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A8754Assembly2009-2010 Session

Establishes a review commission on political advertising to determine the truthfulness of a political advertisement upon a request from a candidate

Status
In Assembly Committee
Election Law
Impact
Pending
Passage
Pending

Bill progress

Step 2 of 7

In committee · Election Law

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Who cares

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Sponsors

Primary sponsor
Joel Miller

Assembly Member · Assembly District 102

History

  1. Held for consideration in election law
  2. Referred to election law
  3. Referred to election law

Full text

The text isn't available here yet. Check nysenate.gov.

Sponsor's memo

BILL NUMBER:A8754

Title of bill

An act to amend the election law, in relation to truth in political advertising

Purpose or general idea of bill

To establish a review panel for political advertising, and to determine the truthfulness of a political advertisement upon a request from a candidate.

Summary of specific provisions

Section 1 of the bill amends Article 8 of the election law by adding section 8-600, which establishes a panel, financed by public funds, to review political advertisements. This section also describes the manner in which members will be appointed to represent this panel.

Section 1 of the bill also describes the manner by which a candidate may request that his/her political advertisement be reviewed by the panel, and a required time period for the panel to review the advertisement within. This section also indicates the ratings that a political advertisement may receive from the panel. These ratings are selected based on whether or not the, material is absolutely true, mostly true, mostly untrue, or absolutely untrue.

Section 2 of the bill provides that this act shall take effect immediately.

Justification

Throughout the years, campaigning has changed drastically, and in rare cases has become entangled with deceit to sway public opinion for or against an opponent or idea. What the Truth in Political Advertising Bill will do, is allow candidates to volunteer to let their political advertisements be rated on the basis of how true they really are to the average citizen. If a candidate refuses to have their ads rated, than it will likely be viewed as suspicious to the public audience. Thus, this bill should help promote truthfulness by politicians in campaigns, by creating a regulatory panel that can be voluntarily called upon to assess just how truthful a political advertisement really is. With an approved rating of Absolutely True, or Mostly True, the average citizen can be assured that the political advertisement that they are watching is not simply twisted facts to fool voters. This legislation is a step to promote a more truthful and honest election process. The goal is to gain back the trust and votes of an apathetic constituency who has been jaded by a few historical misgivings.

Prior legislative history

2007-08 Remained in Committee

Fiscal implications

To be determined.

Effective date

This act shall take effect immediately.

Summaries, headlines and scores are AI-generated from the official bill text. How we score bills. Source: NYS Open Legislation.