Fair and Clear Campaign Transparency Act

I 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 5016 To direct the Federal Communications Commission to promulgate regulations requiring material in the online public inspection file of a covered entity to be made available in a format that is machine-readable. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES NOVEMBER 8, 2019 Mr. LUJA´N (for himself, Mr. YARMUTH, Mr. WELCH, Mr. SARBANES, Ms. ESHOO, Ms. SCHAKOWSKY, Mr. MCNERNEY, Ms. CLARKE of New York, Mr. LOEBSACK, Mr. RUIZ, Ms. KUSTER of New Hampshire, Ms. NOR- TON, Mr. COHEN, Mr. SMITH of Washington, Ms. MCCOLLUM, Mr. HIMES, Mr. POCAN, Mr. MCGOVERN, Mr. KHANNA, Mr. LOWENTHAL, Mr. TAKANO, Ms. BROWNLEY of California, Ms. JACKSON LEE, Mr. MORELLE, Mr. COOPER, Mr. DEFAZIO, Mrs. NAPOLITANO, Mr. KIM, Mr. TED LIEU of California, and Mr. RUSH) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce A BILL To direct the Federal Communications Commission to pro- mulgate regulations requiring material in the online pub- lic inspection file of a covered entity to be made available in a format that is machine-readable. 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 ‘‘Fair and Clear Cam- 4 paign Transparency Act’’. 5 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:10 Nov 19, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5016.IH H5016 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 5016 IH SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 1 Congress finds the following: 2 (1) On May 9, 2013, President Barack Obama 3 issued an Executive order that made open and ma- 4 chine-readable data the new default for government 5 information. 6 (2) Open data principles are essential for trans- 7 parency and efficiency in government. 8 (3) In 2012, the Federal Communications Com- 9 mission required television broadcast stations to 10 place on the internet website of the Commission cer- 11 tain materials in the files such stations are required 12 to maintain and make available for public inspection, 13 including important information about the pur- 14 chasing of political advertisements. In 2016, the 15 Commission extended the online public inspection 16 file requirement to providers of cable and satellite 17 television service, radio broadcast stations, and pro- 18 viders of satellite radio service. 19 (4) The Commission declined to require such 20 materials to be machine-readable, deciding at the 21 time that it was more important to get the informa- 22 tion online faster. 23 (5) Machine readability is a critical component 24 of open government and provides interested parties 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:10 Nov 19, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5016.IH H5016 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 5016 IH with the necessary access to evaluate data in a more 1 comprehensive way. 2 SEC. 3. MATERIAL IN ONLINE PUBLIC INSPECTION FILE RE- 3 QUIRED TO BE IN MACHINE-READABLE FOR- 4 MAT. 5 (a) REGULATIONS.—Not later than 180 days after 6 the date of the enactment of this Act, the Commission 7 shall promulgate regulations that require a covered entity, 8 to the extent such entity is required to make material in 9 the public inspection file of such entity available on, or 10 upload such material to, an internet website, to make such 11 material available or upload such material in a format that 12 is machine-readable. 13 (b) APPLICABILITY.—The regulations promulgated 14 under subsection (a) shall apply— 15 (1) to a covered entity for which an online pub- 16 lic inspection file requirement is in effect on the date 17 of the promulgation of such regulations— 18 (A) with respect to the political file portion 19 of the public inspection file, beginning not later 20 than the date that is 60 days after the date of 21 such promulgation; and 22 (B) with respect to the other portions of 23 the public inspection file, at the same time as 24 such regulations apply under subparagraph (A) 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:10 Nov 19, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5016.IH H5016 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 5016 IH with respect to the political file portion of the 1 public inspection file or as soon thereafter as 2 the Commission considers practicable; and 3 (2) to a covered entity for which an online pub- 4 lic inspection file requirement becomes effective after 5 the date of the promulgation of such regulations— 6 (A) with respect to the political file portion 7 of the public inspection file, beginning on the 8 later of— 9 (i) the date of applicability of such 10 regulations under paragraph (1)(A); or 11 (ii) the date on which the online pub- 12 lic inspection file requirement becomes ef- 13 fective for such entity; and 14 (B) with respect to the other portions of 15 the public inspection file, at the same time as 16 such regulations apply under subparagraph (A) 17 with respect to the political file portion of the 18 public inspection file or as soon thereafter as 19 the Commission considers practicable. 20 (c) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 21 (1) COMMISSION.—The term ‘‘Commission’’ 22 means the Federal Communications Commission. 23 (2) COVERED ENTITY.—The term ‘‘covered en- 24 tity’’ means a television broadcast station, AM or 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:10 Nov 19, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5016.IH H5016 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 5016 IH FM radio broadcast station, cable operator, direct 1 broadcast satellite service provider, or satellite dig- 2 ital audio radio service provider. 3 (3) MACHINE-READABLE.—The term ‘‘machine- 4 readable’’ means, with respect to the format of ma- 5 terial in a public inspection file, that such format 6 supports the automated searching for particular text 7 within and among documents, the bulk downloading 8 of data contained in such material, the aggregation, 9 manipulation, sorting, and analysis of the data con- 10 tained in such material, and such other functionality 11 as the Commission considers appropriate. 12 (4) ONLINE PUBLIC INSPECTION FILE RE- 13 QUIREMENT.—The term ‘‘online public inspection 14 file requirement’’ means a requirement for a covered 15 entity to make material in the public inspection file 16 of such entity available on, or upload such material 17 to, an internet website. 18 (5) POLITICAL FILE.—The term ‘‘political file’’ 19 means, with respect to a covered entity, the file that 20 such entity is required to maintain and make avail- 21 able for public inspection under section 315(e) of the 22 Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 315(e)) or 23 under any similar requirement applicable to such en- 24 tity that is administered by the Commission. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:10 Nov 19, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5016.IH H5016 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 6 •HR 5016 IH (6) PUBLIC INSPECTION FILE.—The term 1 ‘‘public inspection file’’, with respect to a covered en- 2 tity— 3 (A) means the file or files that such entity 4 is required to maintain and make available for 5 public inspection under section 25.701, 25.702, 6 73.3526, 73.3527, or 76.1700 of title 47, Code 7 of Federal Regulations (or any successor regu- 8 lation), as applicable to such entity, or under 9 any similar requirement applicable to such enti- 10 ty that is administered by the Commission; and 11 (B) includes any political file that such en- 12 tity is required to maintain and make available 13 for public inspection. 14 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:10 Nov 19, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H5016.IH H5016 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS