Santa Fe, NM – The New Mexico State Senate Rules Committee do-passed a bill on Saturday that seeks to bring clarity and truthfulness to statewide political advertisements. On a vote of 4-3, the committee approved Senate Bill 675 (SB 675), “Truth in Political Advertising Act”, sponsored by Senator Howie C. Morales (D-28-Catron, Grant, & Socorro).
“Voter turnout was low in this last general election. Throughout my travels around the state, I learned it was partly due to voter’s concerns about the onslaught of political ads they were bombarded with during that election,” said Senator Morales. “Of course, their main concern was whether they could believe the information they were being bombarded with. Now that the election is over, we have learned that not all the things being portrayed as ‘fact’ were completely true.”
SB 675 seeks to establish three non-partisan groups selected by the state Attorney General’s Office to establish a system that would rate statewide political advertisements on a scale from 1 to 5, based on truth or falsity, or whether an ad is misleading. Campaign organizations would be required to submit advertisements to two of the groups for review and if their determinations are different, a third group will make a final determination of truth.
Candidates then must ensure that the rating is displayed prominently somewhere within the advertisement or be subject to a fine. Political campaign organizations would also be subject to a fine if they released an advertisement that never went through the review process.
“I believe political campaigns have a responsibility to be honest, and unfortunately that is not always the case. Voter confidence in the process needs to be re-established; this legislation will hopefully make political consultants and campaign managers think twice before allowing lies to be printed or aired on television,” Sen. Morales added. “I think voters will appreciate that independent, non-partisan review of political ads, will give them a clear picture of the messages being portrayed.”
The bill now heads to the Senate Judiciary Committee.