Defending Elections from Threats by Establishing Redlines Act of 2020
A BILL
To deter foreign interference in United States elections, and for other purposes.
2. Definitions
In this Act:
Account; correspondent account; payable-through account— The terms account, correspondent account, and payable-through account have the meanings given those terms in section 5318A of title 31, United States Code.
Appropriate congressional committees— The term appropriate congressional committees means—
the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs, the Committee on Foreign Relations, the Committee on Finance, the Select Committee on Intelligence, and the Committee on Rules and Administration of the Senate; and
the Committee on Financial Services, the Committee on Foreign Affairs, the Committee on Ways and Means, the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, and the Committee on House Administration of the House of Representatives.
Appropriate congressional committees and leadership— The term appropriate congressional committees and leadership means—
the appropriate congressional committees;
the majority leader and minority leader of the Senate; and
the Speaker, the majority leader, and the minority leader of the House of Representatives.
Election and campaign infrastructure— The term election and campaign infrastructure means information and communications technology and systems used by or on behalf of—
the Federal Government or a State or local government in managing the election process, including voter registration databases, voting machines, voting tabulation equipment, equipment for the secure transmission of election results, and other systems; or
a principal campaign committee or national committee (as those terms are defined in section 301 of the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 (52 U.S.C. 30101)) with respect to strategy or tactics affecting the conduct of a political campaign, including electronic communications, and the information stored on, processed by, or transiting such technology and systems.
Federal election cycle— The term Federal election cycle means the period beginning on the day after the date of the most recent election for members of the House of Representatives and ending on the date of the next election for members of the House of Representatives.
Foreign person— The term foreign person means a person that is not a United States person.
Good— The term good means any article, natural or manmade substance, material, supply or manufactured product, including inspection and test equipment, and excluding technical data.
Interference in United States elections—
In general— Except as provided in subparagraph (B), the term interference, with respect to a United States election, means any of the following actions of the government of a foreign country, or any person acting as an agent of or on behalf of such a government, undertaken with the intent to influence the election:
Obtaining unauthorized access to election and campaign infrastructure or related systems or data and releasing such data or modifying such infrastructure, systems, or data.
Unlawfully blocking or degrading otherwise legitimate and authorized access to election and campaign infrastructure or related systems or data.
Significant unlawful contributions or expenditures for advertising, including on the internet.
Using social, other internet-based, or traditional media to spread information to individuals in the United States without disclosing that such information is being disseminated by a foreign government or a foreign person acting on behalf of a foreign government.
Exceptions—
Exception for publicly identified statements— The term interference, with respect to a United States election, does not include—
any public statement by a foreign leader, official, or government agency with respect to a candidate for office, official of the United States Government, or policy of the United States, if it is clear that the statement is made by that foreign leader, government official, or government agency and no effort has been made to conceal the individual or entity making the statement; or
any other statement if a foreign government is readily and publicly identifiable as the source of the statement.
Exception for foreign government broadcasts— The term interference, with respect to a United States election, does not include the broadcast of views of a foreign government through broadcast channels owned or controlled by that government, if that ownership or control is readily and publicly identifiable.
Knowingly— The term knowingly, with respect to conduct, a circumstance, or a result, means that a person has actual knowledge, or should have known, of the conduct, the circumstance, or the result.
Person— The term person means individual or entity.
United States election— The term United States election means any United States Federal election.
United States person— The term United States person means—
a United States citizen or an alien lawfully admitted for permanent residence to the United States; or
an entity organized under the laws of the United States or of any jurisdiction within the United States, including a foreign branch of such an entity.