The New York City Council overwhelmingly voted in favor of a campaign finance bill that has drawn sharp opposition from the city’s campaign finance board.

The bill will allow labor or other membership organizations and corporations to send communications to its members, executive and administrative personnel, and stockholders without having to disclose that information to the city. Currently, these types of expenditures would have to be disclosed, but the bill, if signed by Mayor Michael Bloomberg, would eliminate that requirement.

The city council passed the measure by a vote of 47-1 ensuring that it has enough votes to survive a veto by the mayor. However, that has not stopped Mayor Bloomberg from expressing his displeasure with the bill. Bloomberg has not given a firm answer about whether he will veto the bill, but his spokesperson did say “the bill will only weaken the city’s strong campaign disclosure laws and he sees no reason why unions shouldn’t be held to the same standard as others who are advocating candidates for elective office.”

Earlier this month Amy Loprest, executive director of the city’s campaign finance board, spoke against the bill saying it would set the city’s landmark disclosure laws back and hurt the city’s voters. However, not everybody believes it is a bad thing.

Susan Lerner, executive director of Common Cause New York, praised the council’s vote saying, “this is the way in which a representative democracy should function with the city council exerting oversight to clarify important sections of the law. Membership organizations must be allowed to communicate with their willing members about the issues they collectively care about.”

Photo of the New York City Hall by Momos on Wikipedia.

The essence of the rule will force people who make independent expenditures to disclose funding and amounts spent by treating them as a political committee. Therefore, they will have to register as an independent expenditure committee and, for those elections in which they support or oppose a candidate, file reports before and after the election. The committee will also be responsible for filing periodic reports on January 15 and July 15 of each year.

Independent expenditures are defined by the state as expenditures made in support of or opposition to a candidate, expressly advocating for the election or defeat of a candidate, and made in complete independence from the candidate. Expressly advocate is defined as communicating with specific words calling for the election or defeat of a candidate, such as “vote,” “oppose,” “support,” “defeat,” “elect,” or “reject.”

Using these definitions, groups can avoid registering and reporting as an independent expenditure committee if they avoid using the special buzz words that would make their advertisements expressly advocating. The board of elections has said these rules are not completely new, but rather have been adopted to shed light on the rules and to ensure that people understand exactly what is expected when making independent expenditures. The rules have already taken effect and committees making these expenditures will next have to file a report on January 15, 2013.

The Suffolk County legislature has voted to hold a special election on January 15, 2013 to replace outgoing legislator Ed Romaine.

Mr. Romaine was recently sworn in as the town supervisor of Brookhaven, New York.

Sean Walter, the republican candidate, and Al Krupski, the democratic candidate, will vie for the vacant seat in the county’s first legislative district.

New York Attorney General, Eric T. Schneiderman, issued a draft regulation that could lead to massive changes in the way political spending is disclosed. The proposed regulation would require any tax-exempt group that does business in the state to disclose what percentage of its total spending went to political activities.

This means that any group who spends money in New York in support or opposition of a candidate would be forced to disclose its spending. Further, once the group has spent over $10,000 for state elections, it will have to disclose each individual donor who gave $100 or more.

The proposed regulation does allow for a waiver to be granted if the group feels that disclosure of names could lead to serious threats or harassment. The proposal calls for disclosure during the six months before any Election Day in the state.

Public hearings must be heard on the proposed regulation, but the attorney general may unilaterally approve the final regulation. If approved by the attorney general, the rules could be placed into effect in time for the upcoming New York City mayoral election.

The city council has introduced a bill that would change the way unions and corporations, among others, could contribute to elections. The bill, introduced by Councilmember Rosie Mendez, would remove contribution limits on unions or other membership organizations and corporations for communications aimed at its members, stockholders, or employees. The only catch would be that the union or corporation must use reasonable efforts to restrict the communication to its members, employees, or stockholders.

Those in favor say that it will allow a small non-profit group to disseminate a candidate’s photograph in its newsletter. Councilmember Gale Brewer said, “You cannot put a television ad, you cannot do that now, and have a communication. This is just member to member.”

However, not everyone agrees. Amy Loprest, executive director of the city’s campaign finance board said, “I think we have one of the best campaign finance laws in the country, and this is a big step backwards.”

The bill was sent to the council’s committee of governmental operations where a hearing will be held on Thursday. A full city council vote could come as soon as next week. At this point, it is impossible to tell whether the council will pass the bill. But, either way, it is sure to drum up some strong emotions during debate.

Photo of the New York City Hall courtesy of Howrealisreal on Wikipedia.

The New York State Board of Elections has approved and adopted rules concerning independent expenditures, but many feel the rules won’t do a thing to slow down the campaign money train. According to the rules, people making independent expenditures will have to register and report as if they were a political committee.

Independent expenditures are defined by the state as expenditures that expressly advocate the election or defeat of a candidate that the candidate did not authorize in any way. Expressly advocated is defined as containing express words calling for the election or defeat of a candidate. Therefore, committees can run advertisements that avoid using certain words and can escape registration and reporting requirements.

Bill Mahoney, a research coordinator for a New York good government group said the new rules “will make it even easier for independent expenditure committees, Super PACs, to hide who’s paying for them, and because of that it will lead to language that is much more harsh than what we’ve heard before.”

Republican Assemblyman Jim Tedisco is ready to play hard ball with campaign finance violators. Tedisco and two other lawmakers are hoping to introduce a “three strikes and you’re out” type of a bill for people who fail to file campaign financing reports with the state.

The possible legislation would send those who fail to file reports on three separate occasions to prison. This comes in the wake of serious scandals sweeping the state, including former state Senator Pedro Espada who was convicted of tax fraud and is awaiting sentencing. Espada owes around $30,000 in fines to the state, which the state is highly unlikely to ever see.

Tedisco says New York needs laws on the books that have teeth, so politicians are not willing to circumvent the rules. It does not seem likely for a bill of this nature to pass both houses of the general assembly, especially when the sponsor of the bill is coming from the minority party. However, Governor Andrew Cuomo is making a big push for campaign finance reforms, so an increase in penalties and enforcement is not impossible.

As Tedisco said, “Sunshine is truly the greatest disinfectant. That’s why we need to strengthen the laws to allow for full disclosure and transparency.”

Photo of Jim Tedisco courtesy of UpstateNYer on Wikipedia.

Governor Andrew Cuomo has signed a bill he hopes will help ease the financial burdens facing some local governments within the state. Senate Bill 5525, which was passed by the state legislature in late June, allows all New York cities and counties to piggyback contacts from other cities and counties.

If a public contract already exists, a city or county may choose to use the contract already in existence, instead of having to solicit the work itself. In order to take advantage of this opportunity, the original contract must have followed all state and local laws involving the procurement of government contracts, including competitive bidding requirements.

The law takes effect immediately.

The New York State Joint Commission on Public Ethics voted to approve draft regulations and guidelines for implementing the public disclosure requirement for lobbyists and their clients. The commission’s interpretation of the state’s new lobbying act states that starting July 1 certain lobbyists and lobbying employers must disclose individual funding behind their lobbying campaigns. The law would apply to donors of more than $5,000.

There will be two filed reports each year, with the first being due January 15, 2013.

Good government advocates were hoping that the law would be applied starting June 1, when the disclosure provisions were to go into effect. However, the commission said that a “fair and reasonable” reading of the law required the disclosure to begin in July.

These proposed regulations now have to be submitted through the formal rule promulgating process under state law. This means a public comment period and publication in the state register will have to occur before the rule officially goes into effect.

Both houses of the New York state Legislature recently passed a bill aimed at lowering procurement costs for municipalities. Senate Bill 5525 authorizes state municipalities to piggyback off existing public contracts entered into by the federal government, any state, or any municipalities within those states.

New York state municipalities will still have to abide by state contracting rules when utilizing this piggybacking ability. Therefore, the original contract must have utilized competitive bidding when necessary and the municipalities must still comply with the laws regarding minority and women owned businesses as well as any preferred source requirements.

The bill will now head to Governor Andrew Cuomo’s desk where he will decide whether to sign it into law or veto it.

Photo of the New York State Capitol by UpStateNYer on Wikipedia.

The United States Supreme Court declined to review a federal appeals case that held New York City’s campaign finance laws are constitutional. Tom Ognibene, a New York republican, challenged the city’s laws saying that the Citizens United decision effectively overruled the provisions.

In December, a federal appeals court disagreed with Ognibene, holding that the city’s rules prohibiting corporate contributions to political campaigns and requiring candidates to disclose all contributions from individuals and organizations were justified to prevent corruption in elections. The appellate court held that the Citizens United decision only applied to independent expenditures by corporations, not to contribution limits.

The New York Legislature ended the working portion of its year late Friday night.

Legislative members will now head back to their respective districts to campaign in an election season that will see all 212 general assembly and senate seats up for grabs.

There is a chance that both houses could be called back to Albany for a special session following the November elections, but at this time, that does not appear to be a likely scenario.

Amy Loprest, Executive Director of the New York City Campaign Finance Board, testified before the Maryland Commission to Study Campaign Finance Law about the campaign finance program in New York City and its progression.

According to the Campaign Finance Board’s press release, here is Loprest’s concluding statement:

“The New York City Campaign Finance Program amplifies the voice of the average, low-dollar contributor and reduces the influence of big-dollar contributors. The result has been less potential for corruption and a remarkable broadening of participation in the electoral process. At a time when voter turnout is low and voters everywhere are increasingly cynical about government, we’re very proud that people from around the country are looking at our Program as a model for reform.”

Here is the full text of her statement.

Be sure to read: “Md. state commission targets campaign-finance loophole” in the Baltimore Business Journal.

Governor Andrew Cuomo signed a bill today that will push back the state’s primary by two days, to September 13, 2012. The primary is traditionally scheduled for the second Tuesday after Labor Day, but this year that day is September 11.

Out of respect for those that attend annual September 11 memorials, the state decided to change the date of the primary. The state also moved the primary back two days in 2007 for the same reason.

The delayed primary date will push back all pre and post-primary report due dates by two days as well.