Bill Text: CA AB201 | 2019-2020 | Regular Session | Amended

NOTE: There are more recent revisions of this legislation. Read Latest Draft

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Bill Title: Political Reform Act of 1974: campaign disclosure: text messages.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 4-0)

Status: (Passed) 2019-10-08 - Chaptered by Secretary of State - Chapter 555, Statutes of 2019. [AB201 Detail]

Download: California-2019-AB201-Amended.html

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Amended  IN  Assembly  May 06, 2019

Amended  IN  Assembly  April 22, 2019

Amended  IN  Assembly  March 14, 2019

CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE— 2019–2020 REGULAR SESSION

Assembly Bill

No. 201

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Introduced by Assembly Member Members Cervantes and Mullin

January 14, 2019

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An act to amend Section 84502 of, and to add Section 84504.7 to, the Government Code, relating to the Political Reform Act of 1974.

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST

AB 201, as amended, Cervantes. Political Reform Act of 1974: campaign disclosure: text messages.

The Political Reform Act of 1974 provides for the comprehensive regulation of campaign financing and activities. The act defines “mass mailing” to mean over two hundred substantially similar pieces of mail, and defines “mass electronic mailing” to mean sending more than 200 substantially similar pieces of electronic mail within a calendar month. The act prohibits a candidate or committee from sending a mass mailing or mass electronic mailing unless certain information regarding the source of the mailing is shown in or on the mailing, as specified. The act also regulates political advertisements. The act requires electronic media advertisements, other than email messages or internet websites, paid for by a committee, other than a political party committee or a candidate controlled committee established for an elective office of the controlling candidate, to comply with certain disclosure requirements.

This bill would require a candidate or committee to include in certain text message advertisements the text “Who funded this ad?” in the same font size as a majority of the text in the text message, and would require that this additional content be in the form of a hyperlink to “Paid for by” followed by or including a hyperlink or URL for an internet website containing certain disclosures in a contrasting color and in no less than 8-point font. disclosures. If including this text message disclosure would be impracticable or severely interfere with the candidate or committee’s ability to convey the intended message, the bill would instead permit the inclusion of a specified identification number in the text message. The bill would prescribe certain requirements for the color and size of the text in the text message and the disclosures on the internet website.

Because a violation of the requirements of the bill would be a crime under an existing provision of the act, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program by expanding the definition of a crime.

The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement.

This bill would provide that no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason.

The Political Reform Act of 1974, an initiative measure, provides that the Legislature may amend the act to further the act’s purposes upon a ²/₃ vote of each house of the Legislature and compliance with specified procedural requirements.

This bill would declare that it furthers the purposes of the act.

Digest Key

Vote: 2/3   Appropriation: NO   Fiscal Committee: YES   Local Program: YES  

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Bill Text

The people of the State of California do enact as follows:

SECTION 1.

 Section 84502 of the Government Code is amended to read:

84502.

 (a) (1) Any advertisement paid for by a committee pursuant to subdivision (a) of Section 82013, other than a political party committee or a candidate controlled committee established for an elective office of the controlling candidate, shall include the words “Ad paid for by” followed by the name of the committee as it appears on the most recent Statement of Organization filed pursuant to Section 84101.

(2) Any advertisement paid for by a committee pursuant to subdivision (a) of Section 82013 that is a political party committee or a candidate controlled committee established for an elective office of the controlling candidate shall include the words “Ad paid for by” followed by the name of the committee as it appears on the most recent Statement of Organization filed pursuant to Section 84101 if the advertisement is any of the following:

(A) Paid for by an independent expenditure.

(B) An advertisement supporting or opposing a ballot measure.

(C) A radio or television advertisement.

(D) A text message advertisement that is required to include a disclosure pursuant to Section 84504.7.

(b) Any advertisement paid for by a committee pursuant to subdivision (b) or (c) of Section 82013 shall include the words “Ad paid for by” followed by the name that the filer is required to use on campaign statements pursuant to subdivision (o) of Section 84211.

(c) Notwithstanding subdivisions (a) and (b), if an advertisement is a printed letter, internet website, or email message, the text described in subdivisions (a) and (b) may include the words “Paid for by” instead of “Ad paid for by.”

SEC. 2.

 Section 84504.7 is added to the Government Crasts with the background on which it appears and in no less than eight-point font.

(2) If, because of the nature of the technology used to send the text message, including the text message disclosure required by paragraph (1) would be impracticable or would severely interfere with the candidate or committee’s ability to convey the intended message, the candidate or committee shall instead include the text “Paid for by” followed by the committee identification number of the candidate or committee paying for the advertisement.

(3) The text “Paid for by” and the hyperlink or URL required by paragraph (1), or the text “Paid for by” and the committee identification number required by paragraph (2), shall be in a color that reasonably contrasts with the background on which it appears and in a size that is readable by the average viewer.

(c)A candidate or committee subject to subdivision (a) shall not contract with any vendor that does not disclose the information required to be disclosed by this section.

(d)

(c) This section does not apply to a text message that is individually sent without the assistance of mass distribution technology if either of the following conditions is met:

(1) The text message is sent by the candidate, the campaign manager, or individuals who are volunteers.

(2) The text message is sent in response to a voter who replies to a text message from a candidate or committee.

(e)

(d) An internet website that is hyperlinked as provided for in this section shall remain online and available to the public until 30 days after the date of the election in which the candidate or ballot measure supported or opposed by the advertisement was voted on.

(e) A candidate or committee shall be deemed in compliance with subdivision (b) if the required disclosure is included in the first text message in a sequence of text messages sent on the same day.

SEC. 3.

 No reimbursement is required by this act pursuant to Section 6 of Article XIII B of the California Constitution because the only costs that may be incurred by a local agency or school district will be incurred because this act creates a new crime or infraction, eliminates a crime or infraction, or changes the penalty for a crime or infraction, within the meaning of Section 17556 of the Government Code, or changes the definition of a crime within the meaning of Section 6 of Article XIII B of the California Constitution.

SEC. 4.

 The Legislature finds and declares that this bill furthers the purposes of the Political Reform Act of 1974 within the meaning of subdivision (a) of Section 81012 of the Government Code.