Arizona Revised Statutes § 16-912.01 Ballot Measure Committees; Campaign Literature And Advertising Funding; Identification; Disclosure; Civil Penalty; Definition

16-912.01. Ballot measure committees; campaign literature and advertising funding; identification; disclosure; civil penalty; definition

A. A political committee that makes an expenditure in connection with any literature or advertisement to support or oppose a ballot proposition shall disclose and, after November 2, 2010, shall include on the literature or advertisement the words " paid for by" , followed by the name of the committee that appears on its statement of organization or five hundred dollar threshold exemption statement, and shall also include in such literature or advertisement the four largest of its major funding sources as of the time the literature or advertisement is printed, recorded or otherwise produced for dissemination. If a political committee has fewer than four major funding sources, the committee shall disclose all major funding sources.

B. For the purposes of this section, a major funding source of a political committee is any contributor that is not an individual person and that has made cumulative contributions of either:

1. Ten thousand dollars or more for an expenditure in support of or opposition to a statewide ballot proposition or a ballot proposition of a political subdivision with a population of one hundred thousand persons or more.

2. Five thousand dollars or more for an expenditure in support of or opposition to a ballot proposition of a political subdivision with a population of less than one hundred thousand persons.

C. If an out-of-state contributor or group of out-of-state contributors is a major funding source to a political committee disclosed pursuant to subsection A of this section, the political committee shall state the contributor is an out-of-state contributor on its literature or advertisement in support of or in opposition to a ballot proposition.

D. Contributors that make contributions to more than one political committee that supports or opposes the same ballot proposition shall notify each political committee of the cumulative total of these contributions. Cumulative totals must be disclosed by each political committee that received contributions from the same contributor if the cumulative totals qualify as a major funding source to be disclosed pursuant to subsection A of this section.

E. Any disclosure statement required by this section shall be printed clearly and legibly in a conspicuous manner. For printed material that is delivered or provided by hand or by mail, the disclosure shall be printed in a clearly legible manner. The disclosure statement shall include the words " paid for by" followed by the name of the entity making the expenditure. Disclosure statements shall also comply with the following:

1. If the communication is broadcast on radio, the disclosure shall be spoken at the end of the communication.

2. If the communication is broadcast on a telecommunications system, the following apply:

(a) The disclosure shall be both written and spoken at the end of the communication, except that if the written disclosure statement is displayed for at least five seconds of a thirty second communications broadcast or ten seconds of a sixty second communications broadcast, a spoken disclosure statement is not required.

(b) The written disclosure statement shall be printed in letters that are displayed in a height equal to or greater than four per cent of the vertical picture height.

F. Subsections A and E of this section do not apply to bumper stickers, pins, buttons, pens and similar small items on which the statements required in subsections A and E of this section cannot be conveniently printed or to a communication by an organization solely to its members.

G. A committee shall change future literature and advertisements to reflect any change in funding sources that must be disclosed pursuant to subsection A of this section.

H. This section only applies to advertisements the contents of which are more than fifty per cent devoted to one or more ballot propositions or proposed measures on the same subject.

I. Any committee that violates this section is liable in a civil action brought by the attorney general, county attorney or city or town attorney, as appropriate, or by any other person for a civil penalty of three times the total cost of the advertisement. A donor who does not accurately disclose its contributions is liable for a civil penalty of three times the amount donated.

J. For the purposes of this section, " advertisement" means general public advertising through the print and electronic media, signs, billboards and direct mail.

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Last modified: October 13, 2016