Bills To End Distorted Photos In Political Ads, Straight Party Voting Before Elections Committee Today
Vince Leibowitz | Mar 30, 2009 | Comments 0
A bill by State Rep. Joe Heflin (D-Crosbyton) which would regulate auto-dialed political campaign calls and prevent political candidates and PACs from using distorted photos of other candidates will be heard by the House Elections Committee this afternoon.
Heflin’s bill, HB 487, includes the following relating to distorted photos:
Sec. 255.010. USE OF ALTERED OR DISTORTED PHOTOGRAPH IN POLITICAL ADVERTISING PROHIBITED. (a) A candidate or political committee may not knowingly publish, broadcast, distribute, or contract for the publication, broadcast, or distribution of political advertising that contains a photograph of the candidate’s opponent or of a candidate the committee opposes that has been altered or distorted in a manner that a reasonable person would find to be unflattering or uncomplimentary.
While this part of the bill is indeed interesting, I strongly suspect this language won’t make it out of committee and may not even pass constitutional muster because of the infringements it places on free speech. We’ll see.
Also set for hearing is State Rep. Dan Branch’s HB 1768, which would end straight-party voting.
![[Post to Twitter]](/wp-content/plugins/tweet-this/icons/tt-twitter.png){kind=icon}
![[Post to Ping.fm]](/wp-content/plugins/tweet-this/icons/tt-ping.png){kind=icon}
Filed Under: 81st Texas Legislature
