A.B. 73
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ASSEMBLY BILL NO. 73–COMMITTEE ON
LEGISLATIVE OPERATIONS AND ELECTIONS
(ON BEHALF OF THE SECRETARY OF STATE)
PREFILED NOVEMBER 20, 2024
____________
Referred to Committee on Legislative Operations and Elections
SUMMARY—Establishes requirements for certain communications
relating to an election. (BDR 24-487)
FISCAL NOTE: Effect on Local Government: No.
Effect on the State: Yes.
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EXPLANATION – Matter in bolded italics is new; matter between brackets [omitted material] is material to be omitted.
AN ACT relating to campaign practices; requiring certain
communications relating to an election that include
synthetic media to contain a disclosure; requiring a copy
of certain communications relating to an election to be
filed with the Secretary of State; providing penalties; and
providing other matters properly relating thereto.
Legislative Counsel’s Digest:
Existing law requires that certain statements and communications relating to an 1
election contain disclosures to provide the public with certain information relating to 2
the source or purpose of the statement or communication. (NRS 294A.347-3
294A.3495) Section 2 of this bill requires that any communication made in support of 4
or opposition to a candidate, group of candidates or political party or that solicits 5
contributions for a candidate, group of candidates or political party that includes any 6
form of synthetic media in the communication must disclose that the image, video or 7
audio has been manipulated. Section 5 of this bill provides that a violation of this 8
requirement is subject to a civil penalty of not more than $50,000 for each violation. 9
Section 3 of this bill requires any person, committee for political action, political 10
party or committee sponsored by a political party that is required to disclose 11
information in a communication relating to an election under existing law to submit a 12
copy of the communication electronically to the Secretary of State. Section 3 also 13
requires the Secretary of State to make such communications available to the public. 14
Section 4 of this bill exempts from this requirement certain communications 15
appearing on clothing or items that retail for less than $5. Section 5 provides that a 16
violation of this requirement is subject to a civil penalty of not more than $10,000. 17
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THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEVADA, REPRESENTED IN
SENATE AND ASSEMBLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
Section 1. Chapter 294A of NRS is hereby amended by 1
adding thereto the provisions set forth as sections 2 and 3 of this act. 2
Sec. 2. 1. Any communication made in support of or 3
opposition to a candidate, group of candidates or political party or 4
that solicits contributions for a candidate, group of candidates 5
or political party and includes any form of synthetic media in the 6
communication must disclose on the communication in a clear 7
and conspicuous manner: 8
9
This (image/video/audio) has been manipulated. 10
11
2. The disclosure required pursuant to subsection 1 must be 12
provided in accordance with the following requirements: 13
(a) For a communication made using visual media: 14
(1) The text of the disclosure must appear in a size that is 15
easily readable by the average viewer and if the visual media 16
includes other text, the text of the disclosure must not be smaller 17
than the largest font size of the other text appearing in the visual 18
media; and 19
(2) If the visual media is a video, the disclosure must 20
appear for the entire duration of the video; and 21
(b) For a communication made using only audio, the 22
disclosure must be read in a clearly spoken manner, in a pitch that 23
can be easily heard by the average listener and in the same 24
language as the rest of the audio: 25
(1) At the beginning of the audio; 26
(2) At the end of the audio; and 27
(3) If the audio is longer than 2 minutes in length, 28
interspersed within the audio at intervals of not more than 2 29
minutes each. 30
3. As used in this section: 31
(a) “Artificial intelligence” means a machine-based system 32
that can, for a given set of human-defined objectives, make 33
predictions, recommendations or decisions influencing real or 34
virtual environments. 35
(b) “Generative adversarial network” means a framework for 36
machine learning that uses adversarial training towards the 37
development of generative artificial intelligence. 38
(c) “Generative artificial intelligence” means a technology of 39
artificial intelligence that is capable of creating content such as 40
text, audio, image or video based on patterns learned from large 41
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volumes of data rather than being explicitly programmed with 1
rules. 2
(d) “Synthetic media” means an image, audio recording or 3
video recording of the appearance, speech or conduct of a person 4
that has been intentionally manipulated with the use of generative 5
adversarial network techniques, artificial intelligence, generative 6
artificial intelligence or any other digital technology to create a 7
realistic but false image, audio recording or video recording that 8
produces: 9
(1) A depiction that to a reasonable natural person is of a 10
real natural person in appearance, action or speech but that did 11
not actually occur in reality; and 12
(2) A fundamentally different understanding or impression 13
of the appearance, action or speech of a person than what a 14
reasonable natural person would have from viewing or listening to 15
the unaltered original version of the image, audio recording or 16
video recording. 17
Sec. 3. 1. Except as otherwise provided in NRS 294A.349, 18
any person, committee for political action, political party or 19
committee sponsored by a political party that is required to 20
disclose information in a communication pursuant to NRS 21
294A.348, 294A.3495 or section 2 of this act must submit a copy of 22
the communication electronically to the Secretary of State. 23
2. The Secretary of State shall make available to the public 24
all communications submitted pursuant to subsection 1 on an 25
Internet website of the Secretary of State. 26
3. The Secretary of State shall adopt regulations to carry out 27
the provisions of this section. 28
Sec. 4. NRS 294A.349 is hereby amended to read as follows: 29
294A.349 The provisions of NRS 294A.347 and section 3 of 30
this act and subsections 1 and 2 of NRS 294A.348 do not apply to 31
any statement or communication appearing on: 32
1. Any cap, hat, shirt or other article of clothing, regardless of 33
its cost; or 34
2. Except as otherwise provided in this subsection, any item 35
having a retail cost per item of less than $5, including, without 36
limitation, any button, pen, pencil, ruler, magnet, key tag, emery 37
board, comb, letter opener, can holder, bottle opener, jar opener, 38
balloon or piece of candy. The exclusion otherwise provided by this 39
subsection does not apply to any door hanger, bumper sticker, yard 40
sign or advertising through a television or radio broadcast, 41
newspaper, magazine, outdoor advertising facility or mailing. 42
Sec. 5. NRS 294A.420 is hereby amended to read as follows: 43
294A.420 1. If the Secretary of State receives information 44
that a candidate, person, organization, committee, political party or 45
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nonprofit corporation that is subject to the provisions of NRS 1
294A.120, 294A.128, 294A.140, 294A.150, 294A.200, 294A.210, 2
294A.220, 294A.230, 294A.250, 294A.270, 294A.280 or 294A.286 3
has not filed a report or form for registration pursuant to the 4
applicable provisions of those sections, the Secretary of State may, 5
after giving notice to that candidate, person, organization, 6
committee, political party or nonprofit corporation, cause the 7
appropriate proceedings to be instituted in the First Judicial District 8
Court. 9
2. Except as otherwise provided in this section, a candidate, 10
person, organization, committee, political party or nonprofit 11
corporation that violates an applicable provision of this chapter is 12
subject to a civil penalty of not more than $10,000 for each violation 13
and payment of court costs and attorney’s fees. The civil penalty 14
must be recovered in a civil action brought in the name of the State 15
of Nevada by the Secretary of State in the First Judicial District 16
Court and deposited by the Secretary of State for credit to the State 17
General Fund in the bank designated by the State Treasurer. 18
3. If a civil penalty is imposed for a violation of the 19
requirements of section 2 of this act, the amount of the civil 20
penalty imposed may not exceed $50,000 for each violation. 21
4. If a civil penalty is imposed because a candidate, person, 22
organization, committee, political party or nonprofit corporation has 23
reported its contributions, campaign expenses, independent 24
expenditures or other expenditures after the date the report is due, 25
except as otherwise provided in this subsection, the amount of the 26
civil penalty is: 27
(a) If the report is not more than 7 days late, $25 for each day 28
the report is late. 29
(b) If the report is more than 7 days late but not more than 15 30
days late, $50 for each day the report is late. 31
(c) If the report is more than 15 days late, $100 for each day the 32
report is late. 33
A civil penalty imposed pursuant to this subsection against a 34
public officer who by law is not entitled to receive compensation for 35
his or her office or a candidate for such an office must not exceed a 36
total of $100 if the public officer or candidate received no 37
contributions and made no expenditures during the relevant 38
reporting periods. 39
[4.] 5. For good cause shown, the Secretary of State may 40
waive a civil penalty that would otherwise be imposed pursuant to 41
this section. 42
[5.] 6. When considering whether to waive, pursuant to 43
subsection [4,] 5, a civil penalty that would otherwise be imposed 44
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pursuant to subsection [3,] 4, the Secretary of State may consider, 1
without limitation: 2
(a) The seriousness of the violation, including, without 3
limitation, the nature, circumstances and extent of the violation; 4
(b) Any history of violations committed by the candidate, 5
person, organization, committee, political party or nonprofit 6
corporation against whom the civil penalty would otherwise be 7
imposed; 8
(c) Any mitigating factor, including, without limitation, whether 9
the candidate, person, organization, committee, political party or 10
nonprofit corporation against whom the civil penalty would 11
otherwise be imposed reported the violation, corrected the violation 12
in a timely manner, attempted to correct the violation or cooperated 13
with the Secretary of State in resolving the situation that led to the 14
violation; 15
(d) Whether the violation was inadvertent; 16
(e) Any knowledge or experience the candidate, person, 17
organization, committee, political party or nonprofit corporation has 18
with the provisions of this chapter; and 19
(f) Any other factor that the Secretary of State deems to be 20
relevant. 21
[6.] 7. If the Secretary of State waives a civil penalty pursuant 22
to subsection [4,] 5, the Secretary of State shall: 23
(a) Create a record which sets forth that the civil penalty has 24
been waived and describes the circumstances that constitute the 25
good cause shown; and 26
(b) Ensure that the record created pursuant to paragraph (a) is 27
available for review by the general public. 28
[7.] 8. The remedies and penalties provided by this chapter are 29
cumulative, do not abrogate and are in addition to any other 30
remedies and penalties that may exist at law or in equity, including, 31
without limitation, any criminal penalty that may be imposed 32
pursuant to this chapter or NRS 199.120, 199.145 or 239.330. 33
Sec. 6. 1. This section becomes effective upon passage and 34
approval. 35
2. Sections 1 to 5, inclusive, of this act become effective: 36
(a) Upon passage and approval for the purpose of adopting any 37
regulations and performing any other preparatory administrative 38
tasks that are necessary to carry out the provisions of this act; and 39
(b) On January 1, 2026, for all other purposes. 40
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