HR 1165 IH

To provide for the establishment of an Election Voting Systems Standards Commission, and for other purposes.

March 22, 2001

Mr. BARCIA (for himself, Ms. RIVERS, Mr. LARSON of Connecticut, Mr. UDALL of Colorado, Mr. LAMPSON, and Mr. WEINER) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Science

To provide for the establishment of an Election Voting Systems Standards Commission, 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 `Election Voting Systems Standards Act of 2001'.

SEC. 2. ELECTION VOTING SYSTEMS STANDARDS COMMISSION.

(a) ESTABLISHMENT- The Director of the National Institute of Standards and Technology, in consultation with the chairman of the Federal Election Commission, shall establish the Election Voting Systems Standards Commission (in this Act referred to as the `Commission').

(b) MEMBERSHIP- The Commission shall consist of the following members:

(1) The Director of the National Institute of Standards and Technology, who shall serve as the chair of the Commission.

(2) The chairman of the Federal Election Commission, who shall serve as the vice-chair of the Commission.

(3) Two representatives of the National Association of State Election Directors, selected by that association.

(4) Two representatives of the National Governors Association, selected by that association.

(5) One representative of the American National Standards Institute, selected by that institute.

(6) Not more than 5 additional members that the Director of the National Institute of Standards and Technology, in consultation with the chairman of the Federal Election Commission, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, the Minority Leader of the House of Representatives, the Majority Leader of the Senate, and the Minority Leader of the Senate, considers appropriate.

(c) RESPONSIBILITIES-

(1) STANDARDS AND CRITERIA- The Commission shall establish--

(A) a set of technical performance-based standards relating to the accuracy, integrity, and security of voting products and systems used in Federal elections; and

(B) criteria for the selection of an organization to operate the National Election Systems Standards Laboratory under section 3.

Not later than 9 months after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Commission shall transmit to the Congress a report containing the standards and criteria established under this paragraph.

(2) TESTING AND CERTIFICATION- The Commission shall--

(A) develop uniform testing and evaluation procedures suitable for determining the conformance of voting products and systems to the standards established under paragraph (1)(A);

(B) establish procedures for the certification, by the Laboratory established under section 3, of non-Federal laboratories to perform the testing and evaluation procedures developed under subparagraph (A) of this paragraph; and

(C) make recommendations for methods of promoting the use of the testing and evaluation procedures developed under subparagraph (A) of this paragraph.

Not later than 1 year after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Commission shall transmit to the Congress a report containing the procedures developed or established under subparagraphs (A) and (B) of this paragraph, and the recommendations described in subparagraph (C).

SEC. 3. NATIONAL ELECTION SYSTEMS STANDARDS LABORATORY.

(a) ESTABLISHMENT- The Director of the National Institute of Standards and Technology shall select an organization to operate the National Election Systems Standards Laboratory (in this section referred to as the `Laboratory').

(b) SELECTION- Selection of the Laboratory under subsection (a) shall be carried out--

(1) in accordance with criteria established under section 2(c)(1)(B); and

(2) through a merit-based competition open to any nonprofit, nonpartisan research entity or consortium.

(c) FUNCTIONS- The Laboratory shall--

(1) investigate and analyze issues with respect to voting products and systems and their conformance to the standards established under section 2(c)(1)(A), including--

(A) human factors in the design and application of voting systems; and

(B) the design of remote-access voting systems;

(2) certify non-Federal laboratories to perform the testing and evaluation procedures developed under section 2(c)(2)(A); and

(3) maintain and make available to the public a list of voting products and systems that have been tested and evaluated by non-Federal laboratories certified under paragraph (2) and that are found to be in conformance with the standards established under section 2(c)(1)(A).

END