NYC Bill Would Require Greater Disclosure of Independent Expenditures, Donors

The New York City Council has approved legislation (Intro 148-A) that, if signed into law by the Mayor, will require entities making independent expenditures to provide more information to the public about who is funding them – both to the New York City Campaign Finance Board and on the advertisements themselves.

The bill would do two things.

While current city law requires independent expenditures to include information regarding which entity paid for a particular election-related communication, it does not require the communication to identify the donors to the entity.

First, it would expand the city’s existing reporting requirement relating to independent expenditures by requiring the “owners, partners, board members, and officers, or their equivalents” of the donating entity be reported by the independent expenditure-making entity as well. Where no individual fits any of those categories, at least one individual who exercises control over the contributing entity must be reported to NYC CFB. This provision is intended to provide the public with information about who is giving money to groups that make independent expenditures.

Current city law requires disclosure of the responsible individual or entity on any “literature, advertisement or other communication” paid for by independent expenditure if the individual or entity makes at least $1,000 or more in expenditures. Under state law, entities making independent expenditures must disclose that they are not expressly authorized by the candidate.

Second, the bill would require independent expenditures to indicate who paid for them. This requirement would apply to written communications, paid radio, television and internet advertisements, and to telephone calls, whether live or automated.

These new requirements would not apply to donors who donate less than $5,000 because they are not required to report their donors to the CFB under current existing rules. Entities that spend less than $1,000 on an election are also exempt, because they are not required to disclose the spending to the CFB.

According to this report from Capital NY, Mayor de Blasio has indicated that he plans to sign the measure.