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Federal Advertising Reform Act of 2004
To ensure that advertising campaigns paid for by the Federal Government are unbiased, and for other purposes.
Summary
This bill establishes oversight requirements for federal government advertising campaigns that exceed $10 million per fiscal year. Agencies proposing large-scale print, radio, television, video news releases, outdoor, or internet advertising would be required to submit them to the Comptroller General for review before spending the money. The Comptroller General would determine whether proposed advertisements contain political messages or are false, misleading, or deceptive before approving the expenditure. The bill addresses findings that the federal government spends over $1 billion annually on advertising with little oversight or standardized evaluation. It also directs attention to the lack of a single federal agency responsible for tracking and managing government advertising expenditures across agencies.
AI-generated plain-language summary of the bill text — neutral, and may be imperfect. See the full text below for the exact wording.
Sponsor (1)
5 cosponsors
Money behind the sponsor
Top reported contributors to Rosa L. Delauro’s campaign committee (2024 cycle) — who funds the bill’s sponsor, not a claim about this bill. Data from FEC.
Organizations whose employees gave the most — itemized individual contributions grouped by the donor’s reported employer (FEC Schedule A). Full finance for Rosa L. Delauro → · Outside spending →
Actions (3)
- Jul 1, 2004 Referred to the Subcommittee on Government Efficiency and Financial Management. · house
- Jun 22, 2004 Referred to the House Committee on Government Reform. · house
- Jun 22, 2004 Introduced in House
More bills on these subjects (8)
Other bills that carry the most legislative subjects in common with this one (topical discovery — distinct from the procedural related bills above).
Similar bills (6)
Bills with similar text or summary — includes reintroductions across Congresses. Ranked by semantic similarity of the bill text (computed locally); a neutral discovery aid, not a claim the bills are duplicates.
Full text
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
June 22, 2004
Ms. DeLauro (for herself, Mr. Stark, Mr. McDermott, Mr. Cooper, Mr. Conyers, and Ms. Slaughter) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Government Reform
A BILL
To ensure that advertising campaigns paid for by the Federal Government are unbiased, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the “Federal Advertising Reform Act of 2004”.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND PURPOSES.
(a) Findings.—Congress finds that—
(1) a February 2004 Congressional Research Service report states that the advertising industry estimates the Federal Government spends over $1,000,000,000 each year on advertising;
(2) under the rules and regulations that apply to the Federal Government and advertising campaigns run by the Federal Government, there are few restrictions on advertising by the Federal Government; and
(3) currently, there is no single agency charged with tracking and overseeing advertising expenditures by Federal agencies.
(b) Purposes.—The purposes of this Act are to—
(1) ensure that advertising campaigns paid for by the Federal Government are unbiased and do not contain a political message or covert propaganda;
(2) highlight the lack of oversight and evaluation of advertising campaigns paid for by the Federal Government; and
(3) ensure that advertising campaigns in excess of $10,000,000 per year are evaluated and approved by an independent entity such as the General Accounting Office.
SEC. 3. LIMITATION ON ADVERTISING EXPENDITURES.
(a) In General.—In any fiscal year, if the amounts appropriated to an agency exceed $10,000,000 to prepare or produce print, radio, or television advertising campaigns, as well as video news releases, uses of outdoor media, and Internet advertisements on websites not operated by the Federal Government, those amounts shall not be expended by the agency unless—
(1) any proposed advertisement is submitted to the Comptroller General of the United States for review; and
(2) the Comptroller General determines that the proposed advertisement does not contain a political message, and is not false, misleading, or deceptive.
(b) Definitions.—In this section:
(1) Agency.—The term “agency” has the meaning provided that term by section 105 of title 5, United States Code.
(2) False, misleading, or deceptive.—The term “false, misleading, or deceptive” has the meaning provided that term under rules and regulations promulgated by the Federal Trade Commission. <all>
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