Senate Bill No. 22
(By Senator Mitchell, By Request)
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[Introduced February 14, 2001; referred to the Committee on the
Judiciary.]
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A BILL to amend article nine, chapter three of the code of West
Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, by
adding thereto a new section, designated section twenty-five,
relating to elections; requiring that campaign advertising and
communications disclose the party affiliation of the candidate
or committee authorizing same; and providing criminal
penalties.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That article nine, chapter three of the code of West Virginia,
one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, be amended by
adding thereto a new section, designated section twenty-five, to
read as follows:
ARTICLE 9. OFFENSES AND PENALTIES.
§3-9-25. Disclosure of party affiliation required on campaign
advertizing or communications; penalties.
(a) Notwithstanding any provision of this code to the
contrary, any campaign advertizing or communication authorized by
a candidate for public office or a candidate's committee, for the
purpose of advocating the nomination, election or defeat of a
candidate, shall disclose the political party affiliation of the
candidate so authorizing the advertizing or communication.
(b) Any person violating the provisions of subsection (a) of
this section is guilty of a misdemeanor and, upon conviction
thereof, shall be fined not less than one hundred dollars nor more
than five hundred dollars.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to require that campaign
advertizing and communications disclose the party affiliation of
the candidate authorizing the advertizing or communication.
This section is new; therefore, strike-throughs and
underscoring have been omitted.