CA AB 950

in committee

Political Reform Act of 1974: advertisements.

California · 2025-2026 Regular Session · lower

Description

(1) Existing law establishes requirements for the disclosure of information related to political advertisements, including the name of the committee that paid for the advertisement and the names of the top contributors to the committee. For certain video, print, electronic media, or text message advertisements, existing law permits the name of the committee that paid for the advertisement to be shortened, as specified. This bill would establish the Billboard DISCLOSE Act. For purposes of the above provision permitting the name of the committee to be shortened, this bill would clarify that a print advertisement includes a yard sign or a billboard and an electronic media advertisement means a graphic, image, animated graphic, or animated image that the online platform hosting the advertisement allows to link to an internet website paid for by the committee, as specified. For certain advertisements, the bill would permit the names of top contributors to be shortened by using approved abbreviations or leaving out words from the top contributor's name, as specified. For certain advertisements, the bill would also specify the order in which required disclosures must appear on the advertisement. (2) For larger printed advertisements such as yard signs and billboards, existing law permits the text of the disclosure to be adjusted so that it does not appear on separate horizontal lines, with the names of the top contributors separated by a comma. This bill would also permit the names of the top contributors to be separated by clearly visible bullet points or by inserting the applicable number (1, 2, or 3) before the names of the 3 largest contributors. The bill would also specify the order in which required disclosures must appear on the advertisement. (3) Under existing law, an advertisement supporting or opposing a candidate that is paid for by an independent expenditure must include a statement that it was not authorized by a candidate or a committee controlled by a candidate. If the advertisement was authorized or paid for by a candidate for another office, the expenditure must instead include a statement that "This advertisement was not authorized or paid for by a candidate for this office or a committee controlled by a candidate for this office." This bill would shorten the above statements, respectively, to "Not paid for by candidate" and "Not paid for by a candidate for this office." The Political Reform Act of 1974, an initiative measure, provides that the Legislature may amend the act to further the act's purposes upon a 23 vote of each house of the Legislature and compliance with specified procedural requirements. This bill would declare that it furthers the purposes of the act.

Introduced: 2025-04-22
Status date: —
Latest action: 2025-08-29 — In committee: Held under submission.
Bill type: bill
Last updated: —

Subjects

Committees

Not provided by source.

Action timeline

2025-02-20
Read first time. To print.
reading-1
2025-02-21
From printer. May be heard in committee March 23.
2025-03-10
Referred to Com. on ELECTIONS.
referral-committee
2025-03-26
In committee: Set, first hearing. Hearing canceled at the request of author.
2025-04-22
From committee chair, with author's amendments: Amend, and re-refer to Com. on ELECTIONS. Read second time and amended.
amendment-introduction,amendment-passage,committee-passage,reading-1,reading-2,referral-committee
2025-04-23
Re-referred to Com. on ELECTIONS.
referral-committee
2025-04-30
From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR. with recommendation: To Consent Calendar. (Ayes 7. Noes 0.) (April 30). Re-referred to Com. on APPR.
committee-passage,committee-passage-favorable,referral-committee
2025-05-14
From committee: Do pass. To Consent Calendar. (Ayes 15. Noes 0.) (May 14).
committee-passage,committee-passage-favorable
2025-05-15
Read second time. Ordered to Consent Calendar.
reading-1,reading-2
2025-05-23
Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Senate. (Ayes 71. Noes 0. Page 1663.)
passage,reading-1,reading-3
2025-05-23
In Senate. Read first time. To Com. on RLS. for assignment.
reading-1,referral-committee
2025-06-04
Referred to Com. on E. & C.A.
referral-committee
2025-06-19
In committee: Set, first hearing. Hearing canceled at the request of author.
2025-07-08
From committee chair, with author's amendments: Amend, and re-refer to committee. Read second time, amended, and re-referred to Com. on E. & C.A.
amendment-introduction,amendment-passage,committee-passage,reading-1,reading-2,referral-committee
2025-07-15
From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 5. Noes 0.) (July 15). Re-referred to Com. on APPR.
committee-passage,committee-passage-favorable,referral-committee
2025-08-18
In committee: Referred to suspense file.
referral-committee
2025-08-29
In committee: Held under submission.

Versions

02/20/25 - Introduced — 2025-02-20Compare
04/22/25 - Amended Assembly — 2025-04-22Compare
07/08/25 - Amended Senate — 2025-07-08Compare
AB950Compare
(document, no version)Compare

Documents

Votes

Do pass and be re-referred to the Committee on [Appropriations] with recommendation: To Consent Calendar
2025-04-30 · pass · 7-0
Member-level votes (7)
- Macedo: yes
- Stefani: yes
- Lackey: yes
- Solache: yes
- Pellerin: yes
- Berman: yes
- Bennett: yes
Do pass. To Consent Calendar.
2025-05-14 · pass · 15-0
Member-level votes (15)
- Fong: yes
- Pacheco: yes
- Pellerin: yes
- Mark González: yes
- Hart: yes
- Sanchez: yes
- Ta: yes
- Tangipa: yes
- Dixon: yes
- Calderon: yes
- Solache: yes
- Caloza: yes
- Elhawary: yes
- Wicks: yes
- Arambula: yes
AB 950 Solache Consent Calendar Second Day
2025-05-23 · pass · 71-0
Member-level votes (79)
- DeMaio: yes
- Davies: yes
- Calderon: yes
- Soria: yes
- Lee: yes
- Hadwick: yes
- Valencia: yes
- Rogers: yes
- Castillo: yes
- Bennett: yes
- Blanca Rubio: yes
- Solache: yes
- Ta: yes
- Alanis: yes
- Carrillo: yes
- Haney: yes
- Flora: yes
- Bonta: yes
- Muratsuchi: yes
- Connolly: yes
- Rivas: yes
- Ahrens: yes
- Patterson: yes
- Petrie-Norris: yes
- Alvarez: yes
- Zbur: yes
- Harabedian: yes
- Dixon: yes
- Addis: yes
- Bauer-Kahan: yes
- Fong: yes
- Lackey: yes
- Ávila Farías: yes
- Jeff Gonzalez: yes
- Berman: yes
- Ward: yes
- Hart: yes
- Gipson: yes
- Irwin: yes
- Jackson: yes
- Arambula: yes
- Lowenthal: yes
- Mark González: yes
- Pacheco: yes
- Stefani: yes
- Gabriel: yes
- Gallagher: yes
- Boerner: yes
- Ramos: yes
- Wallis: yes
- Ortega: yes
- Papan: yes
- Patel: yes
- Ransom: yes
- Schiavo: yes
- Michelle Rodriguez: yes
- Elhawary: yes
- Bains: yes
- Celeste Rodriguez: yes
- Aguiar-Curry: yes
- Garcia: yes
- Krell: yes
- Wilson: yes
- Hoover: yes
- Macedo: yes
- Caloza: yes
- McKinnor: yes
- Quirk-Silva: yes
- Kalra: yes
- Pellerin: yes
- Tangipa: yes
- Bryan: other
- Sharp-Collins: other
- Nguyen: other
- Ellis: other
- Schultz: other
- Sanchez: other
- Chen: other
- Wicks: other
Do pass, but first be re-referred to the Committee on [Appropriations]
2025-07-15 · pass · 5-0
Member-level votes (5)
- Umberg: yes
- Allen: yes
- Choi: yes
- Limón: yes
- Cervantes: yes
Placed on suspense file
2025-08-18 · pass · 7-0
Member-level votes (7)
- Richardson: yes
- Seyarto: yes
- Caballero: yes
- Cabaldon: yes
- Dahle: yes
- Wahab: yes
- Grayson: yes

Related bills

No related bills recorded for this bill.

Official source

http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=202520260AB950

Attribution

Data from openstates_bulk_csv, retrieved 2026-07-24T01:34:27.960412Z

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