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Minutes for HB2642 - Committee on Elections
Short Title
Elections; corrupt political advertising.
Minutes Content for Wed, Feb 14, 2018
Mike Heim, Revisor, provided a brief overview of HB2642, stating this bill amends a statute that creates the crime of corrupt political advertising. There were no questions from the Committee.
There were neither proponent nor opponent testimonies provided on HB2642.
Representative Esau, Chair, made a brief statement regarding his reasons for requesting this bill, which were essentially the changes in Twitter.
Mark Skoglund, Executive Director, Kansas Governmental Ethics Commission, provided neutral testimony on HB2642 (Attachment 2), stating this legislation arose from a recommendation in the Commission's 2017 Annual Report to consider amending requirements to paid for attributions as it regards social media. He discussed the fact that with some social media sites it is possible that attribution may technically comply with the requirements but still not be readily visible to an average user, stating this legislation would require attribution to appear in a clear and conspicuous manner and defines the specifics for video and audio communications. Mr. Skoglund also stated that since the legislation as drafted does not contain a definition of clear and conspicuous as it relates to text communications, it may be worth considering adding an inclusive definition for text communication that resolves the landing page concern.
Mr. Skoglund answered questions from the Committee, clarifying that the current requirement is that unless a post is express advocacy it does not require a paid for attribution, which would not be changed by this legislation.
Representative Esau, Chair, commented that issue advocacy is covered only under lobbying, not under campaign finance, and this is campaign finance, so it is only about candidates, not about issues.
There were no further questions for Mr. Skoglund, and there were no others wishing to speak to HB2642.
Representative Esau, Chair, closed the hearing on HB2642.
