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 certain advertisements paid for by a committee to include the words "Ad paid for by" in the advertisement. 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. The act requires certain committees to include a hyperlink to an internet website disclosing, among other things, the committee's "top contributors," as defined, in an electronic media advertisement. This bill would authorize a committee to instead include the words "Paid for by" or "With" in an advertisement that is a text message. The bill would require a committee other than a candidate controlled committee established for an elective office of the controlling candidate to include in certain text message advertisements that are not individually sent without the assistance of mass distribution technology the text "Paid for by" or "With" followed by either the name of the committee or a hyperlink or URL for an internet website containing certain disclosures, as specified. The bill would require a candidate controlled committee established for an elective office of the controlling candidate to disclose the name of the candidate and the office sought in those same types of text messages. The bill would require a committee with top contributors, other than a political party committee or a candidate controlled committee established for an elective office of the controlling candidate, to include the text "Top funders:" followed by the name of the single top contributor of $50,000 or more, or the names of the top two contributors of $50,000 or more, to the committee paying for the advertisement, as specified. 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. This bill would incorporate additional changes to Section 84502 of the Government Code proposed by AB 864 to be operative only if this bill and AB 864 are enacted and this bill is enacted last. 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 23 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.