Assembly Announces Amended Fair Elections Act

Yesterday, Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver announced a revised version of the 2013 Fair Elections Act (A.4980-A).

The amended bill is much broader than the original version.  It would:

  • establish optional public campaign financing system for all statewide offices (not just the Comptroller), state legislative offices, and constitutional convention delegates;
  • establish a Fair Elections Board with enforcement authority over candidates who choose to participate in the public financing system; and
  • provide for greater disclosure of independent expenditures and electioneering communications.

The amended bill’s public financing provisions are consistent with what campaign finance advocates are calling for.

The Fair Elections Board would be located within the state Board of Elections.  This new entity would enforce all campaign finance matters, not just those relating to publicly financed campaigns.  The Governor and the four legislative leaders would each have one appointment to the Board.

The bill proposes to pay for the public financing system through a $5 income taxpayer check-off, a 10% securities fraud surcharge and, if those sources are not sufficient to pay for the program, then through the state’s General Fund.

It includes substantial civil penalties for failure to make required campaign finance filings (up to $5,000) and for knowing and willful violations of the public campaign finance system (up to $10,000)

It also provides for criminal penalties – to be enforced by the Attorney General — for violations of the public campaign finance system.  Failure to make a required filing and acceptance of excessive contributions would be a misdemeanor.  Making a false statement to the Fair Election Board or one of its auditors would be a Class E felony.

Finally, the bill would authorize a court to order a defendant to repay to the Fair Elections Board any public matching funds obtained as a result of any   criminal conduct.

Read my earlier post about the Assembly’s original bill, which was introduced this past February.