Relates to the disposition of campaign funds raised by an elected official who has been convicted of a crime committed while in public office or has been impeached and has been convicted, or has resigned public office following findings by either the attorney general or a committee of the legislature that the official has violated the law.
STATE OF NEW YORK
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7874--B
IN SENATE
January 18, 2022
___________
Introduced by Sens. BIAGGI, KRUEGER, MAY -- read twice and ordered
printed, and when printed to be committed to the Committee on
Elections -- committee discharged, bill amended, ordered reprinted as
amended and recommitted to said committee -- committee discharged,
bill amended, ordered reprinted as amended and recommitted to said
committee
AN ACT to amend the election law, in relation to the disposition of
campaign funds raised by an elected official who has been convicted of
a crime committed while in public office or has been impeached and
convicted or has resigned
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. Section 14-132 of the election law is amended by adding a
2 new subdivision 1-a to read as follows:
3 1-a. No elected official who has been convicted of a crime committed
4 while in public office, or who has been impeached and convicted, or who
5 resigned his or her public office following findings by either the
6 attorney general or a committee of the legislature that the official has
7 violated the law, shall expend any campaign funds raised while he or she
8 held such same public office in support of any candidate for public
9 office or any issue in any campaign for public office in this state.
10 Provided, however, that nothing in this subdivision shall prohibit such
11 former officeholder from raising and spending money in support of poli-
12 tical activities in an account that did not exist at the time he or she
13 held office, unless barred from doing so by any sentence for a crime or
14 impeachable offense. Where such elected official or elected official's
15 authorized committee received campaign contributions, all such funds
16 shall be disposed of by any of the following means, or any combination
17 thereof, within two years of conviction or resignation:
18 (a) returning, pro rata, to each contributor the funds that have not
19 been spent or obligated;
20 (b) donating the funds to a charitable organization or organizations
21 that meet the qualifications of section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Reven-
22 ue Code;
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD13129-11-2
S. 7874--B 2
1 (c) donating the funds to the state university of New York or the city
2 university of New York; or
3 (d) donating the funds to the state's general fund.
4 § 2. Subdivision 2 of section 14-132 of the election law, as added by
5 section 2 of part C of chapter 286 of the laws of 2016, is amended to
6 read as follows:
7 2. No [such candidate's] authorized political committee on behalf of a
8 candidate as described by subdivision one of this section or elected
9 official described by subdivision one-a of this section shall dispose of
10 campaign funds by making expenditures for personal use as defined in
11 section 14-130 of this article.
12 § 3. This act shall take effect immediately.
