Relating to political advertising distributed or broadcast as part of a mass text message campaign and civil penalties for required disclosures on certain political advertising.
Summary
HB 143 amends the Texas Election Code to expressly include political advertising distributed or broadcast as part of a mass text message campaign. Under the bill, a communication supporting or opposing a candidate, political party, public officer, or measure can qualify as political advertising if it is sent through an organized mass texting effort for which funds are spent beyond basic hardware, software, and bandwidth costs. This expands the statutory definition of political advertising to cover a newer form of campaign communication.
The bill also changes how civil penalties are assessed for disclosure violations involving these text-message campaigns. If multiple texts are sent as part of a single mass text message campaign that violates the required-disclosure rules, they are treated as only one violation for penalty purposes. The bill applies only to political advertising distributed or broadcast on or after its effective date, which is 91 days after the end of the legislative session.
Impact
HB 143 would update the Election Code’s definition of political advertising and related enforcement provisions, bringing mass text messaging within the scope of existing disclosure and regulation requirements. It would affect candidates, political parties, political committees, consultants, and others who use text-message campaigns for election-related messaging, while also limiting cumulative civil penalties by treating a single campaign as one violation. The bill would not retroactively apply to messages sent before its effective date.
Sentiment
The available record shows no committee transcript or recorded votes, so there is no documented floor or committee debate to indicate support or opposition. Based on the bill’s structure, it appears aimed at clarifying election-law coverage for modern campaign tactics and at moderating penalties for a single texting campaign, suggesting a regulatory rather than punitive approach.
Contention
No specific points of contention are documented in the provided materials. Potential areas of debate, if raised, would likely involve whether mass text messaging should be regulated like traditional political advertising, how broadly the definition of a mass text message campaign should reach, and whether treating an entire campaign as one violation appropriately balances enforcement with penalty fairness. However, the record provided does not identify any member, group, or stakeholder taking a formal position.
Relating to political advertising distributed or broadcast as part of a mass text message campaign and civil penalties for required disclosures on certain political advertising.
Relating to political advertising distributed or broadcast as part of a mass text message campaign and civil penalties for required disclosures on certain political advertising.
Relating to political advertising distributed or broadcast as part of a mass text message campaign and civil penalties for required disclosures on certain political advertising.
Relating to prohibiting the use of certain political advertising manipulated by generative artificial intelligence technology; creating a criminal offense.