[Congressional Bills 107th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 1165 Introduced in House (IH)]







107th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 1165

    To provide for the establishment of an Election Voting Systems 
             Standards Commission, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             March 22, 2001

  Mr. Barcia (for himself, Ms. Rivers, Mr. Larson of Connecticut, Mr. 
    Udall of Colorado, Mr. Lampson, and Mr. Weiner) introduced the 
     following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Science

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
    To provide for the establishment of an Election Voting Systems 
             Standards Commission, 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 ``Election Voting Systems Standards 
Act of 2001''.

SEC. 2. ELECTION VOTING SYSTEMS STANDARDS COMMISSION.

    (a) Establishment.--The Director of the National Institute of 
Standards and Technology, in consultation with the chairman of the 
Federal Election Commission, shall establish the Election Voting 
Systems Standards Commission (in this Act referred to as the 
``Commission'').
    (b) Membership.--The Commission shall consist of the following 
members:
            (1) The Director of the National Institute of Standards and 
        Technology, who shall serve as the chair of the Commission.
            (2) The chairman of the Federal Election Commission, who 
        shall serve as the vice-chair of the Commission.
            (3) Two representatives of the National Association of 
        State Election Directors, selected by that association.
            (4) Two representatives of the National Governors 
        Association, selected by that association.
            (5) One representative of the American National Standards 
        Institute, selected by that institute.
            (6) Not more than 5 additional members that the Director of 
        the National Institute of Standards and Technology, in 
        consultation with the chairman of the Federal Election 
        Commission, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, the 
        Minority Leader of the House of Representatives, the Majority 
        Leader of the Senate, and the Minority Leader of the Senate, 
        considers appropriate.
    (c) Responsibilities.--
            (1) Standards and criteria.--The Commission shall 
        establish--
                    (A) a set of technical performance-based standards 
                relating to the accuracy, integrity, and security of 
                voting products and systems used in Federal elections; 
                and
                    (B) criteria for the selection of an organization 
                to operate the National Election Systems Standards 
                Laboratory under section 3.
        Not later than 9 months after the date of the enactment of this 
        Act, the Commission shall transmit to the Congress a report 
        containing the standards and criteria established under this 
        paragraph.
            (2) Testing and certification.--The Commission shall--
                    (A) develop uniform testing and evaluation 
                procedures suitable for determining the conformance of 
                voting products and systems to the standards 
                established under paragraph (1)(A);
                    (B) establish procedures for the certification, by 
                the Laboratory established under section 3, of non-
                Federal laboratories to perform the testing and 
                evaluation procedures developed under subparagraph (A) 
                of this paragraph; and
                    (C) make recommendations for methods of promoting 
                the use of the testing and evaluation procedures 
                developed under subparagraph (A) of this paragraph.
        Not later than 1 year after the date of the enactment of this 
        Act, the Commission shall transmit to the Congress a report 
        containing the procedures developed or established under 
        subparagraphs (A) and (B) of this paragraph, and the 
        recommendations described in subparagraph (C).

SEC. 3. NATIONAL ELECTION SYSTEMS STANDARDS LABORATORY.

    (a) Establishment.--The Director of the National Institute of 
Standards and Technology shall select an organization to operate the 
National Election Systems Standards Laboratory (in this section 
referred to as the ``Laboratory'').
    (b) Selection.--Selection of the Laboratory under subsection (a) 
shall be carried out--
            (1) in accordance with criteria established under section 
        2(c)(1)(B); and
            (2) through a merit-based competition open to any 
        nonprofit, nonpartisan research entity or consortium.
    (c) Functions.--The Laboratory shall--
            (1) investigate and analyze issues with respect to voting 
        products and systems and their conformance to the standards 
        established under section 2(c)(1)(A), including--
                    (A) human factors in the design and application of 
                voting systems; and
                    (B) the design of remote-access voting systems;
            (2) certify non-Federal laboratories to perform the testing 
        and evaluation procedures developed under section 2(c)(2)(A); 
        and
            (3) maintain and make available to the public a list of 
        voting products and systems that have been tested and evaluated 
        by non-Federal laboratories certified under paragraph (2) and 
        that are found to be in conformance with the standards 
        established under section 2(c)(1)(A).
                                 <all>