NEW YORK STATE ASSEMBLY MEMORANDUM IN SUPPORT OF LEGISLATION submitted in accordance with Assembly Rule III, Sec 1(f)
BILL NUMBER: A7123
SPONSOR: Abinanti TITLE OF BILL: An act to amend the election law, in relation to
enacting the "2013 Local Fair Elections Act"; and to amend the election
law, the state finance law and the tax law, in relation to providing for
optional partial public financing of certain election campaigns in this
state
PURPOSE OR GENERAL IDEA OF BILL: To provide optional public financing
of campaigns for local elected offices in municipalities and counties
with a population of 2,000,000 people or less.
SUMMARY OF SPECIFIC PROVISIONS: The bill adds a new title to Article
14 to provide for optional public financing of primary and general
election campaigns for local elected offices, in municipalities and
counties with a population of 2,000,000 people or less. Any local
government with a population of 2,000,000 or less, acting through its
local legislative body, may elect to participate by adopting a resol-
ution. in addition, the public may seek a public referendum to require
its local government to participate by filing a petition containing
signatures of at least five percent of the voters registered to vote in
the jurisdiction in which the office to be filled is located.
CRITERIA FOR PARTICIPATION: To be eligible for public financing, a
candidate for nomination or election to a local office must satisfy the
legal requirements for having his or her name on the ballot, elect to
participate in the public financing system, meet the threshold for
eligibility and agree to file required statements and authorize a single
participating committee.
ELIGIBILITY THRESHOLD: Candidates for office in municipalities and
counties with a population over 250,000 and up to and including
2,000,000 must collect not less than $200,000 from at least 2,000 match-
able contributions made up of sums of up to $250 per individual contrib-
utor who resides in New York State.
Candidates for office in municipalities and counties with a population
over 150,000 and up to and including 250,000 must collect not less than
$20,000 from at least 200 matchable contributions made up of sums of up
to $250 per individual contributor who resides in New York state includ-
ing at least $10,000 from at least 125 individual contributors who
reside in the senate district in which the elective office is to be
filled.
Candidates for office in municipalities and.counties with a population
over 25,000 and up to and including 150,000 must collect not less than
$10,000 from at least 100 matchable contributions made up of sums of up
to $250 per individual contributor who resides in New York state includ-
ing at least $5,000 from at least SO individual contributors who reside
in the assembly district in which the office is to be filled.
Candidates for office in municipalities and counties with a population
of 25,000 or less must collect not less than $5,000 from at least 50
matchable contributions made up of sums of up to $250 per individual
contributor who resides in the municipality or county in which the
office is to be filled.
MATCHABLE CONTRIBUTIONS: Matchable contributions may be collected
after January first of the year of the primary or general election.
Matchable contributions for a special election, may be collected up to
six months before the election. Only contributions from persons who
reside in New York State are matchable.
THE MATCH: Eligible contributions up to $250 are marched at the rate
of $6 for every $1.
OTHER PROVISIONS: To receive public funds for a primary election, a
participating candidate must agree to receive public funding for the
general election.
Participating candidates who are unopposed in a primary election may not
receive public funds. Participating candidates whose opponents don't
raise or spend 10% of the public funds receipt limit for the office that
they are seeking, are deemed unopposed.
Candidates who are challenged in a primary and who do not seek public
funds are not eligible for public funds for the general election.
Candidates who are unopposed in a general or special election may not
receive public funds.
PERMISSIBLE AND PROHIBITED USES OF PUBLIC FUNDS: Public funds may be
used only for qualified campaign expenditures during the year of the
primary or general election. For a special election, such funds may only
be used in the 3 months prior to the election. They may not be used for
expenditures in violation of law, for payments to a candidate or to a
relative of the candidate (or to any business entity of which such a
person is an officer or employee or has a ten percent or greater owner-
ship interest), for payments in excess of fair market value, for any
expenditure after the candidate or the candidate's only remaining oppo-
nent has been disqualified (until and unless reversed), to challenge an
opponent's petitions or certificates, for non-campaign related food,
drink, or entertainment, or for gifts.
CONTRIBUTION LIMIT: All candidates who choose to participate in the
public financing system have a contribution limit of $2,000 per contrib-
utor.
PUBLIC FUNDS RECEIPT LIMITS:
The following limits on public funds apply to all candidates who partic-
ipate in the public financing system:
County or municipality General Election Primary
Population between
250,000 and including 2,000,000 $8,000,000 $6,000,000
150,000 and including 250,000 $350,000 $350,000
25,000 and including 150,000 $150,000 $150,000
25,000 or less $75,000 $75,000
A participating candidate may raise unlimited amounts of private money
subject to the $2,000 per contributor limitation.
PARTY EXPENDITURES IN SUPPORT OF PARTICIPATING CANDIDATES:
Notwithstanding the expenditure limits for participating candidates, a
local party committee may make the following expenditures for services
to participating candidates the party has nominated:
Municipalities with a population between:
250,000 up to and including 2,000,000 $1,000,000 150,000 up to and
including 250,000 $100,000 25,000 up to and including 150,000
$50,000 25,000 or less $10,000
ENFORCEMENT: Enforcement of the new act will be handled by the State
Campaign Finance Board created under the 2013 Pair Elections Act, as
proposed by legislative bill numbers S.4705 and A.4980-B.
DEBATES: Participating candidates are required to participate in at
least one debate before the primary election and in at least one debate
before the general election for which the candidate receives public
funds, unless the participating candidate is running unopposed. A
nonparticipating candidate may be a party to such debates.
SOURCES OF FUNDING: The bill provides for an income tax check-off of
$5. Such monies would be paid into a separate fund, known as the Local
Campaign Finance Fund. The taxpayers' tax liability would not be
affected by making this designation.
If the local campaign finance fund lacks the money to pay all properly
certified claims, the deficiency will be paid by the local government
where the participating candidate's office to be filled is located.
PENALTIES: The civil penalty provisions provide that:
1) The failure to make proper campaign finance filings, as required by
the act and rules and regulations promulgated thereunder, shall subject
the offender to a civil penalty of up to $5000.
2) Any person or authorized committee who knowingly and willfully
violates any other provision of the act or any regulations promulgated
thereunder shall be subject to a civil penalty of up to $10,000.
The criminal penalty provisions provide that:
(1) All prosecutions under the act for criminal acts shall be prosecuted
by the Attorney General.
(2) The failure to make proper campaign finance filings, as required by
the act within 10 days or anyone that willfully violates any other
provision of this act shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and in addition
to such other penalties as may be provided by law, shall be subject to a
fine not to exceed the amount of $10,000.
(3) Any person who knowingly and willfully contributes, accepts or aids
or participates in the acceptance of a contribution in an amount exceed-
ing an applicable maximum specified in this act shall be guilty of a
misdemeanor and shall be subject to a fine not to exceed the amount of
$10,000.
(4) Any person who knowingly makes a false statement or knowingly omits
a material fact to the campaign finance board or an auditor designated
by the campaign finance board during any audit conducted pursuant to new
section 14-214 of the Election Law shall be guilty of a class E felony.
(5) In addition to any other sentence lawfully imposed upon a finding of
guilt in a criminal prosecution commenced under the provisions of this
bill, a court may order a defendant to repay to the campaign finance
board any public matching funds obtained as a result of any criminal
conduct.
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY: None
JUSTIFICATION: This public financing bill provides a comprehensive yet
balanced approach to the public financing of local political campaigns.
It contains significant but realistic limitations on expenditures and
contribution receipts, a means for recovering public funds when they are
unspent, excessive or used for prohibited purposes, and penalties for
violations of the filing requirements or the expenditure limitations for
participants.
The "matching contribution" structure of the program has several advan-
tages. It will reduce the amount of time a candidate must spend raising
money, leaving more time to address the issues that are important to the
public. The matching component allows for participation by private citi-
zens throughout the campaign while also conserving resources by ensuring
that only candidates who can show substantial voter support and face
opposition will be eligible to receive public funds.
Overall, the bill strikes a balance that allows challengers and incum-
bents to compete fairly while capping the amount of public funds that
will be expended.
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS: There will be minimal fiscal impact to the state
as the state finance campaign board will be set up to administer the
state finance campaign fund for state elections.
The impact to local municipalities will be determined based on whether
they decide to participate in this optional local fair elections act,
the participating candidates and the amount of contributions raised.
EFFECTIVE DATE: This act shall take effect on the same date as the
2013 Fair Elections Act, as proposed in legislative bills numbers S.4705
and A.4980-E takes effect; provided, however, candidates will be eligi-
ble to participate in the public financing system beginning with the
2014 election.
