Bill Text: MS SB2702 | 2016 | Regular Session | Introduced

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Bill Title: Campaign literature; must have certain disclaimers and identifying source.

Spectrum: Bipartisan Bill

Status: (Failed) 2016-02-23 - Died In Committee [SB2702 Detail]

Download: Mississippi-2016-SB2702-Introduced.html

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MISSISSIPPI LEGISLATURE

2016 Regular Session

To: Elections; Accountability, Efficiency, Transparency

By: Senator(s) Doty, Blount

Senate Bill 2702

AN ACT TO AMEND SECTION 23-15-897, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, TO PROVIDE THAT CERTAIN CAMPAIGN PUBLICATIONS MUST BEAR A DISCLAIMER AND AN IDENTIFYING SOURCE; TO REPEAL SECTION 23-15-899, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, WHICH REQUIRED CERTAIN CAMPAIGN LITERATURE TO BEAR AN IDENTIFYING SOURCE; TO BRING FORWARD SECTION 23-15-879, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, FOR PURPOSES OF POSSIBLE AMENDMENT; AND FOR RELATED PURPOSES.

     BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MISSISSIPPI:

     SECTION 1.  Section 23-15-897, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:

     23-15-897. * * *No person shall write, print, post or distribute or cause to be distributed, a notice, placard, bill, poster, dodger, pamphlet, advertisement or any other form of publication (except notices, posters, and the like, which simply announce speaking date and invite attendance thereon) which is designed to influence voters for or against any candidate at any election, unless and until the same shall have been submitted to, and approved and subscribed by the candidate or by his campaign manager or assistant manager, which subscription shall in all cases be printed as so subscribed, and not otherwise.  As, for instance, it shall be unlawful to write, print, post, distribute or cause to be written, printed, posted or distributed any such matter when the authority therefor is designated simply as "paid political advertisement," or "contributed by a friend," or "contributed by the friends and supporters," and the like.  Nor shall any radio or television station allow any time or place on any of its programs for any address for or against any candidate at any election, except in accordance with the provisions of the federal statutes and the rules and regulations of the Federal Communications Commission as applied to the use of radio and television facilities by a candidate or candidates for office. But the aforesaid written or printed matter and the time for radio and television addresses shall be paid for at the usual and ordinary rates, and only by a person authorized to make expenditures in behalf of the candidate, as is provided in this chapter in regard to other expenditures.

For a violation or violations of this section, the offender may be proceeded against as provided in Section 23‑15‑875.  (1)  Any electioneering communication or any public communication which expressly advocates the election or defeat of a clearly defined candidate or the approval or rejection of a ballot measure shall contain one (1) of the following disclaimers:

          (a)  If paid for by a candidate or a candidate's political committee, or agents thereof, it shall clearly state that the communication has been paid for by the candidate or the candidate's political committee; or in the case of a ballot measure, if paid for by a ballot measure's sponsor or sponsor's political committee, or agents thereof, it shall clearly state it has been paid for by the ballot measure's sponsor or sponsor's political committee; or

          (b)  If paid for by other persons but authorized by a candidate, the candidate's political committee, or agents thereof, it shall clearly state that the communication is paid for by such other persons and authorized by such candidate or candidate's political committee; or, in the case of a ballot measure, if paid for but not authorized by the sponsor, sponsor's political committee, or agent's thereof, it shall clearly state that it has been paid for by such other person or entity and authorized by the sponsor or the sponsor's political committee; or

          (c)  If not authorized by a candidate, the candidate's political committee, or its agents, it shall clearly state the name and permanent street address, telephone number or World Wide Web (www.) address of the person or entity who paid for the communication and state the communication is not authorized by any candidate or candidate's political committee; or, in the case of a ballot measure, if not authorized by the sponsor, the sponsor's political committee, or its agents, it shall clearly state the name and permanent street address, telephone number or World Wide Web (www.) address of the person or entity who paid for the communication and state the communication is not authorized by the ballot measure's sponsor or sponsor's political committee.

     (2)  For the purposes of this section:

          (a)  "Electioneering communication" is a communication that refers to a clearly identified candidate without expressly advocating the election or defeat of a candidate but that is susceptible of no reasonable interpretation other than an appeal to vote for or against a specific candidate, is publically distributed within thirty (30) days before a primary election or within sixty (60) days before a general election, and is targeted to the relevant electorate.

          (b)  "Public communication" shall include content which expressly advocates the election or defeat of a clearly defined candidate or the approval or rejection of a ballot measure.

          (c)  "Electioneering communication" and "public communication" do not include:

              (i)  A communication disseminated through a means of communication other than a television station, radio station, cable television system, satellite television system, newspaper, magazine, mass mailings of five hundred (500) or more pieces of mail of an identical or substantially similar nature within any thirty-day period, or telephone banks placing more than five hundred (500) telephone calls of an identical or substantially similar nature within any thirty-day period.

              (ii)  A communication by an organization, in existence before the time during which a candidate named or depicted qualifies for that election, made in that organization's newsletter, which newsletter is distributed only to members of that organization.

              (iii)  A communication in a news story, commentary, or editorial by a newspaper, a radio or television station, or any other recognized news medium, unless the facility is owned or controlled by a political party, political committee, or candidate.  A news story, commentary or editorial distributed through the facilities owned or controlled by a political party, political committee or candidate may nevertheless be exempt if it represents a bona fide news account communicated through a licensed broadcasting facility and the communication is part of a general pattern of campaign-related news accounts that gives reasonably equal coverage to all opposing candidates in the area.

          (d)  "Ballot measure" and "measure" shall refer to any state initiative, referendum, resolution or other ballot question, including, but not limited, to concurrent resolutions to amend the Constitution which have been placed on the ballot, and any county, district, municipal or other political subdivision initiative, referendum, resolution or other ballot question, including, but not limited to, bond elections and alcohol referenda.

     (3)  Any person, candidate, candidate's political committee, ballot measure's sponsor or sponsor's political committee who violates this section shall be subject to a civil fine by the Secretary of State of Five Hundred Dollars ($500.00) per occurrence.  The Secretary of State shall have the authority to appoint a hearing officer to conduct hearings, and issue subpoenas for testimony and the production of books and records, and to produce a recommendation to the Secretary of State.  Any appeal from a final order issued by the Secretary of State may be filed in the Circuit Court of Hinds County within thirty (30) days of the final order.  Any person, candidate, candidate's political committee, ballot measure's sponsor or sponsor's political committee who shall willfully and deliberately and substantially violate this section shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and upon conviction thereof shall be punished by a fine not to exceed Three Thousand Dollars ($3,000.00) or imprisoned for not longer than six (6) months, or both.

     SECTION 2.  Section 23-15-899, which required certain campaign literature to bear an identifying source, is hereby repealed.

     SECTION 3.  Section 23-15-879, Mississippi Code of 1972, is brought forward as follows:

     23-15-879.  Section 23-15-897 shall not apply to editorials, original or copies, in any newspaper or other publication regularly published and issued to bona fide paid subscribers, and not published and issued solely or principally for political purposes, or to news matter prepared and written by the regularly employed staff of the paper, or to the printing in said paper of any letter together with the signature thereto, provided that any of the matter so printed and published is not prohibited by the provisions of Section 23-15-875 or 23-15-877, or by some other prohibition of law.

     SECTION 4.  This act shall take effect and be in force from and after July 1, 2016.

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