Requires the filing of additional transferor and contributor identification information in campaign receipt and expenditure statements for the receipt of amounts over one hundred dollars, including the full name, full residential address including any suite, floor, or apartment, occupation, employer and employer's full business address in the case of an individual, and the full name and address of any partnership, committee, association, corporation, labor organization or group of persons.
NEW YORK STATE ASSEMBLY MEMORANDUM IN SUPPORT OF LEGISLATION submitted in accordance with Assembly Rule III, Sec 1(f)
BILL NUMBER: A6542
SPONSOR: Carroll TITLE OF BILL:
An act to amend the election law, in relation to requiring additional
transferor and contributor identification information in campaign
receipt and expenditure statements
PURPOSE:
This bill would require a political committee to disclose a contribu-
tor's occupation, employer, and full name and address along with their
employer's full name and business address.
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:
Section 1 of the bill would amend subdivision 1 of section 14-102 of the
election law, regarding statements of campaign receipts, contributions,
transfers, and expenditures to and by political committees, as amended
by chapter 8 of the laws of 1978 and as redesignated by chapter 9 of the
laws of 1978, to require a political committee to disclose additional
information regarding contributors who give more than $99 to a political
committee. For individual contributors giving more than $99, the
contributor's full residential address, occupation, employer, and
employer's full business address would be required. For organizational
contributors, their full name and full business address are required.
Any statement reporting a loan requires the full business name and
address of any commercial or business entity providing the loan or the
full name of the person providing the loan including their full residen-
tial address, employer, and full business address.
Section 2 of the bill establishes the effective date.
JUSTIFICATION:
Opaque campaign fundraising practices are having a corrosive effect on
the public's confidence in the integrity of government. Too often, citi-
zens feel that their votes are of little consequence compared to wealthy
campaign donors. The cumulative impact is a significant threat to the
fundamental values of democracy. A fundamental component of campaign
finance laws is that campaign committees must disclose the identity of
contributors. The rationale is that public awareness of who has contrib-
uted may reduce the possibility of elected officials favoring contribu-
tors. Requiring that significant contributors disclose their occupations
and employer's information is necessary to ensure that contributors are
adequately identified and to provide the public with additional informa-
tion that may be useful in assessing where a contributor's interests may
lie and whether an elected official might favor that contributor.
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:
2013-2014: S941/No Same as
2015-2016: S1360/A7321 Pichardo
2017-2018: S1218/A5898 Pichardo
2019-2020: S492/A2028 Pichardo
2021-2022: S2546 Rivera
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:
None.
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect on the first of December succeeding the date
on which it shall have become a law.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
6542
2023-2024 Regular Sessions
IN ASSEMBLY
April 14, 2023
___________
Introduced by M. of A. CARROLL -- read once and referred to the Commit-
tee on Election Law
AN ACT to amend the election law, in relation to requiring additional
transferor and contributor identification information in campaign
receipt and expenditure statements
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. Subdivision 1 of section 14-102 of the election law, as
2 amended by chapter 8 of the laws of 1978 and as redesignated by chapter
3 9 of the laws of 1978, is amended to read as follows:
4 1. The treasurer of every political committee which, or any officer,
5 member or agent of any such committee who, in connection with any
6 election, receives or expends any money or other valuable thing or
7 incurs any liability to pay money or its equivalent shall file state-
8 ments sworn, or subscribed and bearing a form notice that false state-
9 ments made therein are punishable as a class A misdemeanor pursuant to
10 section 210.45 of the penal law, at the times prescribed by this article
11 setting forth all the receipts, contributions to and the expenditures by
12 and liabilities of the committee, and of its officers, members and
13 agents in its behalf. Such statements shall include the dollar amount of
14 any receipt, contribution or transfer, or the fair market value of any
15 receipt, contribution or transfer, which is other than of money, the
16 name [and], address and other identification of the transferor, contrib-
17 utor or person from whom received, and if the transferor, contributor or
18 person is a political committee; the name of and the political unit
19 represented by the committee, the date of its receipt, the dollar amount
20 of every expenditure, the name and address of the person to whom it was
21 made or the name of and the political unit represented by the committee
22 to which it was made and the date thereof, and shall state clearly the
23 purpose of such expenditure. The requirement to include other identifi-
24 cation shall apply only with respect to a transfer or contribution from
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD01777-02-3
A. 6542 2
1 any one transferor or contributor which either results in the aggregate
2 transfers or contributions from that one transferor or contributor
3 exceeding the sum of ninety-nine dollars or is a transfer or contrib-
4 ution which occurs after such ninety-nine dollar threshold is reached.
5 The other identification required with respect to an individual transfe-
6 ror or contributor shall be his or her full name, full residential
7 address, including any suite, floor, or apartment, occupation, employer
8 and employer's full business address, including any suite, floor, or
9 apartment number. The other identification required with respect to any
10 partnership, committee, association, corporation, labor organization or
11 other organization or group of persons shall be its full name and full
12 business address, including any suite, floor, or apartment number. Any
13 statement reporting a loan shall have attached to it a copy of the
14 evidence of indebtedness, and shall include the full business name and
15 address, including any suite, floor, or apartment number of any commer-
16 cial or business entity providing the loan, or the full name of any
17 person providing the loan, including his or her full residential
18 address, including any suite, floor or apartment number, occupation,
19 employer and employer's full business address, including any suite,
20 floor, and apartment number. Expenditures in sums under fifty dollars
21 need not be specifically accounted for by separate items in said state-
22 ments, and receipts and contributions aggregating not more than ninety-
23 nine dollars, from any one contributor need not be specifically
24 accounted for by separate items in said statements, provided however,
25 that such expenditures, receipts and contributions shall be subject to
26 the other provisions of section 14-118 of this article.
27 § 2. This act shall take effect on the first of December next succeed-
28 ing the date on which it shall have become a law.
