Posted on 4/11/2008, 1:02:46 AM by Loud Mime
April 3, 2008
Mr. Hensarling (for himself, Mr. Akin, Mr. Barrett of South Carolina, Mr. Bartlett of Maryland, Mr. Bishop of Utah, Mrs. Blackburn, Mr. Brady of Texas, Mr. Broun of Georgia, Mr. Campbell of California, Mr. Cannon, Mr. Cantor, Mr. David Davis of Tennessee, Ms. Fallin, Mr. Feeney, Mr. Flake, Mr. Fortuno, Ms. Foxx, Mr. Franks of Arizona, Mr. Gingrey, Mr. Hoekstra, Mr. Kline of Minnesota, Mr. Lamborn, Mr. Marchant, Mr. McCarthy of California, Mrs. Musgrave, Mr. Neugebauer, Mr. Paul, Mr. Pence, Mr. Ryan of Wisconsin, Mr. Sessions, Mr. Shadegg, Mr. Tancredo, Mr. Walberg, and Mr. Wilson of South 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 protect uncompensated Internet activity by individuals from treatment as a contribution or expenditure under the Act, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``Blogger Protection Act of 2008''.
SEC. 2. EXEMPTION OF UNCOMPENSATED INDIVIDUAL INTERNET ACTIVITY FROM TREATMENT AS CONTRIBUTION OR EXPENDITURE.
snip
SUMMARY AS OF: 4/3/2008--Introduced.
Blogger Protection Act of 2008 - Amends the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 to: (1) exempt uncompensated individual Internet activity from treatment as a contribution to or expenditure of a campaign for federal office; and (2) cover blogs and other Internet and electronic publications under the general media exemption pertaining to expenditures.
COSPONSORS(37), ALPHABETICAL [followed by Cosponsors withdrawn]: (Sort: by date)
Rep Akin, W. Todd [MO-2] - 4/3/2008
Rep Barrett, J. Gresham [SC-3] - 4/3/2008
Rep Bartlett, Roscoe G. [MD-6] - 4/3/2008
Rep Bishop, Rob [UT-1] - 4/3/2008
Rep Blackburn, Marsha [TN-7] - 4/3/2008
Rep Blunt, Roy [MO-7] - 4/9/2008
Rep Brady, Kevin [TX-8] - 4/3/2008
Rep Broun, Paul C. [GA-10] - 4/3/2008
Rep Campbell, John [CA-48] - 4/3/2008
Rep Cannon, Chris [UT-3] - 4/3/2008
Rep Cantor, Eric [VA-7] - 4/3/2008
Rep Davis, David [TN-1] - 4/3/2008
Rep Fallin, Mary [OK-5] - 4/3/2008
Rep Feeney, Tom [FL-24] - 4/3/2008
Rep Flake, Jeff [AZ-6] - 4/3/2008
Rep Fortuno, Luis G. [PR] - 4/3/2008
Rep Foxx, Virginia [NC-5] - 4/3/2008
Rep Franks, Trent [AZ-2] - 4/3/2008
Rep Gingrey, Phil [GA-11] - 4/3/2008
Rep Hoekstra, Peter [MI-2] - 4/3/2008
Rep Kline, John [MN-2] - 4/3/2008
Rep Lamborn, Doug [CO-5] - 4/3/2008
Rep Marchant, Kenny [TX-24] - 4/3/2008
Rep McCarthy, Kevin [CA-22] - 4/3/2008
Rep Musgrave, Marilyn N. [CO-4] - 4/3/2008
Rep Neugebauer, Randy [TX-19] - 4/3/2008
Rep Paul, Ron [TX-14] - 4/3/2008
Rep Pence, Mike [IN-6] - 4/3/2008
Rep Rohrabacher, Dana [CA-46] - 4/9/2008
Rep Royce, Edward R. [CA-40] - 4/9/2008
Rep Ryan, Paul [WI-1] - 4/3/2008
Rep Sessions, Pete [TX-32] - 4/3/2008
Rep Shadegg, John B. [AZ-3] - 4/3/2008
Rep Tancredo, Thomas G. [CO-6] - 4/3/2008
Rep Walberg, Timothy [MI-7] - 4/3/2008
Rep Wilson, Joe [SC-2] - 4/3/2008
Rep Wittman, Robert J. [VA-1] - 4/3/2008
If only there was a document that guaranteed the right to free speech...
....or freedom of religion!
..., yeah that would be swell.
There used to be one. I remember hearing about it once.
110th CONGRESS
2d Session
H. R. 5699
To amend the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 to protect uncompensated Internet activity by individuals from treatment as a contribution or expenditure under the Act, and for other purposes.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
April 3, 2008
Mr. HENSARLING (for himself, Mr. AKIN, Mr. BARRETT of South Carolina, Mr. BARTLETT of Maryland, Mr. BISHOP of Utah, Mrs. BLACKBURN, Mr. BRADY of Texas, Mr. BROUN of Georgia, Mr. CAMPBELL of California, Mr. CANNON, Mr. CANTOR, Mr. DAVID DAVIS of Tennessee, Ms. FALLIN, Mr. FEENEY, Mr. FLAKE, Mr. FORTUN.AE6O, Ms. FOXX, Mr. FRANKS of Arizona, Mr. GINGREY, Mr. HOEKSTRA, Mr. KLINE of Minnesota, Mr. LAMBORN, Mr. MARCHANT, Mr. MCCARTHY of California, Mrs. MUSGRAVE, Mr. NEUGEBAUER, Mr. PAUL, Mr. PENCE, Mr. RYAN of Wisconsin, Mr. SESSIONS, Mr. SHADEGG, Mr. TANCREDO, Mr. WALBERG, and Mr. WILSON of South 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 protect uncompensated Internet activity by individuals from treatment as a contribution or expenditure under the Act, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the `Blogger Protection Act of 2008’.
SEC. 2. EXEMPTION OF UNCOMPENSATED INDIVIDUAL INTERNET ACTIVITY FROM TREATMENT AS CONTRIBUTION OR EXPENDITURE.
(a) Exemptions-
(1) EXEMPTION FROM TREATMENT AS CONTRIBUTION- Section 301(8)(B) of the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 (2 U.S.C. 431(8)(B)) is amended—
(A) by striking `and’ at the end of clause (xiii);
(B) by striking the period at the end of clause (xiv) and inserting `; and’; and
(C) by adding at the end the following new clause:
`(xv) any uncompensated personal services related to Internet activities, or use of equipment or services for uncompensated Internet activities, that are engaged in by any individual, group of individuals, or corporation wholly owned by one or more individuals that engages primarily in Internet activities and does not derive a substantial portion of its revenue from sources other than income from its Internet activities, other than—
`(I) any payment for a public communication (other than a nominal fee),
`(II) any payment for the purchase or rental of an email address list made at the direction of a political committee, or
`(III) any payment for an email address list that is transferred to a political committee.’.
(2) EXEMPTION FROM TREATMENT AS EXPENDITURE- Section 301(9)(B) of such Act (2 U.S.C. 431(9)(B)) is amended—
(A) by striking `and’ at the end of clause (ix);
(B) by striking the period at the end of clause (x) and inserting `; and’; and
(C) by adding at the end the following new clause:
`(xi) any uncompensated personal services related to Internet activities, or use of equipment or services for uncompensated Internet activities, that are engaged in by any individual, group of individuals, or corporation wholly owned by one or more individuals that engages primarily in Internet activities and does not derive a substantial portion of its revenue from sources other than income from its Internet activities, other than—
`(I) any payment for a public communication (other than a nominal fee),
`(II) any payment for the purchase or rental of an email address list made at the direction of a political committee, or
`(III) any payment for an email address list that is transferred to a political committee.’.
(b) Internet Activity Defined- Section 301 of such Act (2 U.S.C. 431) is amended by adding at the end the following new paragraph:
`(27) Internet Activity- The term `Internet activity’ includes sending or forwarding electronic messages, providing a hyperlink or other direct access to another person’s Web site, blogging, creating, maintaining, or hosting a Web site, paying a nominal fee for the use of another person’s Web site, and any other form of communication distributed over the Internet.’.
SEC. 3. COVERAGE OF BLOGS AND OTHER INTERNET AND ELECTRONIC PUBLICATIONS UNDER GENERAL MEDIA EXEMPTION.
Section 301(9)(B)(i) of the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 (2 U.S.C. 431(9)(B)(i)) is amended by inserting `including any Internet or electronic publication (including a blog),’ after `periodical publication,’.
Better get this throug the House and Senate and on Bush’s desk to avoid a veto by President McCain!
Is this the whole bill or is there any fine print? Do ads on your blog constitute payment? Sorry just a tad gunshy.
The fact we even have to bring this up in Washinton scares the crap out of me. Next thing you know they will be talking about the “Fairness” Doctrine.
you can enter the bill number on http://thomas.loc.gov and get the whole thing.
Bills to PREVENT the fairness doctrine are going nowhere:
http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/D?c110:3:./temp/~c110jMCwGV::
No worries; there's only 206 Items on the Committees Calendar. Should be out any day now. [The oldest one is from 1/4/2007] Guess we'll have to hit up the Committee members.
By the end of this congressional session they will have almost 13,000 bills proposed and only 300 laws passed. What a winning percentage! /s
Congress should only meet 2 months a year.
-A lawsuit has been served against our Canadian "sister" site, Free Dominion.--
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