[Congressional Bills 105th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 653 Introduced in House (IH)]







105th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 653

     To amend the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 to permit 
   interactive computer services to provide their facilities free of 
      charge to candidates for Federal offices for the purpose of 
    disseminating campaign information and enhancing public debate.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            February 6, 1997

   Mr. White  (for himself, Mr. Boucher, Ms. Dunn, Mr. Boehner, Mr. 
 Goodlatte, and Mr. English of Pennsylvania) 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 permit 
   interactive computer services to provide their facilities free of 
      charge to candidates for Federal offices for the purpose of 
    disseminating campaign information and enhancing public debate.

    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 ``Internet Election Information Act of 
1997''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    Congress finds the following:
            (1) For the purposes of enhancing public debate and 
        awareness, candidates for Federal office should be encouraged 
        to provide voters with meaningful and substantive information 
        about their candidacy and important public policy issues.
            (2) The Internet and other interactive computer services 
        did not exist when the laws that currently govern Federal 
        elections were enacted, and these services represent a new 
        medium where voters can obtain meaningful and substantive 
        information about issues and candidates.

SEC. 3. EXEMPTION OF DONATED INTERACTIVE COMPUTER SERVICES FROM 
              COVERAGE UNDER FEDERAL ELECTION CAMPAIGN ACT OF 1971.

    (a) Exemption From Treatment as Contribution.--Section 301(8)(B) of 
the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 (2 U.S.C. 431(8)(B)) is 
amended--
            (1) by striking ``and'' at the end of clause (xiii);
            (2) by striking the period at the end of clause (xiv) and 
        inserting ``; and''; and
            (3) by adding at the end the following new clause:
            ``(xv) the value of services provided without charge to a 
        candidate by an interactive computer service (defined as any 
        information service that is generally available to the public 
        or access software provider that provides or enables computer 
        access by multiple users to a computer server, including 
        specifically a service or system that provides access to the 
        Internet and such systems operated or services offered by 
        libraries or educational institutions) in permitting the 
        candidate to use its facilities for distributing election or 
        candidate information, posting position papers, responding to 
        campaign related inquiries, soliciting lawful contributions, 
        convening electronic campaign forums, or otherwise lawfully 
        utilizing the resources of the interactive computer service, if 
        the service permits its facilities to be used for such purposes 
        under the same terms and conditions by all other candidates in 
        the election for the same office.''.
    (b) Exemption From Treatment as Expenditure.--Section 301(9)(B) of 
such Act (2 U.S.C. 431(9)(B)) is amended--
            (1) by striking ``and'' at the end of clause (ix);
            (2) by striking the period at the end of clause (x) and 
        inserting ``; and''; and
            (3) by adding at the end the following new clause:
            ``(xi) any direct costs incurred by an interactive computer 
        service (defined as any information service that is generally 
        available to the public or access software provider that 
        provides or enables computer access by multiple users to a 
        computer server, including specifically a service or system 
        that provides access to the Internet and such systems operated 
        or services offered by libraries or educational institutions) 
        in permitting a candidate to use its facilities for 
        distributing election or candidate information, posting 
        position papers, responding to campaign related inquiries, 
        soliciting lawful contributions, convening electronic campaign 
        forums, or otherwise lawfully utilizing the resources of the 
        interactive computer service, if the service permits its 
        facilities to be used for such purposes under the same terms 
        and conditions by all other candidates in the election for the 
        same office.''.

SEC. 4. EFFECTIVE DATE.

    The amendments made by this Act shall take effect on the date of 
the enactment of this Act.
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