16-925. Advertising and fund-raising disclosure statements

A. A person that makes an expenditure for an advertisement or fund-raising solicitation, other than an individual, shall include the following disclosures in the advertisement or solicitation:

1. The words " paid for by" , followed by the name of the person making the expenditure for the advertisement or fund-raising solicitation.

2. Whether the expenditure was authorized by any candidate, followed by the identity of the authorizing candidate, if any.

B. In addition to the disclosure required by subsection A of this section, a political action committee that makes an expenditure for an advertisement shall include a disclosure stating the names of the three political action committees making the largest aggregate contributions to the political action committee making the expenditure and that exceed twenty thousand dollars during the election cycle, as calculated at the time the advertisement was distributed for publication, display, delivery or broadcast.

C. If a disclosure contains any acronym or nickname that is not commonly known, the disclosure shall also spell out the acronym or provide the full name.

D. If the advertisement is:

1. Broadcast on radio, the disclosure shall be clearly spoken at the beginning or end of the advertisement.

2. Delivered by hand or mail or electronically, the disclosure shall be clearly readable.

3. Displayed on a sign or billboard, the disclosure shall be displayed in a height that is at least four percent of the vertical height of the sign or billboard.

4. Broadcast on television or in a video or film, both of the following requirements apply:

(a) The disclosure shall be both written and spoken at the beginning or end of the advertisement, except that if the written disclosure statement is displayed for the greater of at least one-sixth of the broadcast duration or four seconds, a spoken disclosure statement is not required.

(b) The written disclosure statement shall be printed in letters that are displayed in a height that is at least four percent of the vertical picture height.

E. This section does not apply to:

1. Social media messages, text messages or messages sent by a short message service.

2. Advertisements that are placed as a paid link on a website, if the message is not more than two hundred characters in length and the link directs the user to another website that complies with this section.

3. Advertisements that are placed as a graphic or picture link, if the statements required in this section cannot be conveniently printed due to the size of the graphic or picture and the link directs the user to another website that complies with this section.

4. Bumper stickers, pins, buttons, pens and similar small items on which the statements required in this section cannot be conveniently printed.

5. A solicitation of contributions by a separate segregated fund.

6. A communication by a tax-exempt organization solely to its members.

7. A published book or a documentary film or video.