NYC CFB Testifies Before City Council, Seeks Changes to City’s Matching Funds Program

This morning, New York City Campaign Finance Board (CFB) Executive Director Amy Loprest testified before the New York City Council’s Committee on Governmental Operations.

Ms. Loprest testified on the CFB’s recent report on the city’s 2013 elections, and called on the City Council to make some changes to the program to improve it and to make it easier for candidates to participate. (Read Ms. Loprest’s full testimony to the committee here.)

Among the CFB’s recommendations are:

• changing the law to enable CFB to make determinations about public funds payments earlier in the election cycle – in early June, rather than in early August;
• banning all organizational contributions, including those from PACs and unions; and
• reducing the impact of bundling by people doing business with the city by making those contributions non-matchable.