Relates to uniform maximum contributions for all candidates regardless of position or office

1 Co-sponsor

• Todd Kaminsky

BILL NUMBER:S5074

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 $2,700 per election, in alignment with the contribution limits set forth by the FEC.

Summary of provisions

Section 1 of the bill would amend subdivision 1 of section 14-114 of the election law, as amended by chapter 79 of the laws of 1992, paragraphs a and b as amended by chapter 659 of the laws of 1994, to set campaign contribution limits for candidates for election to any party position or public office or for nomination to any public office at $2,700 per election (or a total of $5,400 for a primary and general election cycle). It would eliminate distinctions between statewide candidates, candidates for Assembly or Senate, or other candidates, which are currently subject to different limits depending on the office sought,. It would also eliminate separate limits that currently apply to family members of candidates.

This legislation provides that every two years the Board of Elections will make an adjustment to the contribution limits based on the monthly consumer price index for all urban consumers published by the U.S. bureau of labor statistics.

Section 2 of the bill establishes the effective date.

Justification

Our campaign finance laws need to be reformed 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.

In January 2015, the State Board of Elections announced that beginning in 2016, a single contributor may give up to $65,100 to a statewide candidate, up from the 2014 statewide-candidate contribution limit of $60,800 In 2016, a single contributor will be able to donate up to $18,000 to a candidate for the New York State Senate, up from the 2014 limit of $16,800, while an Assembly candidate will be able to receive $8,800 in 2016 from an individual contributor, up from $8,200 in 2014. In addition, family members of candidates may currently contribute sums that substantially exceed the individual limits.

This bill eliminates the various enrollment formulas under the current Election Law (section 14114) and adopts the federal approach of setting a single limit for 2015 and 2016 of $2,700 per election ($5,400 per cycle) for all elections to state or party offices,

irrespective of the size of the geographic area or population of enrolled voters in the district that a candidate would represent, were they to be elected. In this way, candidates attempting to communicate and persuade the electorate would be required to raise the funds necessary for their campaigns from a greater number of people rather than simply relying on increasingly large contributions.

Legislative history

2013-2014- S181/A110- REFERRED TO ELECTIONS/referred to election law 2011-2012- S54/A5894- REFERRED TO ELECTIONS/referred to election law 2009-2010- S7061/A656- REFERRED TO ELECTIONS/referred to 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 a law.