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General Assembly Committee Bill No. 642
January Session, 2019
LCO No. 6377
Referred to Committee on GOVERNMENT ADMINISTRATION
AND ELECTIONS
Introduced by:
(GAE)
AN ACT CONCERNING SO CIAL MEDIA PLATFORMS AND
CAMPAIGN FINANCE.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General
Assembly convened:
Section 1. Section 9-601 of the general statutes is amended by adding 1
subdivisions (32) and (33) as follows (Effective from passage): 2
(NEW) (32) "Online platform" means any public-facing Internet web 3
site or application or digital application, including, but not limited to, a 4
social network, advertisement network or search engine, that sells 5
qualified political advertisements and (A) has four hundred thousand 6
or more unique monthly visitors or users, which visitors or users have 7
an assigned Internet protocol address within the United States, for 8
seven of the preceding twelve months, or (B) has revenue from 9
advertising in excess of one thousand dollars per year. 10
(NEW) (33) "Qualified political advertisement" means any 11
advertisement, including, but not limited to, sponsorship and search 12
engine marketing, that is an expenditure, as defined in section 9-601b. 13
Sec. 2. (NEW) (Effective from passage) For each sale of a qualified 14
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political advertisement on an online platform, as those terms are 15
defined in section 9-601 of the general statutes, as amended by this act, 16
such online platform shall: (1) Make available for online public 17
inspection, and in machine-readable format, a digital copy of the 18
qualified political advertisement; and (2) provide to the State Elections 19
Enforcement Commission the name, street address and phone number 20
of a single point of contact at such online platform who is responsible 21
for the sale and appearance of such qualified political advertisement 22
on such online platform. 23
Sec. 3. Subsection (b) of section 9-601c of the general statutes is 24
repealed and the following is substituted in lieu thereof (Effective from 25
passage): 26
(b) When the State Elections Enforcement Commission evaluates an 27
expenditure to determine whether such expenditure is an independent 28
expenditure, there shall be a rebuttable presumption that the following 29
expenditures are not independent expenditures: 30
(1) An expenditure made by a person in cooperation, consultation or 31
in concert with, at the request, suggestion or direction of, or pursuant 32
to a general or particular understanding with (A) a candidate, 33
candidate committee, political committee or party committee, or (B) a 34
consultant or other agent acting on behalf of a candidate, candidate 35
committee, political committee or party committee; 36
(2) An expenditure made by a person for the production, 37
dissemination, distribution or publication, in whole or in substantial 38
part, of any broadcast or any written, graphic or other form of political 39
advertising or campaign communication prepared by (A) a candidate, 40
candidate committee, political committee or party committee, or (B) a 41
consultant or other agent acting on behalf of a candidate, candidate 42
committee, political committee or party committee; 43
(3) An expenditure made by a person based on information about a 44
candidate's, political committee's, or party committee's plans, projects 45
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or needs, provided by (A) a candidate, candidate committee, political 46
committee or party committee, or (B) a consultant or other agent acting 47
on behalf of a candidate, candidate committee, political committee or 48
party committee, with the intent that such expenditure be made; 49
(4) An expenditure made by an individual who, in the same election 50
cycle, is serving or has served as the campaign chairperson, treasurer 51
or deputy treasurer of a candidate committee, political committee or 52
party committee benefiting from such expenditure, or in any other 53
executive or policymaking position, including as a member, employee, 54
fundraiser, consultant or other agent, of a candidate committee, 55
political committee or party committee; 56
(5) An expenditure made by a person or an entity on or after 57
January first in the year of an election in which a candidate is seeking 58
public office that benefits such candidate when such person or entity 59
has hired an individual as an employee or consultant and such 60
individual was an employee of or consultant to such candidate's 61
candidate committee or such candidate's opponent's candidate 62
committee during any part of the eighteen-month period preceding 63
such expenditure; 64
(6) An expenditure made by a person for fundraising activities (A) 65
for a candidate, candidate committee, political committee or party 66
committee, or a consultant or other agent acting on behalf of a 67
candidate, candidate committee, political committee or party 68
committee, or (B) for the solicitation or receipt of contributions on 69
behalf of a candidate, candidate committee, political committee or 70
party committee, or a consultant or other agent acting on behalf of a 71
candidate, candidate committee, political committee or party 72
committee; 73
(7) An expenditure made by a person based on information about a 74
candidate's campaign plans, projects or needs, that is directly or 75
indirectly provided by a candidate, the candidate's candidate 76
committee, a political committee or a party committee, or a consultant 77
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or other agent acting on behalf of such candidate, candidate 78
committee, political committee or party committee, to the person 79
making the expenditure or such person's agent, with an express or tacit 80
understanding that such person is considering making the 81
expenditure; 82
(8) An expenditure made by a person for a communication that 83
clearly identifies a candidate during an election campaign, if the 84
person making the expenditure, or such person's agent, has informed 85
the candidate who benefits from the expenditure, that candidate's 86
candidate committee, a political committee or a party committee, or a 87
consultant or other agent acting on behalf of the benefiting candidate 88
or candidate committee, political committee, or party committee, 89
concerning the communication's contents, or of the intended audience, 90
timing, location or mode or frequency of dissemination. As used in this 91
subdivision, a communication clearly identifies a candidate when that 92
communication contains the name, nickname, initials, photograph or 93
drawing of the candidate or an unambiguous reference to that 94
candidate, which includes, but is not limited to, a reference that can 95
only mean that candidate; [and] 96
(9) An expenditure made by a person or an entity for consultant or 97
creative services, including, but not limited to, services related to 98
communications strategy or design or campaign strategy or to engage 99
a campaign-related vendor, to be used to promote or oppose a 100
candidate's election to office if the provider of such services is or has 101
provided consultant or creative services to such candidate, such 102
candidate's candidate committee or an agent of such candidate 103
committee, or to any opposing candidate's candidate committee or an 104
agent of such candidate committee after January first of the year in 105
which the expenditure occurs. For purposes of this subdivision, 106
communications strategy or design does not include the costs of 107
printing or costs for the use of a medium for the purpose of 108
communications. For purposes of this subdivision, [campaign-related 109
vendor] "campaign-related vendor" includes, but is not limited to, a 110
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vendor that provides the following services: Polling, mail design, mail 111
strategy, political strategy, general campaign advice or telephone 112
banking; [.] and 113
(10) An expenditure made by an online platform, which expenditure 114
displays the name, face or voice of a candidate, ninety days or less 115
before the day of a primary or election if such expenditure was not 116
made neutrally or evenly as to such candidate and each opponent of 117
such candidate. For the purposes of this subdivision, "expenditure 118
made by an online platform" includes, but is not limited to, any tool or 119
feature created by or for such online platform that appears on or is 120
integrated with such online platform. 121
This act shall take effect as follows and shall amend the following
sections:
Section 1 from passage 9-601
Sec. 2 from passage New section
Sec. 3 from passage 9-601c(b)
Statement of Purpose:
To define "online platform", require such platform to make publicly
available copies of electioneering communications and contact
information at such platform for such communications and impose a
rebuttable presumption that certain content created by or for such
platform is not an independent expenditure if displayed during the
ninety days prior to a primary or election.
[Proposed deletions are enclosed in brackets. Proposed additions are indicated by underline,
except that when the entire text of a bill or resolution or a section of a bill or resolution is new, it is
not underlined.]
Co-Sponsors: SEN. LESSER, 9th Dist.
S.B. 642