Sec. 1. 21-A MRSA §1014, sub-§1, as amended by PL 1991, c. 839, §8, 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, newspapers, magazines, outdoor advertising facilities, 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 communication must indicate that it is paid for by funds raised by the candidate. 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 and similar items determined by the commission to be too small and unnecessary for the disclosures required by this section.

Sec. 2. 21-A MRSA §1125, sub-§11-A is enacted to read:

11-A.__Disclosure.__If a participating candidate finances a communication expressly advocating the election or defeat of a clearly identified candidate through broadcasting stations, newspapers, magazines, outdoor advertising facilities, direct mails or other similar types of general public political advertising or through flyers, handbills, bumper stickers and other nonperiodical publications, the communication must clearly and conspicuously state that the communication has been authorized by the candidate, the candidate's authorized political committee or their agents and must clearly state that the communication is paid for by taxpayer funds.

SUMMARY

This bill clarifies the information to be disclosed on candidates' advertisements. For a candidate participating in the Maine Clean Election Act, an advertisement must indicate that it