BILL REQ. #:  Z-0879.1 

Read first time 01/11/12.   Referred to Committee on Government Operations, Tribal Relations & Elections.

     AN ACT Relating to the disclosure of telephone campaign advertising in state and local election campaigns; amending RCW 42.17A.320; and creating a new section.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 1   The legislature finds an important and even compelling public interest in the increased transparency and public disclosure of who is conducting telephone campaign advertising. Therefore, the legislature intends to require accurate and timely sponsor identification of telephone advertising.

Sec. 2   RCW 42.17A.320 and 2010 c 204 s 505 are each amended to read as follows:
     (1) All written political advertising, whether relating to candidates or ballot propositions, shall include the sponsor's name and address. All telephone political advertising of five hundred or more identical or substantially similar calls in the twelve-month period prior to the election, whether relating to candidates or ballot propositions, shall include the sponsor's name, city, and state clearly spoken or recorded. All radio and television political advertising, whether relating to candidates or ballot propositions, shall include the sponsor's name. The use of an assumed name for the sponsor of electioneering communications, independent expenditures, or political advertising shall be unlawful. For partisan office, if a candidate has expressed a party or independent preference on the declaration of candidacy, that party or independent designation shall be clearly identified in electioneering communications, independent expenditures, or political advertising.
     (2) In addition to the information required by subsection (1) of this section, except as specifically addressed in subsections (4) and (5) of this section, all political advertising undertaken as an independent expenditure or an electioneering communication by a person or entity other than a bona fide political party must include as part of the communication:
     (a) The statement: "No candidate authorized this ad. It is paid for by (name, address, city, state)";
     (b) If the sponsor is a political committee, the statement: "Top Five Contributors," followed by a listing of the names of the five persons or entities making the largest contributions in excess of seven hundred dollars reportable under this chapter during the twelve-month period before the date of the advertisement or communication; and
     (c) If the sponsor is a political committee established, maintained, or controlled directly, or indirectly through the formation of one or more political committees, by an individual, corporation, union, association, or other entity, the full name of that individual or entity.
     (3) The information required by subsections (1) and (2) of this section shall:
     (a) Appear on the first page or fold of the written advertisement or communication in at least ten-point type, or in type at least ten percent of the largest size type used in a written advertisement or communication directed at more than one voter, such as a billboard or poster, whichever is larger;
     (b) Not be subject to the half-tone or screening process; and
     (c) Be set apart from any other printed matter.
     (4) In an independent expenditure or electioneering communication transmitted via television or other medium that includes a visual image, the following statement must either be clearly spoken, or appear in print and be visible for at least four seconds, appear in letters greater than four percent of the visual screen height, and have a reasonable color contrast with the background: "No candidate authorized this ad. Paid for by (name, city, state)." If the advertisement or communication is undertaken by a nonindividual other than a party organization, then the following notation must also be included: "Top Five Contributors" followed by a listing of the names of the five persons or entities making the largest contributions in excess of seven hundred dollars reportable under this chapter during the twelve-month period before the date of the advertisement. Abbreviations may be used to describe contributing entities if the full name of the entity has been clearly spoken previously during the broadcast advertisement.
     (5) The following statement shall be clearly spoken in an independent expenditure or electioneering communication transmitted by a method that does not include a visual image: "No candidate authorized this ad. Paid for by (name, city, state)." If the independent expenditure or electioneering communication is undertaken by a nonindividual other than a party organization, then the following statement must also be included: "Top Five Contributors" followed by a listing of the names of the five persons or entities making the largest contributions in excess of seven hundred dollars reportable under this chapter during the twelve-month period before the date of the advertisement. Abbreviations may be used to describe contributing entities if the full name of the entity has been clearly spoken previously during the broadcast advertisement.
     (6) Political yard signs are exempt from the requirement of subsections (1) and (2) of this section that the name and address of the sponsor of political advertising be listed on the advertising. In addition, the public disclosure commission shall, by rule, exempt from the identification requirements of subsections (1) and (2) of this section forms of political advertising such as campaign buttons, balloons, pens, pencils, sky-writing, inscriptions, and other forms of advertising where identification is impractical.
     (7) For the purposes of this section, "yard sign" means any outdoor sign with dimensions no greater than eight feet by four feet.