Stand By Every Ad Act

I 117TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 1171 To amend the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 to require the sponsors of certain general public political advertisements to include in the adver- tisements information on the persons who provided the funding for such advertisements, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES FEBRUARY 18, 2021 Mr. PRICE of North Carolina introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on House Administration A BILL To amend the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 to require the sponsors of certain general public political advertisements to include in the advertisements informa- tion on the persons who provided the funding for such advertisements, and for other purposes. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Stand By Every Ad 4 Act’’. 5 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:21 Mar 13, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1171.IH H1171 khammond on DSKJM1Z7X2PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 1171 IH SEC. 2. APPLICATION OF DISCLAIMER STATEMENTS TO ON- 1 LINE COMMUNICATIONS. 2 (a) APPLICATION TO ONLINE PUBLIC COMMUNICA- 3 TIONS.— 4 (1) IN GENERAL.—Subsection (a) of section 5 318 of the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 6 (52 U.S.C. 30120) is amended— 7 (A) by striking ‘‘financing any communica- 8 tion through any broadcasting station, news- 9 paper, magazine, outdoor advertising facility, 10 mailing, or any other type of general public po- 11 litical advertising’’ and inserting ‘‘financing any 12 public communication’’; and 13 (B) by striking ‘‘solicits any contribution 14 through any broadcasting station, newspaper, 15 magazine, outdoor advertising facility, mailing, 16 or any other type of general public political ad- 17 vertising’’ and inserting ‘‘solicits any contribu- 18 tion through any public communication’’. 19 (2) CONFORMING AMENDMENT RELATING TO 20 DEFINITION OF PUBLIC COMMUNICATION.—Para- 21 graph (22) of section 301 of such Act (52 U.S.C. 22 30101(22)) is amended by striking ‘‘or satellite com- 23 munication’’ and inserting ‘‘satellite, paid internet, 24 or paid digital communication’’. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:21 Mar 13, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1171.IH H1171 khammond on DSKJM1Z7X2PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 1171 IH (b) CLEAR AND CONSPICUOUS MANNER REQUIRE- 1 MENT.—Subsection (a) of section 318 of such Act (52 2 U.S.C. 30120(a)) is amended— 3 (1) by striking ‘‘shall clearly state’’ each place 4 it appears in paragraphs (1), (2), and (3) and in- 5 serting ‘‘shall state in a clear and conspicuous man- 6 ner’’; and 7 (2) by adding at the end the following flush 8 sentence: ‘‘For purposes of this section, a commu- 9 nication does not make a statement in a clear and 10 conspicuous manner if it is difficult to read or hear 11 or if the placement is easily overlooked.’’. 12 (c) SPECIAL RULES FOR QUALIFIED INTERNET OR 13 DIGITAL COMMUNICATIONS.— 14 (1) IN GENERAL.—Section 318 of such Act (52 15 U.S.C. 30120) is amended by adding at the end the 16 following new subsection: 17 ‘‘(e) SPECIAL RULES FOR QUALIFIED INTERNET OR 18 DIGITAL COMMUNICATIONS.— 19 ‘‘(1) SPECIAL RULES WITH RESPECT TO STATE- 20 MENTS.—In the case of any qualified internet or 21 digital communication which is disseminated through 22 a medium in which the provision of all of the infor- 23 mation specified in this section is not possible, the 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:21 Mar 13, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1171.IH H1171 khammond on DSKJM1Z7X2PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 1171 IH communication shall, in a clear and conspicuous 1 manner— 2 ‘‘(A) state the name of the person who 3 paid for the communication; and 4 ‘‘(B) provide a means for the recipient of 5 the communication to obtain the remainder of 6 the information required under this section with 7 minimal effort and without receiving or viewing 8 any additional material other than such re- 9 quired information. 10 ‘‘(2) SAFE HARBOR FOR DETERMINING CLEAR 11 AND CONSPICUOUS MANNER.—A statement in a 12 qualified internet or digital communication shall be 13 considered to be made in a clear and conspicuous 14 manner as provided in subsection (a) if the commu- 15 nication meets the following requirements: 16 ‘‘(A) TEXT OR GRAPHIC COMMUNICA- 17 TIONS.—In the case of a text or graphic com- 18 munication, the statement— 19 ‘‘(i) appears in letters at least as large 20 as the majority of the text in the commu- 21 nication; and 22 ‘‘(ii) meets the requirements of para- 23 graphs (2) and (3) of subsection (c). 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:21 Mar 13, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1171.IH H1171 khammond on DSKJM1Z7X2PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 1171 IH ‘‘(B) AUDIO COMMUNICATIONS.—In the 1 case of an audio communication, the statement 2 is spoken in a clearly audible and intelligible 3 manner at the beginning or end of the commu- 4 nication and lasts at least 3 seconds. 5 ‘‘(C) VIDEO COMMUNICATIONS.—In the 6 case of a video communication which also in- 7 cludes audio, the statement— 8 ‘‘(i) is included at either the beginning 9 or the end of the communication; and 10 ‘‘(ii) is made both in— 11 ‘‘(I) a written format that meets 12 the requirements of subparagraph (A) 13 and appears for at least 4 seconds; 14 and 15 ‘‘(II) an audible format that 16 meets the requirements of subpara- 17 graph (B). 18 ‘‘(D) OTHER COMMUNICATIONS.—In the 19 case of any other type of communication, the 20 statement is at least as clear and conspicuous 21 as the statement specified in subparagraph (A), 22 (B), or (C). 23 ‘‘(3) QUALIFIED INTERNET OR DIGITAL COM- 24 MUNICATION DEFINED.— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:21 Mar 13, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1171.IH H1171 khammond on DSKJM1Z7X2PROD with BILLS 6 •HR 1171 IH ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—In this section, the 1 term ‘qualified internet or digital communica- 2 tion’ means any communication to which this 3 section applies which is placed or promoted for 4 a fee on an online platform. 5 ‘‘(B) ONLINE PLATFORM.—For purposes 6 of this paragraph, the term ‘online platform’ 7 means any public-facing website, web applica- 8 tion, or digital application (including a social 9 network, ad network, or search engine) which— 10 ‘‘(i) sells qualified political advertise- 11 ments; and 12 ‘‘(ii) has 50,000,000 or more unique 13 monthly United States visitors or users for 14 a majority of months during the preceding 15 12 months. 16 ‘‘(C) QUALIFIED POLITICAL ADVERTISE- 17 MENT.—For purposes of this paragraph, the 18 term ‘qualified political advertisement’ means 19 any advertisement (including search engine 20 marketing, display advertisements, video adver- 21 tisements, native advertisements, and sponsor- 22 ships) that— 23 ‘‘(i) is made by or on behalf of a can- 24 didate; or 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:21 Mar 13, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1171.IH H1171 khammond on DSKJM1Z7X2PROD with BILLS 7 •HR 1171 IH ‘‘(ii) communicates a message relating 1 to any political matter of national impor- 2 tance, including— 3 ‘‘(I) a candidate; 4 ‘‘(II) any election to Federal of- 5 fice; or 6 ‘‘(III) a national legislative issue 7 of public importance.’’. 8 (2) NONAPPLICATION OF CERTAIN EXCEP- 9 TIONS.—The exceptions provided in section 10 110.11(f)(1)(i) and (ii) of title 11, Code of Federal 11 Regulations, or any successor to such rules, shall 12 have no application to qualified internet or digital 13 communications (as defined in section 318(e)(3) of 14 the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971, as 15 added by paragraph (1)). 16 (d) MODIFICATION OF ADDITIONAL REQUIREMENTS 17 FOR CERTAIN COMMUNICATIONS.—Section 318(d) of such 18 Act (52 U.S.C. 30120(d)) is amended— 19 (1) in paragraph (1)(A)— 20 (A) by striking ‘‘which is transmitted 21 through radio’’ and inserting ‘‘which is in an 22 audio format’’; and 23 (B) by striking ‘‘BY RADIO’’ in the heading 24 and inserting ‘‘AUDIO FORMAT’’; 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:21 Mar 13, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1171.IH H1171 khammond on DSKJM1Z7X2PROD with BILLS 8 •HR 1171 IH (2) in paragraph (1)(B)— 1 (A) by striking ‘‘which is transmitted 2 through television’’ and inserting ‘‘which is in 3 video format’’; and 4 (B) by striking ‘‘BY TELEVISION’’ in the 5 heading and inserting ‘‘VIDEO FORMAT’’; and 6 (3) in paragraph (2)— 7 (A) by striking ‘‘transmitted through radio 8 or television’’ and inserting ‘‘made in audio or 9 video format’’; and 10 (B) by striking ‘‘through television’’ in the 11 second sentence and inserting ‘‘in video for- 12 mat’’. 13 SEC. 3. DISCLAIMER REQUIREMENTS FOR COMMUNICA- 14 TIONS CONSISTING OF CAMPAIGN-RELATED 15 DISBURSEMENTS. 16 (a) DISCLAIMER REQUIREMENTS FOR CAMPAIGN-RE- 17 LATED DISBURSEMENTS.— 18 (1) IN GENERAL.—Section 318(a) of the Fed- 19 eral Election Campaign Act of 1971 (52 U.S.C. 20 30120(a)) is amended by striking ‘‘for the purpose 21 of financing communications expressly advocating 22 the election or defeat of a clearly identified can- 23 didate’’ and inserting ‘‘for a campaign-related dis- 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:21 Mar 13, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1171.IH H1171 khammond on DSKJM1Z7X2PROD with BILLS 9 •HR 1171 IH bursement, as defined in subsection (f), consisting of 1 a public communication’’. 2 (2) CLARIFICATION OF EXEMPTION FROM IN- 3 CLUSION OF CANDIDATE DISCLAIMER STATEMENT IN 4 FEDERAL JUDICIAL NOMINATION COMMUNICA- 5 TIONS.—Section 318(a)(3) of such Act (52 U.S.C. 6 30120(a)(3)) is amended by striking ‘‘shall state’’ 7 and inserting ‘‘shall (except in the case of a Federal 8 judicial nomination communication, as defined in 9 subsection (f)(4)) state’’. 10 (b) CAMPAIGN-RELATED DISBURSEMENTS DE- 11 FINED.—Section 318 of such Act (52 U.S.C. 30120), as 12 amended by section 2(c)(1), is further amended by adding 13 at the end the following new subsection: 14 ‘‘(f) CAMPAIGN-RELATED DISBURSEMENT DE- 15 FINED.— 16 ‘‘(1) DEFINITION.— 17 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—In this section, the 18 term ‘campaign-related disbursement’ means a 19 disbursement by a covered organization for any 20 of the following: 21 ‘‘(i) An independent expenditure 22 which expressly advocates the election or 23 defeat of a clearly identified candidate for 24 election for Federal office, or is the func- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:58 Mar 22, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1171.IH H1171 khammond on DSKJM1Z7X2PROD with BILLS 10 •HR 1171 IH tional equivalent of express advocacy be- 1 cause, when taken as a whole, it can be in- 2 terpreted by a reasonable person only as 3 advocating the election or defeat of a can- 4 didate for election for Federal office. 5 ‘‘(ii) Any public communication which 6 refers to a clearly identified candidate for 7 election for Federal office and which pro- 8 motes or supports the election of a can- 9 didate for that office, or attacks or opposes 10 the election of a candidate for that office, 11 without regard to whether the communica- 12 tion expressly advocates a vote for or 13 against a candidate for that office. 14 ‘‘(iii) An electioneering communica- 15 tion, as defined in section 304(f)(3). 16 ‘‘(iv) A Federal judicial nomination 17 communication. 18 ‘‘(v) A covered transfer. 19 ‘‘(B) INTENT NOT REQUIRED.—A dis- 20 bursement for an item described in clause (i), 21 (ii), (iii), (iv), or (v) of subparagraph (A) shall 22 be treated as a campaign-related disbursement 23 regardless of the intent of the person making 24 the disbursement. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:21 Mar 13, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1171.IH H1171 khammond on DSKJM1Z7X2PROD with BILLS 11 •HR 1171 IH ‘‘(2) COVERED ORGANIZATION DEFINED.—In 1 this subsection, the term ‘covered organization’ 2 means any of the following: 3 ‘‘(A) A corporation (other than an organi- 4 zation described in section 501(c)(3) of the In- 5 ternal Revenue Code of 1986). 6 ‘‘(B) A limited liability corporation that is 7 not otherwise treated as a corporation for pur- 8 poses of this Act (other than an organization 9 described in section 501(c)(3) of the Internal 10 Revenue Code of 1986). 11 ‘‘(C) An organization described in section 12 501(c) of such Code and exempt from taxation 13 under section 501(a) of such Code (other than 14 an organization described in section 501(c)(3) 15 of such Code). 16 ‘‘(D) A labor organization (as defined in 17 section 316(b)). 18 ‘‘(E) Any political organization under sec- 19 tion 527 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, 20 other than a political committee under this Act 21 (except as provided in paragraph (6)). 22 ‘‘(F) A political committee with an account 23 that accepts donations or contributions that do 24 not comply with the contribution limits or 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:21 Mar 13, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00011 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1171.IH H1171 khammond on DSKJM1Z7X2PROD with BILLS 12 •HR 1171 IH source prohibitions under this Act, but only 1 with respect to such accounts. 2 ‘‘(3) COVERED TRANSFER DEFINED.— 3 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—In this subsection, the 4 term ‘covered transfer’ means any transfer or 5 payment of funds by a covered organization to 6 another person if the covered organization— 7 ‘‘(i) designates, requests, or suggests 8 that the amounts be used for— 9 ‘‘(I) campaign-related disburse- 10 ments (other than covered transfers); 11 or 12 ‘‘(II) making a transfer to an- 13 other person for the purpose of mak- 14 ing or paying for such campaign-re- 15 lated disbursements; 16 ‘‘(ii) made such transfer or payment 17 in response to a solicitation or other re- 18 quest for a donation or payment for— 19 ‘‘(I) the making of or paying for 20 campaign-related disbursements 21 (other than covered transfers); or 22 ‘‘(II) making a transfer to an- 23 other person for the purpose of mak- 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:21 Mar 13, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00012 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1171.IH H1171 khammond on DSKJM1Z7X2PROD with BILLS 13 •HR 1171 IH ing or paying for such campaign-re- 1 lated disbursements; 2 ‘‘(iii) engaged in discussions with the 3 recipient of the transfer or payment re- 4 garding— 5 ‘‘(I) the making of or paying for 6 campaign-related disbursements 7 (other than covered transfers); or 8 ‘‘(II) donating or transferring 9 any amount of such transfer or pay- 10 ment to another person for the pur- 11 pose of making or paying for such 12 campaign-related disbursements; 13 ‘‘(iv) made campaign-related disburse- 14 ments (other than a covered transfer) in 15 an aggregate amount of $50,000 or m [Text truncated for display. 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