SB 640 — AN ACT CONCERNING ONLINE PLATFORMS AND CAMPAIGN FINANCE.

General Assembly ProposedCommittee Bill No.

24804983 Referred to Committee on GOVERNMENT ADMINISTRATION AND ELECTIONS Introduced by:

SEN.(GAE) AN ACT CONCERNING ONLINE PLATFORMS AND CAMPAIGN FINANCE.

LESSER, 9 Dist.

AN ACT CONCERNING SOCIAL MEDIA PLATFORMS AND CAMPAIGN FINANCE.

ThatSection chapter1. 155 of the general statutes be amended to (1) define "social media platform", (2) require that each social media platform that displays an electioneering communication promoting the success or defeat of any candidate provide a copy of such communication to the State Elections Enforcement Commission along with the name of a single point of contact for such communication, and (3) provide that, for any such communication created by the social media platform and displayed on such platform during the ninety-day period immediately prior to a primary or election, there shall be a rebuttable presumption that such communication is a contribution.

StatementSection 9-601 of Purpose:the general statutes is amended by adding subdivisions (32) and (33) as follows (Effective January 1, 2022):

To(NEW) regulate(32) "Online platform" means any public-facing Internet web site or application or digital application, including, but not limited to, a social medianetwork, platformsadvertisement fornetwork campaignor financesearch purposes.engine, that sells qualified political advertisements and (A) has four hundred thousand or more unique monthly visitors or users, which visitors or users have anassignedInternetprotocoladdresswithintheUnitedStates,forseven of the preceding twelve months, or (B) has revenue from advertising in excess of one thousand dollars per year.

(NEW) (33) "Qualified politicaladvertisement" means any advertisement, including, but not limited to, sponsorship and search engine marketing, that is an expenditure, as defined in section 9-601b.

Sec.

2.

(NEW) (Effective January 1, 2022) For each sale of a qualified LCO No.

4983 1 of 5 politicaladvertisementonanonlineplatform,asthosetermsaredefined in section 9-601 of the general statutes, as amended by this act, such online platform shall:

(1) Make available for online public inspection, and in machine-readable format, a digital copy of the qualified political advertisement;

and (2) provide to the State Elections Enforcement Commission the name, street address and phone number of a single point of contact at such online platform who is responsible for the sale and appearance of such qualified political advertisement on such online platform.

Sec.

3.

Subsection (b) of section 9-601c of the general statutes is repealedandthefollowingissubstitutedinlieuthereof(EffectiveJanuary 1, 2022):

(b) When the State Elections Enforcement Commission evaluates an expenditure to determine whether such expenditure is an independent expenditure, there shall be a rebuttable presumption that the following expenditures are not independent expenditures:

(1) An expenditure made by a person in cooperation, consultation or in concert with, at the request, suggestion or direction of, or pursuant to a general or particular understanding with (A) a candidate, candidate committee, political committee or party committee, or (B) a consultant or other agent acting on behalf of a candidate, candidate committee, political committee or party committee;

(2) An expenditure made by a person for the production, dissemination, distribution or publication, in whole or in substantial part, of any broadcast or any written, graphic or other form of political advertising or campaign communication prepared by (A) a candidate, candidate committee, political committee or party committee, or (B) a consultant or other agent acting on behalf of a candidate, candidate committee, political committee or party committee;

(3) An expenditure made by a person based on information about a candidate's, political committee's, or party committee's plans, projects or needs, provided by (A) a candidate, candidate committee, political LCO No.

4983 2 of 5 committee or party committee, or (B) a consultant or other agent acting on behalf of a candidate, candidate committee, political committee or party committee, with the intent that such expenditure be made;

(4) An expenditure made by an individual who, in the same election cycle, is serving or has served as the campaign chairperson, treasurer or deputy treasurer of a candidate committee, political committee or party committee benefiting from such expenditure, or in any other executive or policymakingposition,including asamember,employee, fundraiser, consultant or other agent, of a candidate committee, political committee or party committee;

(5) An expenditure made by a person or an entity on or after January first in the year of an election in which a candidate is seeking public office that benefits such candidate when such person or entity has hired an individual as an employee or consultant and such individual was an employee of or consultant to such candidate's candidate committee or such candidate'sopponent'scandidate committee during any part ofthe eighteen-month period preceding such expenditure;

(6) An expenditure made by a person for fundraising activities (A) for a candidate, candidate committee, political committee or party committee,oraconsultantorotheragentactingonbehalfofacandidate, candidate committee, political committee or party committee, or (B) for the solicitation or receipt of contributions on behalf of a candidate, candidate committee, political committee or party committee, or a consultant or other agent acting on behalf of a candidate, candidate committee, political committee or party committee;

(7) An expenditure made by a person based on information about a candidate's campaign plans, projects or needs, that is directly or indirectly provided by a candidate, the candidate's candidate committee, a political committee or a party committee, or a consultant or other agent acting on behalf of such candidate, candidate committee, political committee or party committee, to the person making the expenditure or such person's agent, with an express or tacit understanding that such person is considering making the expenditure;

24804983 13 of 15 (8) An expenditure made by a person for a communication that clearly identifies a candidate during an election campaign, if the person making the expenditure, or such person's agent, has informed the candidatewhobenefitsfromtheexpenditure,thatcandidate'scandidate committee, a political committee or a party committee, or a consultant or other agent acting on behalf of the benefiting candidate or candidate committee, political committee, or party committee, concerning the communication's contents, or of the intended audience, timing, location or mode or frequency of dissemination.

As used in this subdivision, a communication clearly identifies a candidate when that communication contains the name, nickname, initials, photograph or drawing of the candidate or an unambiguous reference to that candidate, which includes, but is not limited to, a reference that can only mean that candidate;

[and] (9) An expenditure made by a person or an entity for consultant or creative services, including, but not limited to, services related to communications strategy or design or campaign strategy or to engage a campaign-related vendor,to beusedto promote or oppose acandidate's election to office if the provider of such services is or has provided consultant or creative services to such candidate, such candidate's candidate committee or an agent of such candidate committee, or to any opposing candidate's candidate committee or an agent of such candidate committee after January first of the year in which the expenditure occurs.

For the purposes of this subdivision, [communications strategy or design] (A) "communications strategy or design" does not include the costs of printing or costs for the use of a medium for the purpose of communications, [.

For purposes of this subdivision, campaign-related vendor] and (B) "campaign-related vendor" includes, but is not limited to, a vendor that provides the following services:

Polling, mail design, mail strategy, political strategy, general campaign advice or telephone banking;

and (10) An expenditure made by an online platform, which expenditure displaysthename,face orvoiceofacandidate,ninetydaysorlessbefore the day of a primary or election if such expenditure was not made LCO No.

4983 4 of 5 neutrally or evenly as to such candidate and each opponent of such candidate.

For the purposes of this subdivision, "expenditure made by an online platform" includes, but is not limited to, any tool or feature created by or for such online platform that appears on or is integrated 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: