Brennan Center Files Appeal in LLC Loophole Case

Last week, the Brennan Center for Justice announced that it has filed an appeal of the February 2017 State Supreme Court decision dismissing its lawsuit seeking to overturn the state Board of Elections’ 1996 advisory opinion that allows limited liability companies (LLCs) to give up to $150,000 a year in aggregate donations to political candidates.

(Read my prior blog post on the filing of the lawsuit here.)

Larry Norden, deputy director of the Brennan Center’s Democracy Program, said:

“LLC contributions have been central to the state’s pernicious corruption problem.  The Legislature never intended to allow a select set of business groups to give astronomical contributions, yet a controlling bloc of the State Board has inexplicably decided twice to continue giving LLCs and those behind them special treatment.”

The Assembly again approved a bill this session that would limit political contributions by LLCs to the same $5,000 annual aggregate contribution limit that current law imposes on corporations (NYS Election Law § 14-116). The Senate did not act on the bill.

Read the Brennan Center’s brief here.