Protecting Use of Social Media in Political Campaigns

I’m planning to make a motion to not adopt the conference committee report for HB2158 and to appoint a new conference committee.

There are a number of good provisions in the report, but one I have serious concerns about would have a stifling effect on the use of social media in political campaigns.

On Page 6 Subsection E the conference committee reports reads as follows:

(E) making or causing to be made any website, e-mail or other type of internet

communication which expressly advocates the nomination, election or defeat of a clearly identified candidate for a state or local office, unless such matter is followed by a statement which states: "Paid for" or "Sponsored by" followed by the name of the chairperson or treasurer of the political or other organization sponsoring the same or the name of the individual who is responsible therefor.

The provisions of this subparagraph (E) requiring the disclosure of the name of an individual shall apply only to any website, e-mail or other type of internet communication which is made by the candidate, the candidate's candidate committee, a political committee or a party committee and such website, e-mail or other internet communication viewed by or disseminated to at least 25 individuals. For the purposes of this subparagraph, the terms "candidate," "candidate committee," "party committee" and "political committee" shall have the meanings ascribed to them in K.S.A. 25-4143, and amendments thereto.

In general, disclosure of express advocacy is a good thing and very important. In the case of twitter, SMS and social media that involve character limits, it could be very damaging to the use of those technologies the way this provision is written.

Functionally my motion will not kill the bill. It will simply keep the bill in conference where it can be amended and considered again later.

I welcome any input for a better way to address this issue. One idea is to look at the way the Federal Elections Commission treats electronic communications.

You can follow me on twitter (@mburgess) and continue the dialogue on this issue there.

You can read the detail of the proposed legislation of House Bill 2158 at

Conference Committee Report Brief
http://www.mikeburgess.org/CCRB2158_2.pdf

Conference Committee Report (Page 6 Subsection E)
http://www.mikeburgess.org/CCRH2158_2.pdf