Establishes the reputational insight and oversight transparency act; restricts investments by certain firms that receive investments from any public retirement system or pension funds.
NEW YORK STATE ASSEMBLY MEMORANDUM IN SUPPORT OF LEGISLATION submitted in accordance with Assembly Rule III, Sec 1(f)
BILL NUMBER: A373
SPONSOR: Kim TITLE OF BILL:
An act to amend the retirement and social security law, in relation to
establishing the reputational insight and oversight transparency act
PURPOSE OR GENERAL IDEA OF BILL:
This bill establishes the Reputational Insight and Oversight Transparen-
cy (RIOT) Act.
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:
Section 1 provides the short-title.
Section 2 provides the legislative findings.
Section 3 amends the Retirement and Social Security Law by adding a new
section 177-f to require firms in which the public pension funds have
invested to pledge to not give any direct corporate contributions to
certain tax-exempt organizations, and provides restrictions and disclo-
sure requirements for senior executives at such firms around individual
contributions.
Section 4 provides the effective date.
DIFFERENCE BETWEEN ORIGINAL AND AMENDED VERSION (IF APPLICABLE):
JUSTIFICATION:
The insurrection on the United States Capitol that took place on January
6th, 2021 will forever be remembered as the day that democracy almost
died in our nation. Many are attempting to circumvent any accountability
by calling for forgiveness and unity. We believe the damage is already
done and we must attack the problem that led to this moment: dark money
supporting anti-democratic activities.
The Reputational Insight and Oversight Transparency Act (RIOT Act) will
ensure greater accountability in the investments made by the public
pension funds of New York State and New York City. The bill will mandate
that firms in which the funds invest pledge to not make direct corporate
contributions to 501(c)4 and 527 organizations, and explicitly forbid
executives at those firms from making individual contributions to such
organizations in excess of ten thousand dollars, while requiring disclo-
sures for contributions below and including that amount. It will also
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
373
2025-2026 Regular Sessions
IN ASSEMBLY(Prefiled)
January 8, 2025
___________
Introduced by M. of A. KIM, MAMDANI -- read once and referred to the
Committee on Governmental Employees
AN ACT to amend the retirement and social security law, in relation to
establishing the reputational insight and oversight transparency act
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. This act shall be known and may be cited as the "reputa-
2 tional insight and oversight transparency act" or "RIOT act".
3 § 2. Legislative findings. The legislature finds, (a) in the aftermath
4 of the January 6th storming of the United States Capitol, that groups
5 who had supported lawmakers in overturning the presidential election
6 results had financial backing from private equity firms and big corpo-
7 rations, and (b) that public pension investments through the New York
8 State Common Retirement Fund and analogous pension funds in New York
9 state municipalities must account for reputational risk for the welfare
10 of New York state public employees.
11 § 3. The retirement and social security law is amended by adding a new
12 section 177-f to read as follows:
13 § 177-f. Restriction of certain investments in firms. 1. Firms in
14 which the fund invests shall not pledge any direct corporate contrib-
15 utions to independent expenditure-only political action committees
16 (super PACs), tax-exempt political organizations defined under section
17 527 of the Internal Revenue Code or tax-exempt organizations defined
18 under § 501(c)(4) of the Internal Revenue Code.
19 2. Senior executives at such firms are prohibited from making individ-
20 ual contributions in excess of ten thousand dollars to the entities
21 listed in subdivision one of this section.
22 3. Senior executives at such firms who make individual contributions
23 to the entities listed in subdivision one of this section at or below
24 ten thousand dollars shall disclose such contributions to either the
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD00188-01-5
A. 373 2
1 department of audit and control, the office of the New York state comp-
2 troller or the office of the New York city comptroller, whichever
3 department or office oversees the fund.
4 § 4. This act shall take effect immediately.
