Vote Smart's Synopsis:

Vote to pass a bill that requires political advertisements to disclose the identities of their top donors.

Highlights:

• Requires all political advertisements that are authorized by a candidate to include a statement in which the candidate identifies himself or herself and states that he or she has approved the message (Secs. 9 & 10).

• Requires all political advertisements that are not authorized by a candidate to disclose the names of the top 3 identifiable contributors who made the largest cumulative donations to the committee that paid for the advertisement (Secs. 9 & 11).

• Defines “advertisement” as any public advertisement authorized and paid for by a person or committee for the purpose of supporting or opposing a candidate for elective office or a ballot measure (Sec. 3).

• Defines “identifiable contributors” as donors who contributed $10,000 or more (Sec. 3).

• Requires television and video advertisements to display the disclosure on a full screen without audio on a black background for a minimum of 3 seconds and to include the corporate logos of the contributors, if applicable (Sec. 11).

• Specifies that if the committee funding the advertisement does not have any identifiable contributors but has received cumulative contributions totaling at least $10,000, the disclosure shall be adjusted to include the name of the committee instead of the names of identifiable contributors (Secs. 9 & 10).

• Requires any committee funding a political advertisement to disclose its top 5 identifiable contributors on an Internet website (Sec. 12).

• Requires the name of any candidate or ballot measure appearing in a slate mailer to be marked with an asterisk if the slate mailer organization has received payment for its inclusion (Sec. 1).

Full Bill Text