BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    Ó



                                                                            



           ----------------------------------------------------------------- 
          |SENATE RULES COMMITTEE            |                        AB 510|
          |Office of Senate Floor Analyses   |                              |
          |1020 N Street, Suite 524          |                              |
          |(916) 651-1520         Fax: (916) |                              |
          |327-4478                          |                              |
           ----------------------------------------------------------------- 
           
                                           
                                    THIRD READING


          Bill No:  AB 510
          Author:   Ammiano (D)
          Amended:  5/28/14 in Senate
          Vote:     27

           
           SENATE ELECTIONS & CONSTIT. AMEND. COMMITTEE  :  4-0, 6/17/14
          AYES:  Padilla, Hancock, Jackson, Pavley
          NO VOTE RECORDED:  Anderson

           SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE  :  Senate Rule 28.8

           ASSEMBLY FLOOR  :  58-16, 1/30/14 - See last page for vote


           SUBJECT  :    Political Reform Act of 1974:  advertisement  
          disclosures

           SOURCE  :     Author


           DIGEST  :    This bill 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.

           ANALYSIS  :    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/her appearance in an  
          advertisement to support or oppose the qualification, passage,  
          or defeat of a ballot measure, to do both of the following:
                                                                CONTINUED





                                                                     AB 510
                                                                     Page  
          2


          1. File a report within 10 days of the expenditure identifying  
             the measure, date of the expenditure, name of the recipient,  
             and amount expended; and

          2. 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:

          1. The name and street address of the person;

          2  The amount of each expenditure; and

          3  A brief description of the consideration for which each  
             expenditure was made.

          This bill:  

          1. Requires a committee that makes an expenditure of any amount  
             to an individual for his/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,  

                                                                CONTINUED





                                                                     AB 510
                                                                     Page  
          3

                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. 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:

             A.    The occupation of the recipient identified in the  
                report is substantially similar to the occupation  
                portrayed in the advertisement.

             B.    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 and makes that documentation immediately  
                available to the Fair Political Practices Commission  
                upon request.

           Background
           
           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% 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  

                                                                CONTINUED





                                                                     AB 510
                                                                     Page  
          4

          $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.

           FISCAL EFFECT  :    Appropriation:  No   Fiscal Com.:  Yes    
          Local:  Yes

           SUPPORT  :   (Verified  6/30/14)

          California Professional Firefighters
          League of Women Voters of California
          Public Citizen
          Sierra Club California


           ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT  :    According to the author, "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."

           ASSEMBLY FLOOR  :  58-16, 1/30/14
          AYES:  Achadjian, Alejo, Ammiano, Atkins, Bloom, Bocanegra,  
            Bonilla, Bonta, Bradford, Brown, Buchanan, Ian Calderon,  
            Campos, Chau, Chesbro, Cooley, Dababneh, Daly, Dickinson,  
            Eggman, Fong, Fox, Frazier, Garcia, Gatto, Gomez, Gonzalez,  
            Gordon, Gorell, Gray, Hall, Roger Hernández, Holden,  
            Jones-Sawyer, Levine, Lowenthal, Medina, Mullin, Muratsuchi,  
            Nazarian, Pan, Perea, V. Manuel Pérez, Quirk, Quirk-Silva,  
            Rendon, Ridley-Thomas, Rodriguez, Salas, Skinner, Stone, Ting,  
            Waldron, Weber, Wieckowski, Williams, Yamada, John A. Pérez
          NOES:  Allen, Chávez, Conway, Dahle, Donnelly, Beth Gaines,  
            Grove, Hagman, Harkey, Jones, Maienschein, Mansoor, Morrell,  
            Patterson, Wagner, Wilk
          NO VOTE RECORDED:  Bigelow, Linder, Logue, Melendez, Nestande,  
            Olsen


          RM:d  6/30/14   Senate Floor Analyses 

                                                                CONTINUED





                                                                     AB 510
                                                                     Page  
          5


                           SUPPORT/OPPOSITION:  SEE ABOVE

                                   ****  END  ****









































                                                                CONTINUED