Following recent court decisions regarding First Amendment rights, the City Council passed an ordinance that modifies existing rules guiding signs and fliers.
The council eliminated a code that required all handbills and leaflets include attribution, removing the regulation because of a Supreme Court precedent that First Amendment protects anonymous political speech.
The ordinance takes out section 4.08.700 of the municipal code which states that no person shall hand out any commercial or noncommercial flier that doesn’t have the name and address of the person who manufactured and distributed it.
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on September 18, 2008. Read the original PDF.