New York Codes, Rules and Regulations
Title 19 - DEPARTMENT OF STATE
Chapter XX - Commission on ethics and lobbying in Government
Part 940 - PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENTS WITH COVERED OFFICIALS: PERMISSIBLE AND PROPER USAGE
Section 940.3 - Public Service Announcements

Universal Citation: 19 NY Comp Codes Rules and Regs ยง 940.3

Current through Register Vol. 45, No. 52, December 27, 2023

(a) A public service announcement is a communication that meets all of the following criteria:

(1) the communication:
(i) is designed to promote programs, activities, or services of nonprofit organizations or Federal, State or local governments; or

(ii) imparts information generally regarded as serving the public interest;

(2) the communication is sponsored or paid for by:
(i) a person; or

(ii) an organization or entity with a mission or history that includes providing outreach and public service announcements to the community;

(3) the communication is subject to the public service announcement policies, if any, of the entity publishing the communication;

(4) the communication does not advertise a commercial product or service;

(5) the communication is not paid for or controlled by a covered official who is a candidate and who appears in the communication, or his or her party or party committee, or any organization affiliated with the covered official or his or her party or party committee;

(6) the communication does not constitute lobbying or lobbying activities, as those terms are defined in Legislative Law article 1-A;

(7) the communication:
(i) does not promote or support a covered official who is a candidate or criticize or oppose an individual running against such covered official;

(ii) could not reasonably be interpreted to be an appeal to vote for such covered official or to vote against an individual running opposed to such covered official;

(iii) does not include any personal, political or campaign information; and

(iv) does not link or refer to any websites created or operated by a campaign or any campaign-related entity, including a campaign committee, party, or party committee;

(8) the communication is of primary interest to the general public or a segment of the general public.

(b) Examples of public service announcements include, but are not limited to, communications regarding nonprofit or governmental outreach or awareness activities such as: breast cancer screening; heart disease prevention; domestic violence awareness and prevention; energy conservation; organ donation; emergency or other disaster relief; programs designed to encourage reading; job training and job fairs; and fund drives for charitable activities.

(c) The following is a non-exhaustive list of communications that are not regulated or otherwise restricted by this Part:

(1) news, editorials, or opinions in which a covered official appears that are published in a news medium that is not controlled by the covered official or his or her party or party committee:
(i) news medium means an entity that regularly publishes news to either the public-at-large or to subscribers;

(ii) news means information that is about current events or that would be of current interest to the public and that, through the use of editorial skills, is turned into a distinct work that is published to an audience;

(iii) editorial means a communication that provides an opinion of the news medium that is publishing the communication;

(iv) opinion means a communication, including but not limited to, a column, a letter to the editor, or blog or comment on a blog, expressing a viewpoint and is authored by an individual or entity other than the news medium that is publishing the communication;

(2) State agency websites; official websites of, and communications from, members of the New York State Legislature;

(3) a covered official's personal communications, including but not limited to, letters, emails, and postings on social media pages.

Adopted, New York State Register, Volume XXXVI, Issue 32, effective 8/13/2014

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