As part of a flurry of end-of-term legislation, Arizona has passed a new law that affects political campaign contribution transparency. This law has implications for political ads on TV and radio stations. In summary, the law requires:

• The words “paid for by” must be included in all political ads followed by the name of the person making the expenditure. This includes naming a political action committee if they are funding the advertising (or the list of the top three PACs if multiple groups are funding it).
• Whether the expenditure was authorized by any candidate, followed by the identity of the authorizing candidate.
• All political action committee advertising must include this additional disclosure:
  • The aggregate percentage of out-of-state contributions as calculated at the time the advertisement was produced. As example, the disclosure verbiage in an ad might read, “Paid for by XX with XX% from out-of-state contributors.”

On radio stations, these disclosures must be spoken as part of the ad. On TV stations, these disclosures must be spoken unless the disclosures are displayed on screen for no less than one-sixth of the broadcast duration (four seconds in a 30-second ad). Read the full bill and more detailed implications here, including the effect on print/digital ads.