Kansas 2023-2024 Regular Session

Kansas House Bill HB2559 Compare Versions

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1	1	Session of 2024
2	2	HOUSE BILL No. 2559
3	3	By Representatives Proctor and V. Miller
4	4	1-22
5	5	AN ACT concerning elections; relating to the crime of corrupt political
6	6	advertising; prohibiting the use of generative artificial intelligence to
7	7	create false representations of candidates in campaign media or of state
8	8	officials; amending K.S.A. 25-2407 and 25-4156 and repealing the
9	9	existing sections.
10	10	Be it enacted by the Legislature of the State of Kansas:
11	11	Section 1. K.S.A. 25-2407 is hereby amended to read as follows: 25-
12	12	2407. (a) Corrupt political advertising is:
13	13	(a) (1)(1) (A) Publishing or causing to be published in a newspaper or
14	14	other periodical any paid matter which expressly advocates the
15	15	nomination, election or defeat of any candidate, unless such matter is
16	16	followed by the word "advertisement" or the abbreviation "adv." in a
17	17	separate line together with the name of the chairman of the political or
18	18	other organization inserting the same or the name of the person who is
19	19	responsible therefor; or
20	20	(2)(B) broadcasting or causing to be broadcast by any radio or
21	21	television station any paid matter which expressly advocates the
22	22	nomination, election or defeat of any candidate, unless such matter is
23	23	followed by a statement which states: "Paid for" or "Sponsored by"
24	24	followed by the name of the sponsoring organization and the name of the
25	25	chairperson or treasurer of the political or other organization sponsoring
26	26	the same or the name of the person who is responsible therefor; or
27	27	(3)(C) publishing or causing to be published in a newspaper or other
28	28	periodical any paid matter which is intended to influence the vote of any
29	29	person or persons for or against any question submitted for a proposition
30	30	to amend the constitution or to authorize the issuance of bonds or any
31	31	other question submitted at an election, unless such matter is followed by
32	32	the word "advertisement" or the abbreviation "adv." in a separate line
33	33	together with the name of the chairman of the political or other
34	34	organization inserting the same or the name of the person who is
35	35	responsible therefor;
36	36	(4)(D) broadcasting or causing to be broadcast by any radio or
37	37	television station any paid matter which is intended to influence the vote
38	38	of any person or persons for or against any question submitted for a
39	39	proposition to amend the constitution or to authorize the issuance of bonds
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76	76	or any other question submitted at an election, unless such matter is
77	77	followed by a statement which states: "Paid for" or "Sponsored by"
78	78	followed by the name of the sponsoring organization and the name of the
79	79	chairperson or treasurer of the political or other organization sponsoring
80	80	the same or the name of the person who is responsible therefor; or
81	81	(5)(E) publishing or causing to be published any brochure, flier or
82	82	other political fact sheet which is intended to influence the vote of any
83	83	person or persons for or against any question submitted for a proposition
84	84	to amend the constitution or to authorize the issuance of bonds or any
85	85	other question submitted at an election, unless such matter is followed by a
86	86	statement which states: "Paid for" or "Sponsored by" followed by the
87	87	name of the sponsoring organization and the name of the chairperson or
88	88	treasurer of the political or other organization sponsoring the same or the
89	89	name of the individual who is responsible therefor; or
90	90	(2) (A) using synthetic media in any election campaign
91	91	communication through any medium to alter the appearance, action or
92	92	speech of a candidate; or
93	93	(B) using synthetic media in any communication through any medium
94	94	to alter the appearance, action or speech of an elected or appointed state
95	95	official.
96	96	(b) Corrupt political advertising is a class C misdemeanor.
97	97	(c) It is an affirmative defense that the communication containing
98	98	synthetic media includes a disclosure stating: "This (image/video/audio)
99	99	has been manipulated." Such disclosure shall be expressed as follows:
100	100	(1) For visual media, the text of the disclosure shall appear in a font
101	101	size that is easily readable by the average viewer and not smaller than the
102	102	largest font size of other text appearing in the visual media. If the visual
103	103	media does not include any other text, the disclosure shall appear in a font
104	104	size that is easily readable by the average viewer. For visual media that is
105	105	a video, the disclosure shall appear for the duration of the video; or
106	106	(2) if the media consists of audio only, the disclosure shall be read in
107	107	a clearly spoken manner and in a pitch that can be easily heard by the
108	108	average listener and stated at the beginning of the audio, at the end of the
109	109	audio and, if the audio is longer than two minutes, interspersed within the
110	110	audio at intervals of not more than two minutes each.
111	111	(d) For the purposes of this section, the term:
112	112	(1) "Expressly advocate the nomination, election or defeat of a
113	113	candidate" shall have the meaning ascribed to it in K.S.A. 25-4143, and
114	114	amendments thereto; and
115	115	(2) "synthetic media" means an image, an audio recording or a video
116	116	recording of an individual's appearance, speech or conduct that has been
117	117	intentionally manipulated with the use of generative artificial intelligence
118	118	techniques or other digital technology in a manner that creates a realistic
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162	162	but false or inaccurate image, audio or video that produces:
163	163	(A) A depiction, that to a reasonable individual, is of a real individual
164	164	in appearance, action or speech but that did not actually occur in reality;
165	165	and
166	166	(B) a fundamentally different understanding or impression of the
167	167	appearance, action or speech than a reasonable person would otherwise
168	168	have from the unaltered, original version of the image, audio recording or
169	169	video recording.
170	170	Sec. 2. K.S.A. 25-4156 is hereby amended to read as follows: 25-
171	171	4156. (a) (1) Whenever any person sells space in any newspaper, magazine
172	172	or other periodical to a candidate or to a candidate committee, party
173	173	committee or political committee, the charge made for the use of such
174	174	space shall not exceed the charges made for comparable use of such space
175	175	for other purposes.
176	176	(2) Intentionally charging an excessive amount for political
177	177	advertising is a class A misdemeanor.
178	178	(b) (1) Except as provided in paragraph (2), corrupt political
179	179	advertising of a state or local office is:
180	180	(A) Publishing or causing to be published in a newspaper or other
181	181	periodical any paid matter that expressly advocates the nomination,
182	182	election or defeat of a clearly identified candidate for a state or local
183	183	office, unless such matter is followed by the word "advertisement" or the
184	184	abbreviation "adv." in a separate line together with the name of the
185	185	chairperson or treasurer of the political or other organization sponsoring
186	186	the same or the name of the individual who is responsible therefor;
187	187	(B) broadcasting or causing to be broadcast by any radio or television
188	188	station any paid matter that expressly advocates the nomination, election
189	189	or defeat of a clearly identified candidate for a state or local office, unless
190	190	such matter is followed by a statement that states: "Paid for" or
191	191	"Sponsored by" followed by the name of the sponsoring organization and
192	192	the name of the chairperson or treasurer of the political or other
193	193	organization sponsoring the same or the name of the individual who is
194	194	responsible therefor;
195	195	(C) telephoning or causing to be contacted by any telephonic means
196	196	including, but not limited to, any device using a voice over internet
197	197	protocol or wireless telephone, any paid matter that expressly advocates
198	198	the nomination, election or defeat of a clearly identified candidate for a
199	199	state or local office, unless such matter is preceded by a statement that
200	200	states: "Paid for" or "Sponsored by" followed by the name of the
201	201	sponsoring organization and the name of the chairperson or treasurer of the
202	202	political or other organization sponsoring the same or the name of the
203	203	individual who is responsible therefor;
204	204	(D) publishing or causing to be published any brochure, flier or other
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248	248	political fact sheet that expressly advocates the nomination, election or
249	249	defeat of a clearly identified candidate for a state or local office, unless
250	250	such matter is followed by a statement that states: "Paid for" or
251	251	"Sponsored by" followed by the name of the chairperson or treasurer of the
252	252	political or other organization sponsoring the same or the name of the
253	253	individual who is responsible therefor.
254	254	The provisions of this subparagraph (D) requiring the disclosure of the
255	255	name of an individual shall not apply to individuals making expenditures
256	256	in an aggregate amount of less than $2,500 within a calendar year; or
257	257	(E) making or causing to be made any website, e-mail or other type of
258	258	internet communication that expressly advocates the nomination, election
259	259	or defeat of a clearly identified candidate for a state or local office, unless
260	260	the matter is followed by a statement that states: "Paid for" or "Sponsored
261	261	by" followed by the name of the chairperson or treasurer of the political or
262	262	other organization sponsoring the same or the name of the individual who
263	263	is responsible therefor.
264	264	The provisions of this subparagraph (E) requiring the disclosure of the
265	265	name of an individual shall apply only to any website, email or other type
266	266	of internet communication that is made by the candidate, the candidate's
267	267	candidate committee, a political committee or a party committee and the
268	268	website, email or other internet communication viewed by or disseminated
269	269	to at least 25 individuals. For the purposes of this subparagraph, the terms
270	270	"candidate," "candidate committee," "party committee" and "political
271	271	committee" shall have the meanings ascribed to them in K.S.A. 25-4143,
272	272	and amendments thereto; or
273	273	(F) using synthetic media in any election campaign communication
274	274	through any medium to alter the appearance, action or speech of a
275	275	candidate.
276	276	(2) The provisions of subsections (b)(1)(C) and (E) shall not apply to
277	277	the publication of any communication that expressly advocates the
278	278	nomination, election or defeat of a clearly identified candidate for state or
279	279	local office, if such communication is made over any social media
280	280	provider which has a character limit of 280 characters or fewer.
281	281	(3) Corrupt political advertising of a state or local office is a class C
282	282	misdemeanor.
283	283	(c) It is an affirmative defense that the election campaign
284	284	communication containing synthetic media includes a disclosure stating:
285	285	"This (image/video/audio) has been manipulated." Such disclosure shall
286	286	be expressed as follows:
287	287	(1) For visual media, the text of the disclosure shall appear in a font
288	288	size that is easily readable by the average viewer and not smaller than the
289	289	largest font size of other text appearing in the visual media. If the visual
290	290	media does not include any other text, the disclosure shall appear in a font
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334	334	size that is easily readable by the average viewer. For visual media that is
335	335	a video, the disclosure shall appear for the duration of the video; or
336	336	(2) if the media consists of audio only, the disclosure shall be read in
337	337	a clearly spoken manner and in a pitch that can be easily heard by the
338	338	average listener and stated at the beginning of the audio, at the end of the
339	339	audio and, if the audio is longer than two minutes, interspersed within the
340	340	audio at intervals of not more than two minutes each.
341	341	(d) For purposes of this section, the term "synthetic media" means an
342	342	image, an audio recording or a video recording of an individual's
343	343	appearance, speech or conduct that has been intentionally manipulated
344	344	with the use of generative artificial intelligence techniques or other digital
345	345	technology in a manner that creates a realistic but false or inaccurate
346	346	image, audio or video that produces:
347	347	(1) A depiction, that to a reasonable individual, is of a real individual
348	348	in appearance, action or speech but that did not actually occur in reality;
349	349	and
350	350	(2) a fundamentally different understanding or impression of the
351	351	appearance, action or speech than a reasonable person would otherwise
352	352	have from the unaltered, original version of the image, audio recording or
353	353	video recording.
354	354	(e) If any provision of this section or application thereof to any
355	355	person or circumstance is held invalid, such invalidity does not affect other
356	356	provisions or applications of this section that can be given effect without
357	357	the invalid application or provision, and to this end the provisions of this
358	358	section are declared to be severable.
359	359	Sec. 3. K.S.A. 25-2407 and 25-4156 are hereby repealed.
360	360	Sec. 4. This act shall take effect and be in force from and after its
361	361	publication in the statute book.
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