About | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline
LOG IN
LOG IN

1 (March 23, 2006)

handle is hein.crs/crsuntaahgs0001 and id is 1 raw text is: Order Code RS22272 Updated March 23, 2006 CRS Report for Congress Received through the CRS Web Campaign Finance Reform: Regulating Political Communications on the Internet L. Paige Whitaker Legislative Attorney American Law Division Joseph E. Cantor Specialist in American National Government Government and Finance Division Summary The Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002 (BCRA) amended the Federal Election Campaign Act (FECA) to include a new term, federal election activity, in order to expand the scope of federal campaign finance regulation. The definition of federal election activity includes a public communication (i.e., a broadcast, cable, satellite, newspaper, magazine, outdoor advertising facility, mass mailing, or telephone bank communication made to the general public) or any other form of general public political advertising. In October 2002, the Federal Election Commission (FEC) promulgated regulations exempting from the definition of public communication those communications that are made over the Internet. In response to the FEC' s final rules, the two primary House sponsors of BCRA filed suit in U.S. district court against the FEC seeking to invalidate the regulations as opening a new avenue for circumvention of federal campaign finance law. In September 2004, in Shays v. FEC, the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia overturned some of the FEC's new regulations. In response to the district court's decision, in April 2005, the FEC published proposed new rules to conform to the Shays ruling. The proposed regulations reflect an attempt by the FEC to leave Web logs, or blogs, created and wholly maintained by individuals, free of regulations under FECA, while extending limited regulation only to uses of the Internet involving substantial monetary transactions. On November 2,2005, the House failed to approve H.R. 1606 (Hensarling), brought up under suspension of the rules, to exempt Internet communications from regulation under federal campaign finance laws. The bill was brought up again and ordered reported favorably by the House Administration Committee on March 9, 2006, setting up consideration by the House. The same measure was offered in the Senate, as amendment 2955 (Frist) to S. 2349 (Lott), the Legislative Transparency and Accountability Act of 2006. Congressional Research Service + The Library of Congress

What Is HeinOnline?

HeinOnline is a subscription-based resource containing thousands of academic and legal journals from inception; complete coverage of government documents such as U.S. Statutes at Large, U.S. Code, Federal Register, Code of Federal Regulations, U.S. Reports, and much more. Documents are image-based, fully searchable PDFs with the authority of print combined with the accessibility of a user-friendly and powerful database. For more information, request a quote or trial for your organization below.



Short-term subscription options include 24 hours, 48 hours, or 1 week to HeinOnline.

Purchase Access

Contact us for annual subscription options:

Contact Us

Already a HeinOnline Subscriber?

Log In

profiles profiles most