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Sponsors
No co-sponsors yet.
History
- Referred to elections
Companion bill
The same bill in the other chamber. A bill becomes law when one version passes both houses and the governor signs it, so either number can carry it.
Relates to uniform maximum contributions for all candidates regardless of position or office
In Assembly Committee · Election Law · Sponsor Brian Kavanagh
Full text
The text isn't available here yet. Check nysenate.gov.
Sponsor's memo
Title of bill
An act to amend the election law, in relation to contribution limitations
Purpose
To reduce campaign contribution limits for candidates for election to a party position or public office or for nomination to public office to $2,400 per election.
Summary of provisions
The bill would set campaign contribution limits for candidates for election to any party position or public office or for nomination to any public office at $2,400 per election (or a total of $4,800 for a primary and general election cycle). It would eliminate distinctions between statewide candidates, candidates for Assembly or Senate, or other candidates contributions to whom currently are subject to different limits depending on the office sought. It would also eliminate separate limits that currently apply to family members of candidates.
Justification
It is widely believed that our campaign finance laws need substantial changes to ensure the integrity of elections in our state. This bill does not address the broad range of issues that might be addressed in a comprehensive reform package, but it does address one of weakest aspects of our campaign finance laws: the excessive contributions that individuals can currently make to candidates, especially the extraordinarily high contributions that may be given to statewide candidates, presently a single contributor may give up to $55,900 to a candidate during a single election cycle ($18,100 for the primary and $37,800 for the general election). This figure is the highest among any of the 45 states that place limits on campaign contributions. Current limits for Senate candidates are $15,500 per cycle ($6,000 for the primary and $9,500 for the general); Assembly candidates may accept $7,600 per cycle ($3,800 for the primary and $3,800 for the general). In addition, family members of candidates may currently contribute sums that substantially exceed the individual limits (for example, the current limit for family members of statewide candidates is over $250,000 of total contributions from one or more family members).
This bill adopts the federal approach of setting a single limit of $2,400 per election ($4,800 per cycle) for all elections to state or party offices in the state, irrespective of the size of the area a candidate is running in. In this way, candidates attempting to communicate and persuade larger numbers of people and broader constituencies would be required to raise the funds necessary for their campaigns from a greater number of people rather then simply relying on increasingly large contributors.
Legislative history
2009: A.00656 (Kavanagh) - Election Law 2008: A.09095 (Kavanagh) - Election Law 2007: A.09095 (Kavanagh) - Election Law
Fiscal impact on the state
None.
Effective date
This act shall take effect on the first of January next succeeding the date on which it shall have become law.
Summaries, headlines and scores are AI-generated from the official bill text. How we score bills. Source: NYS Open Legislation.