Political ad transparency bill passes Texas House

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HOUSTON, TEXAS - MARCH 26: Speaker Dade Phelan (Raquel Natalicchio/Houston Chronicle via Getty Images)

AUSTIN, Texas - The Texas House on Wednesday approved a bill requiring political advertisements to disclose if an image, audio or video recording used was substantially altered.

House Bill 366, authored by former House speaker Dade Phelen (R-Beaumont), looks to combat the use of generative artificial intelligence that makes it easier to manipulate media to falsely represent an officeholder's or candidate's appearance, speech, or conduct, and potentially mislead voters.

What they're saying:

"It is my goal to prevent someone from impacting or altering an election by using fake media that never occurred in reality, be it AI or deep fakes," Phelan said.

Critics of the bill, however, say the bill will be used to limit political speech.

"So we know that this bill is going to be abused to put people in jail for political speech," Rep. Nate Schatzline (R-Fort Worth) said. "Is it your intent to limit grassroots organizations from criticizing their elected officials?"

The bill excludes broadcasters, companies, commercial sign owners, computer services and internet service providers from liability.

"This is the beginning of a new era in ethics where the voters need to know what is real and what is not," Phelan said. "This AI technology gets better every single day. It gets more inexpensive every single day, it's going to become the norm."

Phelan said the use of AI in campaigns was leading voters to question if real endorsements were actually real, like when his primary opponent was endorsed by President Donald Trump.

"They did not believe it was real, because there's so much out there that's not real," Phelan said.

Penalties for violation

The bill would require disclosure by an officeholder, candidate or political committee that used altered media in ads and spends more than $100 on political advertising.

The Texas Ethics Commission would determine what the disclosure form would look like, including font, size and color.

Violators would be charged with a Class A misdemeanor punishable by up to one year in jail and/or a maximum fine of $4,000.

What's next:

Phelan's bill passed out of the house by a vote of 102-40. It will go to the Senate, where its future is unknown.