. 3. TIMETABLE FOR ELECTRONIC FILING OF FEC REPORTS.

    (a) In General.--
            (1) Requirement for electronic filing.--Section 
        304(a)(11)(A) of the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 (2 
        U.S.C. 434(a)(11)(A)) is amended by adding at the end the 
        following new sentence: ``Except as provided in subparagraph 
        (C), all such reports for periods beginning after December 31, 
        1998, shall be filed and preserved by means of computer disk or 
        other format determined by the Commission under the previous 
        sentence.''.
            (2) Exception for certain reports.--Section 304(a)(11) of 
        such Act (2 U.S.C. 434(a)(11)) is amended--
                    (A) by redesignating subparagraph (C) as 
                subparagraph (D); and
                    (B) by inserting after subparagraph (B) the 
                following new subparagraph:
    ``(C)(i) In the case of a report filed by a political committee 
reporting less than the designated threshold amount of contributions or 
expenditures during the election cycle for which the report is filed, 
the committee may file the report--
            ``(I) by means of computer disk or other format determined 
        by the Commission under subparagraph (A); or
            ``(II) typed or printed in black ink on paper, using forms 
        supplied by the Commission.
    ``(ii) In clause (i), the `designated threshold amount' is--
            ``(I) in the case of an authorized committee, $50,000; or
            ``(II) in the case of any other political committee, such 
        amount as the Commission may establish by regulation.
    ``(iii) In this subparagraph, the term `election cycle' means--
            ``(I) in the case of a candidate or the authorized 
        committees of a candidate, the term beginning on the day after 
        the date of the most recent general election for the specific 
        office or seat which such candidate seeks and ending on the 
        date of the next general election for such office or seat; or
            ``(II) for all other persons, the term beginning on the 
        first day following the date of the last general election and 
        ending on the date of the next general election.''.
    (b) Availability of Software.--Section 311(a) of such Act (2 U.S.C. 
438(a)) is amended--
            (1) by striking ``and'' at the end of paragraph (9);
            (2) by striking the period at the end of paragraph (10) and 
        inserting ``; and''; and
            (3) by adding at the end the following new paragraph:
            ``(11) develop and make available without charge any 
        computer software required for the electronic filing of reports 
        under section 304(a)(11).''.

SEC. 4. INTERNET ACCESS TO FEC REPORTS.

    (a) In General.--Section 311(a)(4) of the Federal Election Campaign 
Act of 1971 (2 U.S.C. 438(a)(4)) is amended by inserting after ``such 
copying,'' the following: ``and make the information contained in those 
reports and statements available on the Internet (under such guidelines 
and criteria as the Commission considers appropriate),''.
    (b) Prohibiting Use of Internet Information for Soliciting 
Contributions or Commercial Purposes.--Section 311(a)(4) of such Act (2 
U.S.C. 438(a)(4)) is amended by inserting after ``such reports or 
statements'' the following: ``or obtained from such reports or 
statements through the Internet''.
    (c) Internet Defined.--Section 301 of such Act (2 U.S.C. 431) is 
amended by adding at the end the following new paragraph:
    ``(20) The term `Internet' means the international computer network 
of both Federal and non-Federal interoperable packet-switched data 
networks.''.
    (d) Effective Date.--The amendment made by subsection (a) shall 
apply with respect to reports for periods beginning after December 31, 
1998.
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