The bill, the Senate Campaign Disclosure Parity Act (S. 223), introduced by Sens. Russell Feingold (D-WI) and Thad Cochran (R-MS), would require Senate candidates to file their campaign finance reports electronically rather than on paper, starting next January. House and presidential candidates, as well as federal political action committees, have all had to file electronically since 2001.
Ironically, the Senate offices already use software to electronically fill out the campaign disclosure forms, but the data is then printed out and delivered to the Federal Election Committee (FEC), which then re-enters all of the information in a computer database. Eliminating this wasteful and unnecessary step should speed up the process, allowing the public review the information sooner, and should increase accuracy while decreasing costs. Entering all of the data filed on paper from the Senate's campaign finance reports takes the FEC weeks and is estimated to cost $250,000 each year.
Proponents of the legislation plan to bring it up for a unanimous consent vote on the Senate floor. While similar legislation has yet to be introduced in the House, given that House members are already required to electronically file this information, it is unlikely that the members will hesitate to hold the Senate to a similar standard.