SECTION 26.1. Disclosure Statement

(a) A disclosure statement that is required by §255.001, Election Code, must contain the words "political advertising" or any recognizable abbreviation, and must:

(1) appear on one line of text or on successive lines of text on the face of the political advertising; or

(2) be clearly spoken in the political advertising if the political advertising does not include written text.

(b) A disclosure statement is not required on political advertising printed on letterhead stationery if the letterhead contains the full name of one of the following:

(1) the person who paid for the political advertising;

(2) the political committee authorizing the political advertising; or

(3) the candidate authorizing the political advertising.

(c) A disclosure statement is not required on:

(1) campaign buttons, pins, or hats, or on objects whose size makes printing the disclosure impractical;

(2) political advertising posted or re-posted on an Internet website, as long as the person posting or re-posting the political advertising:

(A) is not an officeholder, candidate, or political committee; and

(B) did not make an expenditure exceeding $100 in a reporting period for political advertising beyond the basic cost of hardware messaging software and bandwidth;

(3) the Internet social media profile webpage of a candidate or officeholder, provided the webpage clearly and conspicuously displays the full name of the candidate or officeholder; or

(4) political advertising posted or re-posted by a person on an Internet website, provided the advertising is posted with a link to a publicly viewable Internet webpage that:

(A) contains the disclosure statement; or

(B) is exempt from containing the disclosure statement under Subsection (c)(3).

(d) For the purposes of Subsection (c), an "Internet social media profile webpage" is an Internet webpage on a website where members of the public may, for no charge, connect electronically with other members of the public and share text, images, videos, and similar forms of communications.

Source Note: The provisions of this §26.1 adopted to be effective December 31, 1993, 18 TexReg 9746; amended to be effective December 10, 2003, 28 TexReg 10906; amended to be effective January 1, 2017, 41 TexReg 10541; amended to be effective January 6, 2019, 44 TexReg 93