BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 510
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Date of Hearing: January 15, 2014
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON ELECTIONS AND REDISTRICTING
Paul Fong, Chair
AB 510 (Ammiano) - As Amended: January 6, 2014
SUBJECT : Political Reform Act of 1974: advertisement
disclosures.
SUMMARY : Requires an advertisement relating to a ballot measure
to include a specified disclaimer if it includes an appearance
by an individual who is paid to appear in the advertisement and
it communicates that the individual is a member of an occupation
that requires licensure or specialized training. Specifically,
this bill :
1)Requires a committee that makes an expenditure of any amount
to an individual for his or her appearance in an advertisement
that supports or opposes the qualification, passage, or defeat
of a ballot measure, and that states or suggests that the
individual is a member of an occupation that requires
licensure, certification, or other specialized documented
training as a prerequisite to engage in that occupation, to do
both of the following:
a) File a report within 10 days of the expenditure
identifying the measure, date of the expenditure, name and
occupation of the recipient, and amount expended; and,
b) Include the following statement in the advertisement in
highly visible roman font shown continuously if the
advertisement consists of printed or televised material, or
spoken in a clearly audible format if the advertisement is
a radio broadcast or telephone message:
"Persons portraying members of an occupation in this
advertisement are compensated spokespersons not necessarily
employed in those occupations."
2)Permits a committee to apply to the Fair Political Practices
Commission (FPPC) for a waiver from the requirement to include
the statement detailed above in an advertisement. Requires
the FPPC to grant the waiver if the occupation of the
individual who is being paid to appear in the advertisement is
substantially similar to the occupation portrayed in the
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advertisement and the committee submits credible documentation
of the license, certification, or other training that permits
the individual to engage in the occupation portrayed in the
advertisement.
EXISTING LAW :
1)Creates the FPPC, and makes it responsible for the impartial,
effective administration and implementation of the Political
Reform Act (PRA).
2)Requires a committee that makes an expenditure of $5,000 or
more to an individual for his or her appearance in an
advertisement to support or oppose the qualification, passage,
or defeat of a ballot measure, to do both of the following:
a) File a report within 10 days of the expenditure
identifying the measure, date of the expenditure, name of
the recipient, and amount expended; and,
b) Include the following statement in the advertisement in
highly visible roman font shown continuously if the
advertisement consists of printed or televised material, or
spoken in a clearly audible format if the advertisement is
a radio broadcast or telephone message:
"[Spokesperson's name] is being paid by this campaign or its
donors."
3)Requires a committee to disclose the following information on
a periodic campaign statement for each person to whom the
committee made an expenditure of $100 or more during the
period covered by the statement:
a) The name and street address of the person;
b) The amount of each expenditure; and,
c) A brief description of the consideration for which each
expenditure was made.
FISCAL EFFECT : Unknown. State-mandated local program; contains
a crimes and infractions disclaimer.
COMMENTS :
AB 510
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1)Purpose of the Bill : According to the author:
Many Californians today are frustrated, feeling that
political choices they are offered give them no real
choice at all. California voters oppose the transfer
of their sovereignty to "supranational organizations"
that create non-transparency while sending their
message to the people. Campaign commercials use the
professional status of commercial participants as
spokespersons in an attempt to sway the opinion of the
voters by giving the viewer the impression that
professionals in that field may be better informed
than they. These spokespersons, be they doctors,
engineers, or other professionals are often
compensated by the campaign for their participation in
the commercial with the audience left knowing no
better.
2)Existing "Paid Spokesperson" Requirements : In 2000, the
Legislature passed and the Governor signed SB 1223 (Burton),
Chapter 102, Statutes of 2000, which became Proposition 34 on
the November 2000 general election ballot. The proposition,
which passed with 60 percent of the vote, made numerous
substantive changes to the PRA, including enacting new
campaign disclosure requirements and establishing new campaign
contribution limits. One of the provisions of Proposition 34
established new reporting and disclaimer requirements for
ballot measure advertisements that featured paid spokespeople.
Those requirements apply only when a committee makes an
expenditure of $5,000 or more to the individual appearing in
the advertisement.
Additionally, any entity that qualifies as a "committee" under
the PRA is required to itemize all expenditures of $100 or
more on the periodic campaign disclosure reports that it is
required to file. To the extent that a committee paid a
spokesperson $100 or more to appear in an advertisement
supporting or opposing a ballot measure, that information is
already required to be reported on the committee's campaign
disclosure statements.
The primary difference between the existing "paid spokesperson"
requirement and this bill is that this bill's reporting and
disclaimer requirements apply if a person was paid any amount
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of money, but only if the advertisement suggested or stated
that the person who was being paid is a member of an
occupation that requires licensure, certification, or other
specialized, documented training as a prerequisite to engage
in that occupation.
The author argues that this bill's reporting and disclosure
requirements are important to ensure that voters are not
mislead into thinking that the opinions of paid spokespersons
are those of a licensed professional. In background
information submitted to the committee, the author's office
submitted a number of news articles about misleading campaign
advertisements. Two of the examples provided related to
advertisements that featured appearances by individuals
portraying occupations other than their own. In one case, the
advertisement included an actor portraying a doctor. That
advertisement, however, included a disclaimer that the person
making the statement was an actor. Another article provided
as background discussed an advertisement in which a coal
company executive portrayed a coal miner. While at least some
states require a person to receive certification and training
before working as a coal miner, this advertisement was not
related to a California ballot measure, and therefore the
provisions of this bill would not have been applicable to that
advertisement. In light of these facts, the prevalence of the
types of advertisements that this bill seeks to regulate is
unclear.
3)No Threshold : This bill does not establish a threshold for
the reporting and disclaimer requirements that it imposes-a
committee that made an expenditure of any amount of money to a
person for that person's appearance in a ballot measure
advertisement would be required to comply with the reporting
and disclaimer requirements. That appears to be the case even
if the only expenditure made by the committee was to reimburse
the spokesperson for his or her costs in travelling to the
location where the campaign advertisement is being produced,
or for food and beverages provided to the spokesperson during
the production of the advertisement.
4)Arguments in Support : In support of this bill, the League of
Women Voters of California writes:
The League believes that campaign finance practices
must ensure the public's right to know through full
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disclosure of campaign contributions and expenditures.
AB 510 addresses the practice of campaigns paying a
person who portrays a member of a trusted occupation
as a spokesperson in an advertisement, whether or not
that person is in fact a member of that occupation. By
requiring disclosure that the ". . . compensated
spokespersons [are] not necessarily employed in those
occupations," the bill will call attention to
information that is valuable to voters. The bill
appropriately removes the monetary threshold for
requiring this type of disclosure.
The games campaigns play with "disclosure" can make it
difficult to identify the agenda behind campaign
advertising. AB 510 takes a step toward providing
better information for voters.
5)Political Reform Act of 1974 : California voters passed an
initiative, Proposition 9, in 1974 that created the FPPC and
codified significant restrictions and prohibitions on
candidates, officeholders and lobbyists. That initiative is
commonly known as the PRA. Amendments to the PRA that are not
submitted to the voters, such as those contained in this bill,
must further the purposes of the initiative and require a
two-thirds vote of both houses of the Legislature.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
Support
League of Women Voters of California
Opposition
None on file.
Analysis Prepared by : Ethan Jones / E. & R. / (916) 319-2094