| 1 | 1 | | 89R563 CJD-D |
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| 2 | 2 | | By: West S.B. No. 228 |
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| 3 | 3 | | |
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| 4 | 4 | | |
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| 5 | 5 | | |
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| 6 | 6 | | |
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| 7 | 7 | | A BILL TO BE ENTITLED |
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| 8 | 8 | | AN ACT |
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| 9 | 9 | | relating to prohibiting the use of certain political advertising |
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| 10 | 10 | | manipulated by generative artificial intelligence technology; |
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| 11 | 11 | | creating a criminal offense. |
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| 12 | 12 | | BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS: |
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| 13 | 13 | | SECTION 1. Chapter 255, Election Code, is amended by adding |
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| 14 | 14 | | Section 255.009 to read as follows: |
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| 15 | 15 | | Sec. 255.009. PROHIBITED USE OF CERTAIN POLITICAL |
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| 16 | 16 | | ADVERTISING MANIPULATED BY ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE. (a) A person |
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| 17 | 17 | | commits an offense if the person causes to be published, |
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| 18 | 18 | | distributed, or broadcast political advertising that includes an |
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| 19 | 19 | | image, audio recording, or video recording of an officeholder's or |
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| 20 | 20 | | candidate's appearance, speech, or conduct that has been |
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| 21 | 21 | | intentionally manipulated using generative artificial intelligence |
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| 22 | 22 | | technology in a manner that creates a realistic but false or |
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| 23 | 23 | | inaccurate image, audio recording, or video recording, resulting |
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| 24 | 24 | | in: |
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| 25 | 25 | | (1) a depiction that, to a reasonable individual, is |
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| 26 | 26 | | of the officeholder or candidate in appearance, speech, or conduct |
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| 27 | 27 | | but that did not occur in reality; and |
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| 28 | 28 | | (2) a fundamentally different understanding or |
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| 29 | 29 | | impression of the officeholder's or candidate's appearance, speech, |
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| 30 | 30 | | or conduct than a reasonable individual would otherwise have |
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| 31 | 31 | | obtained from the unaltered, original version of the image, audio |
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| 32 | 32 | | recording, or video recording. |
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| 33 | 33 | | (b) An offense under this section is a Class B misdemeanor. |
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| 34 | 34 | | SECTION 2. The changes in law made by this Act apply only to |
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| 35 | 35 | | political advertising that is published, distributed, or broadcast |
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| 36 | 36 | | on or after the effective date of this Act. The publication, |
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| 37 | 37 | | distribution, or broadcasting of political advertising before the |
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| 38 | 38 | | effective date of this Act is governed by the law in effect on the |
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| 39 | 39 | | date the advertising was published, distributed, or broadcast, and |
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| 40 | 40 | | the former law is continued in effect for that purpose. |
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| 41 | 41 | | SECTION 3. This Act takes effect September 1, 2025. |
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