Int. No. 291

By Council Members Gallagher, Oddo, Provenzano, Stewart, Addabbo, Felder, Jennings, McMahon, Sears and Lanza

A Local Law to amend the administrative code of the city of New York, in relation to modifying matchable contributions for participating candidates in the campaign finance program and eliminating references to political contributions from corporations.

Be it enacted by the Council as follows:

Section 1.  Subdivision 6 of section 3-703 of the administrative code of the city of New York is amended to read as follows:

6.                     Each participating candidate shall designate, not later than thirty days after filing the written certification required pursuant to subdivision one of this section, a single principal committee, to receive public funds pursuant to this chapter and report, to the best of the candidate’s, treasurer’s, and authorized committees’ knowledge, to the campaign finance board every contribution, loan, guarantee, or other security for such loan received by the candidate, such principal committee and any other authorized committee of such candidate, the full name, residential address, occupation, employer, and business address of each individual, [corporation,] partnership, political committee, employee organization or other entity making, or which is the intermediary for, such contribution, loan, guarantee, or other security for such loan and every expenditure made by the candidate, such principal committee, and any other authorized committee of such candidate, including expenditures not subject to section 3-706.  An intermediary need not be reported for any contribution that was collected from a contributor in connection with a party or other candidate-related event held at the residence of the person delivering the contribution, unless the expenses of such events at such residence for such candidate exceed five hundred dollars for a covered election or the aggregate contributions received from that contributor at such events exceed five hundred dollars.  Contributions aggregating not more than ninety-nine dollars from any one contributor for all covered elections held in a single calendar year or for a special election need not be separately itemized in disclosure reports submitted to the board on behalf of a participating candidate, provided, however, that contributions which are not itemized shall not be matchable.  The treasurer of the principal committee need not collect or disclose the occupation, employer, and business address of any contributor making contributions aggregating not more than ninety-nine dollars for all covered elections held in a single calendar year or for a special election.  Such reports shall be submitted at such times and in such form as the campaign finance board shall require and shall be clearly legible.  Disclosure reports, other than reports required to be filed every six months in accordance with the schedule specified by the state board of elections, need not be submitted on behalf of a participating candidate if the cumulative amount of contributions and loans accepted by such candidate and his or her authorized committees following the period covered in the last disclosure report submitted to the board on behalf of such candidate is less than two thousand dollars or such higher amount as may be determined by the board, provided, however, that disclosure reports shall be submitted on behalf of a participating candidate if that candidate and his or her authorized committees have made expenditures in excess of eighty-five percent of the expenditure limitation applicable under section 3-706.  The board shall make available to the public a copy of disclosure reports within two business days after they are accepted by the board.

§2.                     Subdivision 2 of section 3-705 of the administrative code of the city of New York is amended to read as follows:

2.                     If the threshold for eligibility is met, the participating candidate's principal committee shall receive payment for qualified campaign expenditures of [four] two dollars for each one dollar of matchable contributions, up to one thousand dollars in public funds per contributor (or up to five hundred dollars in public funds per contributor in the case of a special election), obtained and reported to the campaign finance board in accordance with the provisions of this chapter, but in no case shall such principal committee receive in public funds an amount exceeding fifty-five percent of the expenditure limitation provided in subdivision one of section 3-706 for the office for which such candidate seeks nomination for election or election, except as otherwise provided in subdivision three of section 3-706.

 No funds shall be provided pursuant to this subdivision with respect to any covered election specified in subdivision five of this section.

§3.                     Paragraph (b) of subdivision 3 of section 3-706 of the administrative code of the city of New York is amended to read as follows:

(b)                     the principal committees of such participating candidates shall receive payment for qualified campaign expenditures of [five] three dollars for each one dollar of matchable contributions, up to one thousand two hundred fifty dollars in public funds per contributor (or up to six hundred twenty five dollars in public funds per contributor in the case of a special election), except that in no case shall a principal committee receive in public funds an amount exceeding two-thirds of the expenditure limitation provided for such office in subdivision one of this section.

§4.                     This local law shall take effect immediately, and shall be applicable to all contributions, receipts, expenditures and public fund claims for elections held sixty days or more after such effective date, regardless whether the contribution, receipt, expenditure or claim occurred prior to such effective date.