General Assembly Committee Bill No. 640
January Session, 2021 LCO No. 4983
Referred to Committee on GOVERNMENT ADMINISTRATION
AND ELECTIONS
Introduced by:
(GAE)
AN ACT CONCERNING ONLINE PLATFORMS AND CAMPAIGN
FINANCE.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General
Assembly convened:
1 Section 1. Section 9-601 of the general statutes is amended by adding
2 subdivisions (32) and (33) as follows (Effective January 1, 2022):
3 (NEW) (32) "Online platform" means any public-facing Internet web
4 site or application or digital application, including, but not limited to, a
5 social network, advertisement network or search engine, that sells
6 qualified political advertisements and (A) has four hundred thousand
7 or more unique monthly visitors or users, which visitors or users have
8 an assigned Internet protocol address within the United States, for seven
9 of the preceding twelve months, or (B) has revenue from advertising in
10 excess of one thousand dollars per year.
11 (NEW) (33) "Qualified political advertisement" means any
12 advertisement, including, but not limited to, sponsorship and search
13 engine marketing, that is an expenditure, as defined in section 9-601b.
14 Sec. 2. (NEW) (Effective January 1, 2022) For each sale of a qualified
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15 political advertisement on an online platform, as those terms are defined
16 in section 9-601 of the general statutes, as amended by this act, such
17 online platform shall: (1) Make available for online public inspection,
18 and in machine-readable format, a digital copy of the qualified political
19 advertisement; and (2) provide to the State Elections Enforcement
20 Commission the name, street address and phone number of a single
21 point of contact at such online platform who is responsible for the sale
22 and appearance of such qualified political advertisement on such online
23 platform.
24 Sec. 3. Subsection (b) of section 9-601c of the general statutes is
25 repealed and the following is substituted in lieu thereof (Effective January
26 1, 2022):
27 (b) When the State Elections Enforcement Commission evaluates an
28 expenditure to determine whether such expenditure is an independent
29 expenditure, there shall be a rebuttable presumption that the following
30 expenditures are not independent expenditures:
31 (1) An expenditure made by a person in cooperation, consultation or
32 in concert with, at the request, suggestion or direction of, or pursuant to
33 a general or particular understanding with (A) a candidate, candidate
34 committee, political committee or party committee, or (B) a consultant
35 or other agent acting on behalf of a candidate, candidate committee,
36 political committee or party committee;
37 (2) An expenditure made by a person for the production,
38 dissemination, distribution or publication, in whole or in substantial
39 part, of any broadcast or any written, graphic or other form of political
40 advertising or campaign communication prepared by (A) a candidate,
41 candidate committee, political committee or party committee, or (B) a
42 consultant or other agent acting on behalf of a candidate, candidate
43 committee, political committee or party committee;
44 (3) An expenditure made by a person based on information about a
45 candidate's, political committee's, or party committee's plans, projects
46 or needs, provided by (A) a candidate, candidate committee, political
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47 committee or party committee, or (B) a consultant or other agent acting
48 on behalf of a candidate, candidate committee, political committee or
49 party committee, with the intent that such expenditure be made;
50 (4) An expenditure made by an individual who, in the same election
51 cycle, is serving or has served as the campaign chairperson, treasurer or
52 deputy treasurer of a candidate committee, political committee or party
53 committee benefiting from such expenditure, or in any other executive
54 or policymaking position, including as a member, employee, fundraiser,
55 consultant or other agent, of a candidate committee, political committee
56 or party committee;
57 (5) An expenditure made by a person or an entity on or after January
58 first in the year of an election in which a candidate is seeking public
59 office that benefits such candidate when such person or entity has hired
60 an individual as an employee or consultant and such individual was an
61 employee of or consultant to such candidate's candidate committee or
62 such candidate's opponent's candidate committee during any part of the
63 eighteen-month period preceding 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 candidate,
67 candidate committee, political committee or party committee, or (B) for
68 the solicitation or receipt of contributions on behalf of a candidate,
69 candidate committee, political committee or party committee, or a
70 consultant or other agent acting on behalf of a candidate, candidate
71 committee, political committee or party committee;
72 (7) An expenditure made by a person based on information about a
73 candidate's campaign plans, projects or needs, that is directly or
74 indirectly provided by a candidate, the candidate's candidate
75 committee, a political committee or a party committee, or a consultant
76 or other agent acting on behalf of such candidate, candidate committee,
77 political committee or party committee, to the person making the
78 expenditure or such person's agent, with an express or tacit
79 understanding that such person is considering making the expenditure;
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 80 (8) An expenditure made by a person for a communication that
81 clearly identifies a candidate during an election campaign, if the person
82 making the expenditure, or such person's agent, has informed the
83 candidate who benefits from the expenditure, that candidate's candidate
84 committee, a political committee or a party committee, or a consultant
85 or other agent acting on behalf of the benefiting candidate or candidate
86 committee, political committee, or party committee, concerning the
87 communication's contents, or of the intended audience, timing, location
88 or mode or frequency of dissemination. As used in this subdivision, a
89 communication clearly identifies a candidate when that communication
90 contains the name, nickname, initials, photograph or drawing of the
91 candidate or an unambiguous reference to that candidate, which
92 includes, but is not limited to, a reference that can only mean that
93 candidate; [and]
94 (9) An expenditure made by a person or an entity for consultant or
95 creative services, including, but not limited to, services related to
96 communications strategy or design or campaign strategy or to engage a
97 campaign-related vendor, to be used to promote or oppose a candidate's
98 election to office if the provider of such services is or has provided
99 consultant or creative services to such candidate, such candidate's
100 candidate committee or an agent of such candidate committee, or to any
101 opposing candidate's candidate committee or an agent of such
102 candidate committee after January first of the year in which the
103 expenditure occurs. For the purposes of this subdivision,
104 [communications strategy or design] (A) "communications strategy or
105 design" does not include the costs of printing or costs for the use of a
106 medium for the purpose of communications, [. For purposes of this
107 subdivision, campaign-related vendor] and (B) "campaign-related
108 vendor" includes, but is not limited to, a vendor that provides the
109 following services: Polling, mail design, mail strategy, political strategy,
110 general campaign advice or telephone banking; and
111 (10) An expenditure made by an online platform, which expenditure
112 displays the name, face or voice of a candidate, ninety days or less before
113 the day of a primary or election if such expenditure was not made
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114 neutrally or evenly as to such candidate and each opponent of such
115 candidate. For the purposes of this subdivision, "expenditure made by
116 an online platform" includes, but is not limited to, any tool or feature
117 created by or for such online platform that appears on or is integrated
118 with such online platform.
This act shall take effect as follows and shall amend the following
sections:
Section 1 January 1, 2022 9-601
Sec. 2 January 1, 2022 New section
Sec. 3 January 1, 2022 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. 640
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Statutes affected:
Committee Bill: 9-601