1. A person who causes the publication or distribution of published material designed to promote or defeat the nomination or election of a candidate for public office or the passage of a constitutional amendment or public measure shall include conspicuously on the published material the identity and address of the person responsible for the material. If the person responsible is an organization, the name of one officer of the organization shall appear on the material. However, if the organization is a committee which has filed a statement of organization under this chapter, only the name of the committee is required to be included on the published material. Published material designed to promote or defeat the nomination or election of a candidate for public office or the passage of a constitutional amendment or public measure which contains language or depictions which a reasonable person would understand as asserting that an entity which is incorporated or is a registered committee had authored the material shall, if the entity is not incorporated or a registered committee, include conspicuously on the published material a statement that the apparent organization or committee is not incorporated or a registered committee in addition to the disclaimer statement required by this section. For purposes of this section, "registered committee" means a committee which has an active statement of organization filed under section 56.5.
2. This section does not apply to the editorials or news articles of a newspaper or magazine which are not political advertisements. For the purpose of this section, "published material" means any newspaper, magazine, shopper, outdoor advertising facility, poster, direct mailing, brochure, or any other form of printed general public political advertising; however, the identification need not be conspicuous on posters. This section does not apply to yard signs, bumper stickers, pins, buttons, pens, matchbooks, and similar small items upon which the inclusion of the disclaimer would be impracticable or to published material which is subject to federal regulations regarding a disclaimer requirement.
3. Yard signs shall not be placed on any property which adjoins a city, county, or state roadway sooner than forty- five days preceding a primary or general election and shall be removed within seven days after the primary or general election, in which the name of the particular candidate or ballot issue described on the yard sign appears on the ballot. Yard signs are subject to removal by highway authorities as provided in section 319.13, or by county or city law enforcement authorities in a manner consistent with section 319.13. The placement or erection of yard signs shall be exempt from the requirements of chapter 480. Notice may be provided to the chairperson of the appropriate county central committee if the highway authorities are unable to provide notice to the candidate, candidate's committee, or political committee regarding the yard sign.
4. This section does not prohibit the placement of yard signs on agricultural land owned by individuals or by a family farm operation as defined in section 9H.1, subsections 8, 8A, 9, and 10; does not prohibit the placement of yard signs on property owned by private individuals who have rented or leased the property to a corporation, if the prior written permission of the property owner is obtained; and does not prohibit the placement of yard signs on residential property owned by a corporation but rented or leased to a private individual if the prior permission of the renter or lessee is obtained. For the purposes of this chapter, "agricultural land" means agricultural land as defined in section 9H.1.
5. This section shall not be construed to require the inclusion on published material of information which discloses the identity or address of any individual who is acting independently and using the individual's own modest resources to publish or distribute the material.
86 Acts, ch 1023, § 11; 86 Acts, ch 1246, § 620; 87 Acts, ch 112, § 8; 94 Acts, ch 1178, §1; 95 Acts, ch 198, §13
Referred to in § 56.15
Placement of political signs; see §306C.22
Iowa General Assembly
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