An Act To Eliminate the Requirement That an Address Be Provided in Disclaimers on Political Radio Advertisements
Be it enacted by the People of the State of Maine as follows:
Sec. 1. 21-A MRSA §1014, sub-§1, as amended by PL 2011, c. 389, §10, is further amended to read:
1. Authorized by candidate. Whenever a person makes an expenditure to finance a communication expressly advocating the election or defeat of a clearly identified candidate through broadcasting stations, cable television systems, newspapers, magazines, campaign signs or other outdoor advertising facilities, publicly accessible sites on the Internet, direct mails or other similar types of general public political advertising or through flyers, handbills, bumper stickers and other nonperiodical publications, the communication, if authorized by a candidate, a candidate's authorized political committee or their agents, must clearly and conspicuously state that the communication has been so authorized and must clearly state the name and address of the person who made or financed the expenditure for the communication. The following forms of political communication do not require the name and address of the person who made or authorized the expenditure for the communication because the name or address would be so small as to be illegible or infeasible: ashtrays, badges and badge holders, balloons, campaign buttons, clothing, coasters, combs, emery boards, envelopes, erasers, glasses, key rings, letter openers, matchbooks, nail files, noisemakers, paper and plastic cups, pencils, pens, plastic tableware, 12-inch or shorter rulers, swizzle sticks, tickets to fund-raisers, electronic media advertisements where compliance with this section would be impracticable due to size or character limitations and similar items determined by the commission to be too small and unnecessary for the disclosures required by this section. A communication broadcast by radio or a communication financed by a candidate or the candidate's committee is not required to state the address of the candidate or committee that financed the communication. A communication in the form of a sign that is financed by a candidate or the candidate's committee and that clearly identifies the name of the candidate and is lettered or printed individually by hand is not required to include the name and address of the person who made or financed the communication or to include a statement that the communication has been authorized by the candidate, the candidate's authorized committee or their agents.
Sec. 2. 21-A MRSA §1014, sub-§2, as amended by PL 2011, c. 360, §1, is further amended to read:
2. Not authorized by candidate. If the communication described in subsection 1 is not authorized by a candidate, a candidate's authorized political committee or their agents, the communication must clearly and conspicuously state that the communication is not authorized by any candidate and state the name and address of the person who made or financed the expenditure for the communication , except that a communication broadcast by radio is not required to state the address of the person that financed the communication. If the communication is in written form, the communication must contain at the bottom of the communication in print that is no smaller in size than 12-point bold print, Times New Roman font, the words "NOT PAID FOR OR AUTHORIZED BY ANY CANDIDATE."
Sec. 3. 21-A MRSA §1014, sub-§2-A, as amended by PL 2007, c. 443, Pt. A, §9, is further amended to read:
2-A. Other communications. Whenever a person makes an expenditure to finance a communication that names or depicts a clearly identified candidate and that is disseminated during the 21 days before a primary election or 35 days before a general election through the media described in subsection 1, the communication must state the name and address of the person who made or financed the communication and a statement that the communication was or was not authorized by the candidate , except that a communication broadcast by radio is not required to state the address of the person that financed the communication. The disclosure is not required if the communication was not made for the purpose of influencing the candidate's nomination for election or election.
summary
This bill removes the requirement that a disclaimer on a political communication provide the address of the candidate, political committee or person who financed the communication if the communication is broadcast by radio.