‘An Act To Clarify Disclosure Requirements for Political Statements Broadcast by Radio’
Amend the bill by striking out everything after the enacting clause and before the summary and inserting the following:
‘Sec. 1. 21-A MRSA §1014, sub-§1, as amended by PL 2013, c. 362, §1, is further amended to read:
Sec. 2. 21-A MRSA §1014, sub-§6, ¶¶B and C, as enacted by PL 2011, c. 389, §13, are amended to read:
B. Campaign signs produced and distributed at a cost not exceeding $100, paid for by one or more individuals who are not required to register or file campaign finance reports with the commission and who are acting independently of and without authorization by a candidate, candidate's authorized campaign committee, party committee, political action committee or ballot question committee or an agent of a candidate, candidate's authorized campaign committee, party committee, political action committee or ballot question committee; and
C. Internet and e-mail activities costing less than $100, as excluded by rule of the commission, paid for by one or more individuals who are not required to register or file campaign finance reports with the commission and who are acting independently of and without authorization by a candidate, candidate's authorized campaign committee, party committee, political action committee or ballot question committee or an agent of a candidate, candidate's authorized campaign committee, party committee, political action committee or ballot question committee . ;
Sec. 3. 21-A MRSA §1014, sub-§6, ¶¶D and E are enacted to read:
D. Communications in which the name or address of the person who made or authorized the expenditure for the communication would be so small as to be illegible or infeasible, including communications on items such as 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 and similar items determined by the commission to be too small and unnecessary for the disclosures required by this section and in electronic media advertisements where compliance with this section would be impractical due to size or character limitations; and
E. Campaign signs that are financed by the candidate or candidate's authorized committee and that clearly identify the name of the candidate and are lettered or printed individually by hand.’
This amendment replaces the bill. The amendment clarifies existing law with regard to disclosures required to be included in political statements made by radio when the communication is financed by someone other than the candidate or the candidate's political committee. The disclosure requirement states that only the city and state of the person who financed the communication must be disclosed. This is the same requirement as in current law, but the amendment states the requirement in a separate sentence. The amendment also reorganizes the relevant section of statute so that all communications that under current law are exempt from the name and address disclosure requirements are listed under the same subsection, including those communications that are on items so small that the disclosure would be illegible, such as pens, swizzle sticks or matchbooks.