BILL ANALYSIS Ó
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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:
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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,
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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
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$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
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SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE
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