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
________________________________________________________________________
685
2025-2026 Regular Sessions
IN ASSEMBLY(Prefiled)
January 8, 2025
___________
Introduced by M. of A. STECK, GONZALEZ-ROJAS, SIMONE, WOERNER -- read
once and referred to the Committee on Election Law
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 such official's 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 such
8 official held such same public office in support of any candidate for
9 public office or any issue in any campaign for public office in this
10 state. Provided, however, that nothing in this subdivision shall
11 prohibit such former officeholder from raising and spending money in
12 support of political activities in an account that did not exist at the
13 time such official held office, unless barred from doing so by any
14 sentence for a crime or impeachable offense. Where such elected official
15 or elected official's authorized committee received campaign contrib-
16 utions, all such funds shall be disposed of by any of the following
17 means, or any combination thereof, within two years of conviction or
18 resignation:
19 (a) returning, pro rata, to each contributor the funds that have not
20 been spent or obligated;
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD02414-01-5
A. 685 2
1 (b) donating the funds to a charitable organization or organizations
2 that meet the qualifications of section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Reven-
3 ue Code;
4 (c) donating the funds to the state university of New York or the city
5 university of New York; or
6 (d) donating the funds to the state's general fund.
7 § 2. Subdivision 2 of section 14-132 of the election law, as added by
8 section 2 of part C of chapter 286 of the laws of 2016, is amended to
9 read as follows:
10 2. No [such candidate's] authorized political committee on behalf of a
11 candidate as described by subdivision one of this section or elected
12 official described by subdivision one-a of this section shall dispose of
13 campaign funds by making expenditures for personal use as defined in
14 section 14-130 of this article.
15 § 3. This act shall take effect immediately.
