Executive Budget Proposal – Campaign Finance Reforms

As part of his proposed 2016-17 Executive Budget, Gov. Cuomo has proposed an accompanying Article VII bill (A.9011/S.6411) titled “Good Government and Ethics Reform.”

The Governor is proposing the following campaign finance reforms:

Closing the LLC Loophole (Part A):

• closes the ‘LLC loophole’ by defining LLCs to be corporations for campaign finance purposes, which would limit them to a total of $5,000 in political contributions each calendar year; and
• requires the reporting of the owners of each LLC (and their ownership interest) and provides that all contributions made by the LLC will be apportioned to each owner in proportion to their ownership interest.

Public Financing Program and Other Campaign Finance Reforms (Part C):

• establishes a voluntary system of public campaign financing, which would provide matching funds for those who opt in, and lowers campaign contribution limits;
• caps contributions to party housekeeping account at $25,000; and
• requires campaigns to disclose contributions over $1,000 within 60 days.

While the political dynamic relating to the public financing of political campaigns does not appear to have changed, the 2015 convictions of former Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver and former Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos may result in pressure to address the ‘LLC loophole’ in 2016.