Int. No. 925
Introduced by Council Members Ognibene, Abel and Golden (by the request of the Mayor) - read and referred to the Committee on Governmental Operations.
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 corporate contributions, and to repeal subdivision 1-a of section 3-703 of such code, relating to political contributions from corporations.
Be it enacted by the Council as follows:
Section 1. Paragraph (f) of subdivision 1 of section 3-703 of the administrative code of the city of New York, as amended by local law number 48 for the year 1998, is amended to read as follows:
(f) not accept his or her principal committee and any other political committee authorized by such candidate must not accept, either directly or by transfer, any contribution or contributions from any one individual, [corporation,] partnership, political committee, employee organization or other entity for all covered elections held in the same calendar year in which he or she is a participating candidate which in the aggregate: (i) for the office of mayor, public advocate or comptroller, shall exceed four thousand five hundred dollars, or (ii) for borough president, shall exceed three thousand five hundred dollars, or (iii) for member of the city council, shall exceed two thousand five hundred dollars; provided that a candidate and his or her authorized committees may accept additional contributions which do not exceed one half the amount of the applicable limitation for any run-off primary election, additional day for voting held pursuant to section 3-108 of the election law, special election to fill a vacancy, or election held pursuant to court order which is a covered election and in which the candidate seeks nomination for election or election; and provided further that if state law prescribes a contribution limitation of a lesser amount, this paragraph shall not be deemed to authorize acceptance of a contribution in excess of such lesser amount. The maximum contributions set forth in this paragraph shall be adjusted in accordance with subdivision seven of this section;
§2. Subdivision 1-a of section 3-703 of the administrative code of the city of New York is REPEALED.
§3. Subdivision 6 of section 3-703 of the administrative code of the city of New York, as amended by local law number 69 for the year 1990, 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 principle 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 principle 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.
§4. Subdivision 11 of section 3-703 of the administrative code of the city of New York, as amended by local law number 48 for the year 1998, is amended to read as follows:
11. Regardless whether a participating candidate demonstrates eligibility for optional public financing under this chapter, a participating candidate and his or her authorized committees are nonetheless required to abide by [: (a)] the requirements of paragraphs (d), (e), (f), (g), (h), (i) and (k) of subdivision one of this section [, and (b) the requirements of subdivision 1-a of this section, in the case of a participating candidate who accepts the additional condition set forth in that subdivision].
§5. Subdivision 2 of section 3-705 of the administrative code of the city of New York, as amended by local law number 48 for the year 1998, is amended to read as follows:
2. If the threshold for eligibility is met, the participating candidate's principle committee shall receive payment for qualified campaign expenditures of [:
(a) one dollar] two dollars for each one dollar of matchable contributions obtained and reported to the campaign finance board in accordance with the provisions of this chapter, [but in no case shall such principle 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.
(b) in the case of participating candidates who accept and are in compliance with the additional conditions set forth in subdivision one-a of section 3-703 of this chapter, four 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.
§6. Paragraph (b) of subdivision 3 of section 3-706 of the administrative code of the city of New York, as amended by local law number 48 for the year 1998, is amended to read as follows:
(b) the principle committees of such participating candidates shall receive payment for qualified campaign expenditures of[:
(i) two] three 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 special election), or
(ii) in the case of participating candidates who accept and are in compliance with the additional condition set forth in subdivision one-a of section 3-703 of this chapter, five 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.
§7. 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.