Senate Elections Committee Reports LLC Contributions Bill

At its meeting yesterday, the Senate Elections Committee unanimously approved a motion to report S.60 (Squadron) to the Corporations, Authorities and Commissions Committee.  The bill would amend the Election Law to treat LLCs as corporations for campaign finance purposes, rather than as individuals, as they are now. The bill would also subject corporations and LLCs to a $1,000 cap on aggregate annual contributions, down from $5,000.

(Background on the issue, which reform advocates call the ‘LLC loophole,” can be found in my prior blog post on the topic. You can also watch a Senate Democratic Conference press conference on the issue here.)

Under the Senate Rules, the Senate Corporations, Authorities and Commissions Committee must consider the bill at one of its next two committee meetings. It is not clear whether the Senate leadership will permit the bill to come to the Senate floor for a vote before the end of the legislative session.

Gov. Cuomo proposed changing the treatment of LLCs in his executive budget proposal, but it was not included in the final budget agreement. After the Senate Elections Committee reported the bill, a spokesperson for the Governor said:

“The governor supports and will continue to fight for closing the LLC loophole. Today’s passage of legislation in the Senate Elections Committee that would accomplish this goal is a positive development and one that we hope ends with an actual vote and passage from the full Senate.”