Sec 16-912. Candidates and independent expenditures; campaign literature and advertisement sponsors; identification; civil penalty

A. A political committee that makes an expenditure for campaign literature or advertisements that expressly advocate the election or defeat of any candidate or that make any solicitation of contributions to any political committee 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 exemption statement.

B. If the expenditure for the campaign literature or advertisements by a political committee is an independent expenditure, the political committee, in addition to the disclosures required by subsection A of this section, shall include on the literature or advertisement the names and telephone numbers of the three political committees making the largest contributions to the political committee making the independent expenditure. If an acronym is used to name any political committee outlined in this section, the name of any sponsoring organization of the political committee shall also be printed or spoken. For the purposes of determining the three contributors to be disclosed, only the contributions made during the calendar year in which the independent expenditure is made shall be considered.

C. Subsection A of this section does not apply to bumper stickers, pins, buttons, pens and similar small items on which the statements required in subsection A of this section cannot be conveniently printed or to signs paid for by a candidate with campaign monies or by a candidate's campaign committee or to a solicitation of contributions by a separate segregated fund from those persons it may solicit pursuant to sections 16-920 and 16-921.

D. The disclosures required pursuant to this section shall be printed clearly and legibly in a conspicuous manner. The disclosure statement shall include the words "paid for by" followed by the name of the entity making the expenditure and shall state that it is not authorized by any candidate or candidate's campaign committee. 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. For printed material that is delivered or provided by hand or by mail, the disclosure shall be printed clearly and legibly in a conspicuous manner.

3. 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 that is equal to or greater than four percent of the vertical picture height.

E. A person who violates this section is subject to a civil penalty of up to three times the cost of producing and distributing the literature or advertisement. This civil penalty shall be imposed as prescribed in section 16-924.