Massachusetts 2025-2026 Regular Session

Massachusetts House Bill H858 Compare Versions

Only one version of the bill is available at this time.

Old	New	Differences
1	1	1 of 1
2	2	HOUSE DOCKET, NO. 1978 FILED ON: 1/15/2025
3	3	HOUSE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . No. 858
4	4	The Commonwealth of Massachusetts
5	5	_________________
6	6	PRESENTED BY:
7	7	James M. Murphy
8	8	_________________
9	9	To the Honorable Senate and House of Representatives of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts in General
10	10	Court assembled:
11	11	The undersigned legislators and/or citizens respectfully petition for the adoption of the accompanying bill:
12	12	An Act providing disclosure of political phone calls.
13	13	_______________
14	14	PETITION OF:
15	15	NAME:DISTRICT/ADDRESS :DATE ADDED:James M. Murphy4th Norfolk1/15/2025 1 of 3
16	16	HOUSE DOCKET, NO. 1978 FILED ON: 1/15/2025
17	17	HOUSE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . No. 858
18	18	By Representative Murphy of Weymouth, a petition (accompanied by bill, House, No. 858) of
19	19	James M. Murphy relative to providing disclosure of political phone calls and further regulating
20	20	push polling, so-called. Election Laws.
21	21	[SIMILAR MATTER FILED IN PREVIOUS SESSION
22	22	SEE HOUSE, NO. 709 OF 2023-2024.]
23	23	The Commonwealth of Massachusetts
24	24	_______________
25	25	In the One Hundred and Ninety-Fourth General Court
26	26	(2025-2026)
27	27	_______________
28	28	An Act providing disclosure of political phone calls.
29	29	Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court assembled, and by the authority
30	30	of the same, as follows:
31	31	1 SECTION 1: Section 1 of Chapter 55 of the General Laws, as appearing in the 2014
32	32	2official edition is hereby amended by inserting after the definition of “Ballot Question
33	33	3Committee” the following definition:
34	34	4 "Bona fide survey and opinion research'', The collection and analysis of data regarding
35	35	5opinions, needs, awareness, knowledge, views, experiences, and behaviors of a population,
36	36	6through the development and administration of surveys, interviews, focus groups, polls,
37	37	7observation, or other research methodologies, in which no sales, promotional, or marketing
38	38	8efforts are involved, and through which there is no attempt to influence a participant's attitudes
39	39	9or behavior. Bona fide survey and opinion research includes message testing, which is the study 2 of 3
40	40	10for research purposes of how randomly-selected individuals react to positive or negative
41	41	11information on a candidate, elected public official, or ballot question.
42	42	12 SECTION 2: Section 1 of chapter 55 of the General Laws, as appearing in the 2014
43	43	13official edition, is hereby amended by inserting after the definition of “political party committee”
44	44	14the following definition:
45	45	15 "Push-polling'', (i) Calling voters on behalf of, in support of, or in opposition to, any
46	46	16candidate for public office by telephone; and (ii) Asking questions related to opposing candidates
47	47	17for public office which state, imply, or convey information about the candidates character, status,
48	48	18or political stance or record; and (iii) Conducting such calling in a manner which is likely to be
49	49	19construed by the voter to be a survey or poll to gather statistical data for entities or organizations
50	50	20which are acting independent of any particular political party, candidate, or interest group as part
51	51	21of a series of like telephone calls that consist of more than 2,000 connected calls that last less
52	52	22than 2 minutes in elections for United States President, United States Senate, United States
53	53	23Congress, Governor of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, Lieutenant Governor of the
54	54	24Commonwealth of Massachusetts, Treasurer of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, Secretary
55	55	25of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, Auditor of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, or
56	56	26conducting such calling as part of a series of like telephone calls that consist of more than 500
57	57	27connected calls that last less than 2 minutes in elections for Governor’s council, state senate,
58	58	28state representative, mayor, city councilor or alderman, town councilor or selectman, school
59	59	29district, or village district; and (iv) Conducting such calling for purposes other than bona fide
60	60	30survey and opinion research. 3 of 3
61	61	31 SECTION 3: Chapter 55 of the General Laws, as appearing in the 2014 official edition, is
62	62	32hereby amended by inserting after Section 18G the following section:
63	63	33 Section 18H(a) Any person, association, corporation, labor union or other entity who
64	64	34engages in push-polling, as defined in Section 1 of Chapter 55 of the General Laws, shall, prior
65	65	35to asking any person contacted a question relating to a candidate:
66	66	36 (i) Inform the person that the telephone call is a "paid political advertisement;'' and
67	67	37 (ii) Identify the organization making the call and the organization paying for the call; and
68	68	38 (iii) Provide a valid, current, publicly-listed telephone number for the organization
69	69	39making the call; and
70	70	40 (iv) Identify that the telephone call is being made on behalf of, in support of, or in
71	71	41opposition to a particular candidate or candidates for public office and identify that candidate or
72	72	42candidates by name.
73	73	43 (b) All disclosures required by this section shall be made in a clear and intelligible
74	74	44manner and must be repeated upon request of the call respondent.
75	75	45 (c) A caller may not state or imply false or fictitious names or telephone numbers when
76	76	46providing the disclosures required by this section.
77	77	47 (d) A violation of this section shall be punishable by a fine of not more than $1,000.