Senate Democrats Push Ethics, Campaign Finance Overhaul

Earlier today, the Senate Democratic Conference released a 9-bill campaign finance and ethics reform package, and called on the Senate leadership to bring the bills to the Senate Floor for action.

The bills would:

• Establish a public financing system for state campaigns and require greater disclosure of campaign donations (S.4705-B, Stewart-Cousins)
• Lower campaign contribution limits (S.7181, Gianaris)
• Claw back pension benefits from any state or local government official convicted of a felony involving breach of public trust (S.1133, Breslin)
• Impose greater restrictions on the use of campaign funds (S.7184, Gipson)
• Cap contributions to party housekeeping accounts (S.7203, Krueger)
• Prohibit the use of campaign money for criminal defense (S.5094, O’Brien)
• Require the disclosure of bundlers (S.7186, Rivera)
• Close the “LLC” loophole (S.166-A, Squadron)
• Close a “loophole” in financial disclosure statements for elected officials (S.7135, Tkaczyk)

Based on the fate of bills of this nature in previous legislative sessions, I do not expect to see these bills being brought to the Senate Floor for a vote.

Read the Senate Democrats’ press release here, and watch their press conference here.

Read coverage of the event in the Capitol Confidential blog, WXXI and the Legislative Gazette.