An Act Regarding Political Signs
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 2007, c. 443, Pt. A, §9, 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, 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 and similar items determined by the commission to be too small and unnecessary for the disclosures required by this section. A communication financed by a candidate or the candidate's committee that is made through a broadcasting station 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 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.
Effective September 12, 2009