BILL ANALYSIS Ó
Senate Appropriations Committee Fiscal Summary
Senator Kevin de León, Chair
SB 52 (Leno) - Advertisement: Disclosures
Amended: May 16, 2013 Policy Vote: E&CA 4-1
Urgency: No Mandate: No
Hearing Date: May 23, 2013 Consultant: Maureen Ortiz
SUSPENSE FILE.
Bill Summary: SB 52 repeals existing advertisement disclosure
requirements and imposes new disclosure requirements for radio,
prerecorded telephonic messages, television or video, mass
mailing or printed political advertisements.
Fiscal Impact:
The FPPC indicates annual costs of $401,344 for 3 PYs and
one-time costs of $7,000 for workstations/furniture (General
Fund).
The Fair Political Practices Commission (FPPC) will incur the
above GF costs, for the equivalent of 3.5 positions, associated
with the initial writing of new regulations and campaign
materials, with increased ongoing costs to provide advice and
for investigation and enforcement. The commission could also
incur significant costs for litigation related to the
constitutionality of some of the bill's provisions.
Background: Under the PRA, committees must put "paid for by"
disclaimers on campaign advertising, including campaign mailers,
radio and television ads, telephone robocalls, and electronic
media ads. The following, which is based on a publication
produced by the FPPC, discusses disclaimer requirements for
committees that purchase advertisements or circulate material
supporting or opposing a state or local candidate or ballot
measure in California.
Mass mailings, including blast campaign emails, must include
identification of the sender.
Paid telephone calls must identify the candidate or committee
who paid for or authorized the call.
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Radio and television ads must include "paid for by" disclaimer
under FCC law.
Ballot measure ads and independent expenditure ads must
include "paid for by committee name" and such ads by primarily
formed committees must also list top two donors of $50,000 or
more. This applies to television, radio, and electronic media
advertisements, robocalls, mass mailings, and print ads such
as newspaper ads, billboards and yard signs.
Proposed Law: SB 52 requires the FPPC to promulgate regulations
to require disclosures on all forms of political advertisements
not covered by this bill, including, but not limited to,
electronic media advertisements and billboards. If feasible,
the regulations shall require the listing of the name of the
committee and as many of the three identifiable contributors
that made the largest cumulative contributions as possible in a
conspicuous manner, as specified.
The bill will also require the FPPC to promulgate regulations to
require disclosure of the name of the committee, if feasible, on
all advertisements that are paid for by a candidate-controlled
committee and that are advertisements relating to the
candidate's own election and not for any other campaign.
SB 52 will repeal existing advertisement disclosure requirements
and impose new disclosure requirements for radio, prerecorded
telephonic messages, television or video, mass mailing or
printed political advertisements as follows.
Radio and Telephone
A political radio advertisement or prerecorded telephonic
message must include a disclosure at the end of the
advertisement read in a clearly spoken manner and in a pitch and
tone substantially similar to the rest of the advertisement that
reads as follows: "Top funders of this ad are [state names in
descending order of identifiable contributors who have made the
three largest cumulative contributions, if applicable]. Paid
for by [name of the committee that paid for the advertisement]."
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Television and Video
A political television or video advertisement must include a
disclosure area with a solid black background on the entire
bottom one-third of the television or video display screen for a
minimum of six seconds at the beginning of the advertisement
that includes all of the following:
The text "Top Funders of This Ad" shall be located at the top
of the disclosure area, centered horizontally, yellow in color
in Arial equivalent font and at least 4 percent of the height
of the television or video display screen in size.
The names of the identifiable contributors who have made the
three largest cumulative contributions shall be immediately
below that text in a similar fashion except white in color.
The text "Funding Details At [insert Internet Web site address
of the disclosure Internet Web site]." This text must be
yellow in color in Arial Narrow equivalent font 2.5 percent of
the height of the television or video display screen in size
and left-aligned, as specified.
The text "Paid for by [name of the committee that paid for the
advertisement]." This text shall also be yellow in color in
Arial Narrow equivalent 2.5 percent of the height of the
television or video display screen in size but right-aligned,
as specified.
If there are fewer than three identifiable contributors, the
disclosure shall be adjusted accordingly. If the committee does
not have any identifiable contributors, the disclosure shall be
adjusted to include the name of the committee in place of the
names of identifiable contributors.
Mass Mailing and Print
Except for slate mailers, a political advertisement that is a
mass mailing or a print advertisement and that is 12 square
inches or more in size shall include a disclosure area on the
largest page of the advertisement that satisfies all of the
following:
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The disclosure area must have a solid white background so as
to be easily legible in a printed or drawn box on the bottom
of the page that is set apart from any other printed matter.
All text in the disclosure area must be black in color.
The text "Top Funders of This Ad" shall be centered
horizontally at the top of the disclosure area in an Arial
equivalent font at least 12-point in size for advertisements
smaller than 93 square inches and at least 14-point in size
for advertisements that are equal to, or larger than, 93
square inches.
Immediately below the text shall be the names of the
identifiable contributors who have made the three largest
cumulative contributions centered horizontally in an Arial
Narrow equivalent font at least 10-point in size for
advertisements smaller than 93 square inches and at least
12-point in size for advertisements that are equal to, or
larger than, 93 square inches. The text "Funding Details At
[insert Internet Web site address of the disclosure Internet
Web site]" shall be similarly displayed unless the
advertisement is 5 inches tall or less.
If the advertisement is 4 inches tall or less, it need only
show the names of the identifiable contributors who have made
the two largest cumulative contributions. If the
advertisement is 3 inches tall or less, it need only show the
name of the identifiable contributor who made the largest
cumulative contribution.
The text "Paid for by [name of the committee that paid for the
advertisement]" shall be located at the bottom of the
disclosure area in an Arial Narrow equivalent font at least
8-point in size for pages smaller than 8.5 inches and at least
10-point in size for pages that are equal to, or larger than,
8.5 inches by 11 inches.
If there are fewer than three identifiable contributors, the
disclosure shall be adjusted accordingly. If the committee does
not have any identifiable contributors, the disclosure shall be
adjusted to include the name of the committee in place of the
names of identifiable contributors.
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Identifiable Contributors Who are Individuals
For purposes of a disclosure required by this bill, the
following shall also apply in the event that an identifiable
contributor is a person who is an individual:
If the committee receiving the cumulative contributions is
supporting or opposing a candidate, the disclosure shall
include the occupation and employer of the identifiable
contributor in addition to the contributor's name. If the
identifiable contributor is not employed, no occupation or
employer shall be listed.
If the committee receiving the cumulative contributions is
supporting or opposing a ballot measure, and the passage or
defeat of the ballot measure directly benefits the employer of
the identifiable contributor, the disclosure shall include the
occupation and employer of the identifiable contributor in
addition to the contributor's name.
If the employer of an identifiable contributor is also an
identifiable contributor of that committee, the cumulative
contributions of its employees shall be deemed to be
cumulative contributions by the employer for purposes of
determining which identifiable contributors shall be disclosed
on an advertisement. This does not apply however to an
employee whose cumulative contributions amount to more than 75
percent of the cumulative contributions of the employer.
Miscellaneous
The disclosure of the name of an identifiable contributor
required by this bill need not include such legal terms as
"incorporated," "committee," "political action committee," or
"corporation," or their abbreviations, unless the term is part
of the contributor's name in common usage or parlance. If this
bill requires the disclosure of the name of an identifiable
contributor that is a sponsored committee, the name of the
committee's sponsoring organization shall be disclosed. The
committee name listed also need not include its economic or
other special interests, nor the names of any major donors, as
specified.
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Issue Advocacy Advertisements
Existing law does not require disclosure of major funders of
issue advocacy advertisements on the advertisements themselves
however, radio and television advertisements must include a
"paid for by" disclaimer under Federal Communications Commission
(FCC) law.
SB 52 defines "issue advocacy advertisement" as an advertisement
that clearly refers to and reflects a view on the subject
matter, description, or name of a pending legislative action,
administrative action, or one or more ballot measures and does
any of the following:
Can only be reasonably interpreted as an appeal for the
recipient of the advertisement to take action by contacting an
employee or elected official of the state government or any
local government or encouraging others to contact those
persons.
Refers to a pending legislative action and is disseminated,
broadcast, or otherwise communicated within 60 days of the end
of the legislative session.
Refers to one or more ballot measures and is disseminated,
broadcast, or otherwise communicated within 120 days of the
election concerning that measure or measures.
This bill would require issue advocacy advertisements to
disclose their top three funders in the same manner as other
political advertisements.
Non-Express Advocacy Communications Identifying State Candidates
Existing law provides that any person who makes a payment
totaling $50,000 or more for a communication that clearly
identifies a candidate for elective state office, but does not
expressly advocate the election or defeat of the candidate, and
that is disseminated, broadcast, or otherwise published within
45 days of an election, shall file online or electronically with
the Secretary of State a report disclosing their name, address,
occupation, employer, and amount of the payment. The report
must be filed within 48 hours of making the payment or the
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promise to make the payment.
Existing law does not require disclosure of major funders of
these non-express advocacy communications on the communications
themselves however, radio and television advertisements must
include a "paid for by" disclaimer under FCC law.
SB 52 defines these communications as "electioneering
communications" and would reduce the payment threshold to
$10,000 and change the communication dissemination period to the
period beginning 120 days before the primary or special election
and ending on the date of the general or runoff election.
This bill would require electioneering communications to
disclose their top three funders in the same manner as other
political advertisements.
Campaign Committee Websites
Existing law does not require committees to establish or
maintain their own Internet Web sites nor does it require them
to disclose their campaign finance information on them.
SB 52 would provide that a committee that has paid for political
advertisements and that has received cumulative contributions
that meet or exceed the disclosure threshold, as defined, must
establish and maintain a disclosure Internet Web site. The
homepage of the disclosure Internet Web site and any landing
pages that visitors are directed to on the disclosure Internet
Web site and any other Internet Web sites maintained by the
committee shall include a disclosure area that satisfies
specified criteria.
This bill requires that these Internet Web sites include a list
of the identifiable contributors who have made the 10 largest
cumulative contributions to the committee and a hyperlink to
another page on the disclosure Internet Web site that lists all
of the committee's identifiable contributors, as specified.
Additionally, SB 52 requires that every page of these Internet
Web sites include the statement "Paid for by [name of the
committee that paid for the advertisement]" and any other
identifying information specified by the FPPC.
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Related Legislation: This bill is similar to AB 1648 (Brownley)
of 2012 which passed the Assembly at the very end of session,
too late to be taken up by the Senate.
Staff Comments: In 1974, the voters passed Proposition 9,
commonly known as the Political Reform Act, and which created
the FPPC and codified significant restrictions and prohibitions
on candidates, officeholders and lobbyists. 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.