BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SENATE COMMITTEE ON ELECTIONS
AND CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENTS
Senator Alex Padilla, Chair
BILL NO: AB 510 HEARING DATE: 6/17/14
AUTHOR: AMMIANO ANALYSIS BY: Darren Chesin
AMENDED: 5/28/14
FISCAL: YES
SUBJECT
Political Reform Act: advertisement disclosures
DESCRIPTION
Existing law , pursuant to the Political Reform Act (PRA),
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:
File a report within 10 days of the expenditure identifying
the measure, date of the expenditure, name of the recipient,
and amount expended; and,
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."
Existing law 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:
The name and street address of the person;
The amount of each expenditure; and,
A brief description of the consideration for which each
expenditure was made.
This bill additionally 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:
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,
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."
1.Provides that a committee may omit this disclosure statement
if all of the following are satisfied with respect to each
individual identified in the report filed for that
advertisement:
The occupation of the recipient identified in the report is
substantially similar to the occupation portrayed in the
advertisement.
The committee maintains credible documentation of the
appropriate license, certification, or other training as
evidence that the individual may engage in the occupation
identified in the report and portrayed in the advertisement
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and makes that documentation immediately available to the Fair
Political Practices Commission (FPPC) upon request.
BACKGROUND
Existing "Paid Spokesperson" Requirements : In 2000, the
Legislature passed and the Governor signed SB 1223 (Burton), Ch.
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.
COMMENTS
1.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.
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Current law does not protect voters from being deceived in
campaign commercials. For example, an individual wearing a
white coat, standing in front of a hospital, and portraying a
doctor, could state that they support smoking cigarettes and
that cigarettes have zero health concerns. The viewer will
assume that the individual speaking is a doctor and using this
deception, the campaign commercial can trick voters. The
current law does not relate to these actions of deception.
This bill will remedy the possibility of deception by
requiring a disclaimer or proof of the spokespersons
profession. The affected would be the campaign committees
producing campaign commercials.
2.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.
PRIOR ACTION
Assembly Elections and Redistricting Committee: 5-1
Assembly Appropriations Committee: 12-2
Assembly Floor: 58-16
POSITIONS
Sponsor: Author
Support: League of Women Voters of California
Public Citizen
Sierra Club California
Oppose: None received
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