Committee approves bill to shorten and standardize political ad disclosures

Senator (presenting for SB 900) told the committee that SB 900 is intended to improve voter understanding of who pays for political advertising by shortening cumbersome disclosure text and permitting standard abbreviations for large‑print formats like billboards and mailers. The bill would require that the top five funders who contributed $50,000 or more be shown on political mailers (up from three) and allow shorter, standardized names or acronyms on billboards and other short‑duration media.

Audrey Retaycek (California State Outdoor Advertising Association) testified in support, saying that long disclosures on billboards can take up nearly half of the sign and make the message hard to read. Trent Lang (California Clean Money Campaign) and other backers said the bill preserves transparency while improving readability, and noted the rule expansion to five funders would apply to mailers where there is room for additional names. Witnesses said the changes are voluntary options for advertisers in large‑print or fleeting formats, but the top‑funder disclosure threshold of $50,000 would remain in place for outside groups and ballot measures under current law.

Senator Choi and other members asked detailed questions about which media and advertisers the rule changes would affect, why the $50,000 threshold was used and how the proposal interacts with the existing Disclose Act framework. Witnesses explained that the top‑funder rule mainly applies to ballot measures and independent expenditures, not candidate committees, and that the five‑name rule is limited to mailers where voters can reasonably read more names.

The committee moved to pass SB 900 as amended to the appropriations committee and called the roll. The committee recorded its motion to refer the bill to appropriations; transcript entries show the motion passed and the bill was placed on call for final tally and referral.