Sec. 54-104.5. Disclaimers for political advertisements.
(a) A political advertisement must include a disclaimer, as specified in this section. The disclaimer required for a political advertisement must include:
(1) The full legal name of the person or committee who paid for the advertisement.
(2) The name of the committee's treasurer and the word "treasurer."
(3) For independent spenders other than indendepent expenditure committees, the name of the person filing campaign finance reports for that entity and the words "filing agent."
(b) In addition to complying with subsection (a) of this section regarding disclaimers, a political advertisement, not addressed by subsection (c) of this section, that supports or opposes the election of a candidate or supports or opposes a municipal ballot issue or ballot question, referred measure, or measure for recall of any elected officer, must clearly and conspicuously state it is authorized by the committee that paid for the advertisement.
(1) If the political advertisement is a television, cable, radio, online or digital audio, telephone, or other audio communication, a person must verbalize at the beginning of such advertisement in a clearly audible and intelligible manner the following statement: "This political advertisement is authorized by (name of committee)."
(2) If the political advertisement is a text or graphic communication, including an online or digital text or graphic communication, the beginning of such advertisement must state in a manner that is clearly readable: "This political advertisement is authorized by (name of committee)."
(c) In addition to complying with subsection (a) of this section regarding disclaimers, a political advertisement that is an independent expenditure or electioneering communication must clearly and conspicuously state that it is not authorized by any candidate or candidate committee.
(1) If the political advertisement is a television, cable, radio, online or digital audio, telephone, or other audio communication, a person must verbalize at the beginning of such advertisement in a clearly audible and intelligible manner the following statement: "This political advertisement is not authorized by any candidate or candidate committee."
(2) If the political advertisement is a text or graphic communication, including an online or digital text or graphic communication, the beginning of such advertisement must state in a manner that is clearly readable by the recipient of the communication: "This political advertisement is not authorized by any candidate or candidate committee."
(d) A political advertisement disclaimer required by this section must be presented clearly and conspicuously.
(1) If the political advertisement is a radio, online or digital audio, telephone, or other audio communication, the disclaimer must be spoken in a clearly audible and intelligible manner at the beginning or end of the communication.
(2) If the political advertisement is a television, cable television, online or digital video, or other video communication:
a. The disclaimer must be written and spoken at the beginning or end of the communication.
b. The written disclaimer must appear in the communication in a conspicuous size and style.
c. The spoken disclaimer must be spoken in a clearly audible and intelligible manner.
(3) If the political advertisement is a text or graphic communication, including an online or digital text or graphic communication, the disclaimer must be:
a. Of sufficient size to be clearly readable by the recipient of the communication.
b. Contained in a text box set apart from the other contents of the communication.
c. Displayed with a reasonable degree of color contrast between the background and the disclaimer statement.
(e) If the size, format, or display requirements of an online or digital political advertisement make it technologically impossible to include a disclaimer required by this section on the advertisement, the advertisement must clearly and conspicuously provide to the recipients a direct link to immediately obtain the complete disclaimer with minimal effort and without viewing any additional information other than the required disclaimer. (Ord. No. 2021-35, § 5, 9-27-2021)