Political Reform Act of 1974: digital political advertisements.

The Political Reform Act of 1974 provides for the comprehensive regulation of campaign financing and activities. Among other things, the act requires specified disclosures in advertisements regarding the source of the advertisement. Existing law requires an online platform that disseminates committees' online platform disclosed advertisements to maintain, and make available for online public inspection, a record of any advertisement disseminated on the online platform by a committee that purchased $500 or more in advertisements during the preceding 12 months, as specified. Existing law establishes the Fair Political Practices Commission that enforces the Political Reform Act of 1974. This bill would enact the Digital Advertisement Transparency and Accountability Act, or DATA Act. The bill would, beginning on the first January 1 that is at least 60 days after the Fair Political Practices Commission certifies a system for accepting and maintaining such reports, require a committee that pays for a digital advertisement, as defined, to appear on an online platform to submit to the commission a copy of the digital advertisement and specified information, including, among other things, the name and identification number of the committee that paid for the advertisement, information relating to the subject of the advertisement, the name of the online platform or platforms on which the digital advertisement was displayed, and the amount paid or agreed to be paid to the online platform for the advertisement. The bill would require the information to be submitted to the commission in accordance with existing deadline for the submission of semiannual statements and preelection statements, if the committee spends $1,000 or more during the period covered by the statement. The bill would require the commission to make information submitted pursuant to this act available in a centralized and publicly accessible online format, as specified. The bill would, upon certification of the above system, eliminate the existing requirement for an online platform that disseminates committees' online platform disclosed advertisements and that receives $50,000 or more from digital advertisement sales during a calendar month to maintain and make accessible for public inspection specified records of advertisements. Instead, the bill would require an online platform to transmit to the commission specified information regarding digital advertisements, and to retain the information for no less than four years for specified purposes. Existing law makes a knowing or willful violation of the Political Reform Act of 1974 a misdemeanor. By creating new requirements in that act, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. 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.