An Act To Eliminate the Requirement That an Address Be Provided in Disclaimers on Political Radio Advertisements
Maine Legislature, Session 126, LD 0922
Committee: Veterans and Legal Affairs
Sponsors: MOONEN, RUSSELL
Amends: 21-A MRSA §1014

Legislative Document 
No. 922 
H.P. 646 
House of Representatives, March 7, 2013 
An Act To Eliminate the Requirement That an Address Be Provided 
in Disclaimers on Political Radio Advertisements 
Reference to the Committee on Veterans and Legal Affairs suggested and ordered printed. 
MILLICENT M. MacFARLAND 
Clerk 
Presented by Representative MOONEN of Portland. 
Cosponsored by Representative: RUSSELL of Portland. 
Be it enacted by the People of the State of Maine as follows: 
Sec. 1.  21-A MRSA §1014, sub-§1, as amended by PL 2011, c. 389, §10, is 
further amended to read: 
1.  Authorized by candidate.  Whenever a person makes an expenditure to finance a 
communication expressly advocating the election or defeat of a clearly identified 
candidate through broadcasting stations, cable television systems, newspapers, 
magazines, campaign signs or other outdoor advertising facilities, publicly accessible 
sites on the Internet, direct mails or other similar types of general public political 
advertising or through flyers, handbills, bumper stickers and other nonperiodical 
publications, the communication, if authorized by a candidate, a candidate's authorized 
political committee or their agents, must clearly and conspicuously state that the 
communication has been so authorized and must clearly state the name and address of the 
person who made or financed the expenditure for the communication.  The following 
forms of political communication do not require the name and address of the person who 
made or authorized the expenditure for the communication because the name or address 
would be so small as to be illegible or infeasible: ashtrays, badges and badge holders, 
balloons, campaign buttons, clothing, coasters, combs, emery boards, envelopes, erasers, 
glasses, key rings, letter openers, matchbooks, nail files, noisemakers, paper and plastic 
cups, pencils, pens, plastic tableware, 12-inch or shorter rulers, swizzle sticks, tickets to 
fund-raisers, electronic media advertisements where compliance with this section would 
be impracticable due to size or character limitations and similar items determined by the 
commission to be too small and unnecessary for the disclosures required by this section.  
A communication broadcast by radio or a communication financed by a candidate or the 
candidate's committee is not required to state the address of the candidate or committee 
that financed the communication.  A communication in the form of a sign that is financed 
by a candidate or the candidate's committee and that clearly identifies the name of the 
candidate and is lettered or printed individually by hand is not required to include the 
name and address of the person who made or financed the communication or to include a 
statement that the communication has been authorized by the candidate, the candidate's 
authorized committee or their agents. 
Sec. 2.  21-A MRSA §1014, sub-§2, as amended by PL 2011, c. 360, §1, is 
further amended to read: 
2.  Not authorized by candidate.  If the communication described in subsection 1 is 
not authorized by a candidate, a candidate's authorized political committee or their agents, 
the communication must clearly and conspicuously state that the communication is not 
authorized by any candidate and state the name and address of the person who made or 
financed the expenditure for the communication, except that a communication broadcast 
by radio is not required to state the address of the person that financed the 
communication.  If the communication is in written form, the communication must 
contain at the bottom of the communication in print that is no smaller in size than 
12-point bold print, Times New Roman font, the words "NOT PAID FOR OR 
AUTHORIZED BY ANY CANDIDATE." 
Sec. 3.  21-A MRSA §1014, sub-§2-A, as amended by PL 2007, c. 443, Pt. A, §9, 
is further amended to read: 
2-A.  Other communications.  Whenever a person makes an expenditure to finance 
a communication that names or depicts a clearly identified candidate and that is 
disseminated during the 21 days before a primary election or 35 days before a general 
election through the media described in subsection 1, the communication must state the 
name and address of the person who made or financed the communication and a 
statement that the communication was or was not authorized by the candidate, except that 
a communication broadcast by radio is not required to state the address of the person that 
financed the communication.  The disclosure is not required if the communication was 
not made for the purpose of influencing the candidate's nomination for election or 
election. 
SUMMARY 
This bill removes the requirement that a disclaimer on a political communication 
provide the address of the candidate, political committee or person who financed the 
communication if the communication is broadcast by radio.