FEC Certifies Nevada for Paper-Filing Waiver
For Immediate Release: Contact: Ron Harris
December 27, 2000 Sharon Snyder
Ian Stirton
Kelly Huff
FEC CERTIFIES NEVADA FOR PAPER-FILING WAIVER
WASHINGTON – Nevada is the 47th state to be certified by the Federal
Election Commission (FEC) as exempt from a federal requirement to receive and maintain
paper copies of campaign finance reports from Presidential, U.S. Senate and U.S. House of
Representatives candidates, party committees and political action committees (PACs).
Replacing the paper filings is electronic Internet access to campaign reports of
federal candidates and committees. Reports are accessed through the FEC’s Internet
Web site, and the FEC has provided computer hardware and software, including laser
printers, to those states requesting them.
The initial 12 states were certified by the Commission on December 8, 1999 (see
December 10 news release, FEC Web site, www.fec.gov), and the number of state
certifications has been steadily growing since then.
As of December 22, when Nevada was certified, the 47 states and territories include:
Alabama, American Samoa, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida,
Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland,
Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New
Mexico, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania,
Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Virginia,
Virgin Islands, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin, and Wyoming.
In December 1995, President Clinton signed Public Law 104-79, which exempts states from
receiving and maintaining paper copies of federal campaign finance reports provided that
the state, "as determined by the Commission, has a system that permits electronic
access to, and duplication of, reports and statements that are filed with the
Commission."
The FEC began posting disclosure reports filed by Presidential and House candidates,
parties and political action committees, on its Web site in 1997 and has since expanded
the site to include electronic filings and a query system that allows for on-line searches
of the campaign finance data base. The public in the certified states will be accessing
the FEC’s Web site to view campaign finance reports, but they are the same reports
from federal candidates that, by regulation, have to date been duplicated in paper form
and filed with the state.
Upon connection to the FEC’s Web site, the states have access to reports filed
since 1993 for PACs, party and Presidential committees, since 1996 for Congressional
committees. On September 27 the FEC extended the waiver program to U.S. Senate candidates,
also establishing the October 15 quarterly report deadline as the first federal campaign
finance report that does not require a duplicate filing by U.S. Senate candidates in
states certified for the State Filing Waiver Program.
Certification by the FEC is indicative that states and territories possess an adequate
computerized system to allow the public electronic access to, and duplication of, reports
and statements that are filed with the FEC. Criteria leading to their certification by the
FEC were: (1)Possession of at least one computer terminal that can electronically access
the Commission’s Web page, with at least one printer (connected either directly or
through a network); and (2)the state or territory will, to the greatest extent possible,
allow anyone requesting federal campaign finance data, the use of this computer terminal,
at any time during regular business hours.
Nevada Secretary of State Dean Heller agreed to the FEC criteria in a December 14,
2000 letter to the Commission, saying that Susan Morandi, Deputy Secretary for Elections,
would be overall coordinator for the program.
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