Berman-authored measure would give state commission power to fine violators up to $5,000
The California Senate passed the bill Monday, sending it back to the Assembly for what would be a final confirming vote before the bill can reach Gov. Gavin Newsom’s desk. Newsom has until the end of September to sign or veto the legislation, which was authored by Democratic Assemblymember Marc Berman.
Berman framed the bill this way: “Voters should have a right to know whether or not campaigns are paying for the messaging that they’re seeing,” he said in an interview last month.
California already requires content creators to include payment disclaimers on political posts — Texas has a similar requirement — and the goal of the bill is to better enforce the law. Under the current statute, the state’s campaign watchdog, the Fair Political Practices Commission, can seek a court order to compel an influencer to disclose that a campaign paid for the content, a process that can take months.
Berman’s bill would change the mechanism rather than the underlying rule. It would grant the Fair Political Practices Commission, which supports the proposal, the authority to fine influencers and political committees directly for violations, bypassing the court process entirely. According to the commission, content creators could face fines of up to $5,000 per violation.
The legislation moves forward as the federal effort to impose similar disclosure requirements on political influencers has yet to advance. U.S. Sen. Adam Schiff of California introduced a federal disclosure bill last month, but it has not received a vote in Congress.
The Assembly still needs to give the measure a final vote before it can be transmitted to Newsom.