Virginia Code 24.2-959.1: Requirements for campaign telephone calls sponsored by a political committee or person other than a candidate or candidate campaign committee.
It shall be unlawful for any person or political committee to make campaign telephone calls without disclosing, before the conclusion of each telephone call, information to identify the person or political committee who has authorized and is paying for the calls unless such call is terminated prematurely by means beyond the maker’s control.
Terms Used In Virginia Code 24.2-959.1
- Board: means the State Board of Elections. See Virginia Code 24.2-101
- Campaign telephone calls: means a series of telephone calls or text messages, electronic or otherwise, made (i) to 25 or more telephone numbers in the Commonwealth, (ii) during the 180 days before a general or special election or during the 90 days before a primary or other political party nominating event, (iii) conveying or soliciting information relating to any candidate or political party participating in the election, primary or other nominating event, and (iv) under an agreement to compensate the telephone callers. See Virginia Code 24.2-955.1
- Corporation: A legal entity owned by the holders of shares of stock that have been issued, and that can own, receive, and transfer property, and carry on business in its own name.
- Includes: means includes, but not limited to. See Virginia Code 1-218
- Person: includes any individual, corporation, partnership, association, cooperative, limited liability company, trust, joint venture, government, political subdivision, or any other legal or commercial entity and any successor, representative, agent, agency, or instrumentality thereof. See Virginia Code 1-230
- Political committee: means "political committee" as defined in § Virginia Code 24.2-955.1
- State: when applied to a part of the United States, includes any of the 50 states, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, and the United States Virgin Islands. See Virginia Code 1-245
- Telephone call: means any single telephone call or text message, electronic or otherwise, that when combined with other telephone calls or text messages constitutes campaign telephone calls. See Virginia Code 24.2-955.1
The person making the telephone call shall disclose the following identifying information: the name of the political committee if the calls are authorized by that committee or an agent of that committee; and in the case of a committee that has filed a statement of organization under Chapter 9.3 (§ 24.2-945 et seq.), the full name of the committee and a registration number provided by the State Board; or in any other case, the full name and residence address of the individual responsible for the campaign telephone calls.
It shall be unlawful for any person, corporation, or political committee making campaign telephone calls to intentionally modify the caller identification information for the purpose of misleading the recipient as to the identity of the caller. If the call is made from an automatic dialing-announcing device and caller identification information includes a name associated with the telephone number, then the caller identification information shall include either the name of the person, corporation, or political committee that has authorized and is paying for the calls or the vendor conducting the calls on behalf of the person, corporation, or political committee. “Automatic dialing-announcing device” means the same as that term is defined in § 59.1-518.1.
It shall also be unlawful (i) for any person who contracts for campaign telephone calls to fail to provide to the persons making the telephone calls the identifying information required by this section or (ii) for any person to provide a false or fictitious name or address when providing the identifying information required.
2000, c. 874, § 24.2-1014.1; 2006, cc. 787, 892; 2010, c. 323.