Int. No. 192-A
By The Speaker (Council Member Quinn) and Council Members Arroyo, Avella, Brewer, Fidler, Garodnick, Gonzalez, James, Koppell, Lappin, Mark-Viverito, Martinez, McMahon, Nelson, Palma, Weprin, White Jr., Liu, Vacca, Jackson, Gentile, Gennaro and The Public Advocate (Ms. Gotbaum) (in conjunction with the Mayor)
A Local Law to amend the administrative code of the city of New York, in relation to campaign contributions by lobbyists.
Be it enacted by the Council as follows:
Section 1. Subdivision 3 of section 3-702 of the administrative code of the city of New York, as amended by local law number 58 for the year 2004, is amended, and new subdivisions 16 and 17 are added to such section to read as follows:
3. The term "matchable contribution" shall mean (i) a contribution, (ii) contributions or (iii) a portion of a contribution or contributions, not greater than the applicable contribution limitation set forth in paragraph (f) of subdivision one of section 3-703 for all covered elections held in the same calendar year, made by a natural person resident in the city of New York to a participating candidate which has been reported in full to the campaign finance board in accordance with subdivision six of section 3-703 by the candidate's principal committee and has been contributed on or before December thirty-first in the year of such election that may be matched by public funds in accordance with the provisions of this chapter. Any contribution, contributions, or a portion of a contribution determined to be invalid for matching funds by the board may not be treated as a matchable contribution for any purpose. A loan may not be treated as a matchable contribution. The following contributions are not matchable:
(a) in-kind contributions of property, goods, or services;
(b) contributions in the form of the purchase price paid for an item with significant intrinsic and enduring value;
(c) contributions in the form of the purchase price paid for or otherwise induced by a chance to participate in a raffle, lottery, or a similar drawing for valuable prizes;
(d) money order contributions from any one contributor that are, in the aggregate, greater than $100;
(e) contributions from individuals under the age of eighteen years; [and]
(f) contributions from individual vendors to whom the participating candidate or his or her principal committee makes an expenditure, in furtherance of the nomination for election or election covered by the candidate's certification, unless such expenditure is reimbursing an advance; and
(g) contributions from lobbyists or other persons required to be included in a statement of registration filed pursuant to section 3-213(c)(1). The board shall rely on the database maintained by the city clerk pursuant to section 3-221 or such other information known to the board to determine whether a contribution is not matchable based on the contributor's status as a lobbyist or person required to be included in a statement of registration filed pursuant to section 3-213.
16. The term "lobbyist" shall mean a lobbyist as defined in subdivision (a) of section 3-211 of this title and the spouse or domestic partner and unemancipated children of the lobbyist, and if the lobbyist is an organization, the term "lobbyist" shall mean only that division of the organization that engages in lobbying activities and any officer or employee of such lobbyist who engages in lobbying activities of the organization or is employed in an organization's division that engages in lobbying activities of the organization and the spouse or domestic partner and unemancipated children of such officers or employees.
17. The term "lobbying" or "lobbying activities" shall mean lobbying and lobbying activities as defined in section 3-211 of this title.
§2. If any provision of this local law, or any amendments thereto, shall be held invalid or ineffective in whole or in part or inapplicable to any person or situation, such holding shall not affect, impair or invalidate the remainder of this local law, and all other provisions thereof shall nevertheless be separately and fully effective and the application of any such provision to other persons or situations shall not be affected.
§3. This local law shall take effect immediately and shall be applicable to all public funds claims for elections held on or after the effective date, regardless of whether the claim for public funds was submitted prior to the effective date.
DJ
5/16/06