FIRST REGULAR SESSION
SENATE BILL NO. 412
90TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY
INTRODUCED BY SENATOR GOODE.
Read 1st time February 4, 1999, and 1,000 copies ordered printed.
TERRY L. SPIELER, Secretary.
S1856.01I
AN ACT
To repeal section 130.057, RSMo Supp. 1998, relating to certain campaign finance reports, and to enact in lieu thereof one new section relating to the same subject.
Section A. Section 130.057, RSMo Supp. 1998, is repealed and one new section enacted in lieu thereof, to be known as section 130.057, to read as follows:
130.057. 1. In order for candidates for election and public officials to more easily file reports required by law and to access information contained in such reports, and for the Missouri ethics commission to receive and store reports in an efficient and economical method, and for the general public and news media to access information contained in such reports, the commission shall establish and maintain an electronic reporting system pursuant to this section.
2. The ethics commission may establish for elections in 1996 and shall establish for elections and all required reporting beginning in 1998 and maintain thereafter a state campaign finance and financial interest disclosure electronic reporting system pursuant to this section for all candidates required to file. The system may be used for the collection, filing and dissemination of all reports, including monthly lobbying reports filed by law, and all reports filed with the commission pursuant to this chapter and chapter 105, RSMo. The system may be established and used for all reports required to be filed for the primary and general elections in 1996 and all elections thereafter, except that the system may require maintenance of a paper backup system for the primary and general elections in 1996. The reports shall be maintained and secured in the electronic format by the commission.
3. Beginning with the primary and general elections in 1996, candidates and other persons may file reports in an electronic format as prescribed by the commission or may file a paper copy and all reports filed with the commission by any continuing committee shall be filed in electronic format as prescribed by the commission. The commission shall supply a computer program which shall be used for filing by modem or by a common magnetic media chosen by the commission. In the event that filings are performed electronically, the candidate shall file a signed original written copy within five working days; except that, if a means becomes available which will allow a verifiable electronic signature, the commission may also accept this in lieu of a written statement.
4. Beginning January 1, 2000, all reports filed with the commission by any candidate for a statewide office, or such candidate's committee, shall be filed in electronic format as prescribed by the commission.
[4.] 5. A copy of all reports filed in the state campaign finance electronic reporting system shall be placed on a public electronic access system so that the general public may have open access to the reports filed pursuant to this section. The access system shall be organized and maintained in such a manner to allow an individual to obtain information concerning all contributions made to or on behalf of, and all expenditures made on behalf of, any public official described in subsection 2 of this section in formats that will include both written and electronically readable formats.
[5.] 6. All records that are in electronic format, not otherwise closed by law, shall be available in electronic format to the public. The commission shall maintain and provide for public inspection, a listing of all reports with a complete description for each field contained on the report, that has been used to extract information from their database files. The commission shall develop a report or reports which contain every field in each database.
[6.] 7. Annually, the commission shall provide, without cost, a system-wide dump of information contained in the commission's electronic database files to the general assembly. The information is to be copied onto a medium specified by the general assembly. Such information shall not contain records otherwise closed by law. It is the intent of the general assembly to provide open access to the commission's records. The commission shall make every reasonable effort to comply with requests for information and shall take a liberal interpretation when considering such requests.