PUBLIC lAW 104-79 —DEC. 28, 1995 109 STAT. 791 Public Law 104-79 104th Congress An Act To amend the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 to improve the electoral ^ „_ ^--_ process by permitting electronic filing and preservation of Federal Election Com- ——'. mission reports, and for other purposes. [H.R. 2527] Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, SECTION 1. ELECTRONIC FILING AND PRESERVATION OF FEDERAL ELECTION COMMISSION REPORTS. (a) SECTION 304 AMENDMENT. —Subsection (a) of section 304 of the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 (2 U.S.C. 434(a)) is amended by adding at the end the following new paragraph: "(11)(A) The Commission shall permit reports required by this Act to be filed and preserved by means of computer disk or any other appropriate electronic format or method, as determined by the Commission. "(B) In carrying out subparagraph (A) with respect to filing of reports, the Commission shall provide for one or more methods (other than requiring a signature on the report being filed) for verifying reports filed by means of computer disk or other electronic format or method. Any verification under the preceding sentence shall be treated for all purposes (including penalties for perjury) in the same manner as a verification by signature. "(C) As used in this paragraph, the term 'report' means, with respect to the Commission, a report, designation, or statement required by this Act to be filed with the Commission.". (b) SECTION 302 AMENDMENT. —Subsection (d) of section 302 of the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 (2 U.S.C. 432(d)) is amended by adding at the end the following new sentence: "For any report filed in electronic format under section 304(a)(ll), the treasurer shall retain a machine-readable copy of the report as the copy preserved under the preceding sentence.". (c) EFFECTIVE DATE.— The amendments made by subsection 2 USC 432 note, (a) and subsection (b) shall apply with respect to reports for periods beginning after December 31, 1996. SEC. 2. WAIVER OF DUI»LICATE FILING REQUIREMENT FOR STATES WITH ELECTRONIC ACCESS TO FEDERAL ELECTION COMMISSION REPORTS AND STATEMENTS. Section 312 of the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 (2 U.S.C. 439) is amended by adding at the end the following new subsection: "(c) Subsections (a) and (b) shall not apply with respect to any State that, as determined by the Commission, has a system
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