S38-2011 Actions

• Mar 12, 2012: COMMITTEE DISCHARGED AND COMMITTED TO RULES
• Feb 27, 2012: NOTICE OF COMMITTEE CONSIDERATION - REQUESTED
• Jan 4, 2012: REFERRED TO ELECTIONS
• Jan 5, 2011: REFERRED TO ELECTIONS

S38-2011 Memo

BILL NUMBER:S38

TITLE OF BILL:
An act
to amend the election law, in relation to contributions from limited
liability companies

PURPOSE:
To attribute campaign contributions of limited liability
companies (LLCs) to the individual members of the LLC in the same
manner that partnership contributions are attributed to individual
partners in current law.

SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:
Section 1 of the bill would amend subdivision
2 of section 14-120 of the election law as added by chapter 79 of the
laws of 1992 to treat political contributions from LLCs in the same
manner as contributions from partnerships.

Section 2 of the bill specifies the effective date.

JUSTIFICATION:
It is widely believed that our campaign finance laws
need substantial changes to ensure the integrity of elections in our
state. This bill does not address the broad range of issues that
might be addressed in a comprehensive reform package. However, this
bill would close one enormous loophole in the current system. Under
current law, as interpreted by the judiciary, each LLC is considered
a separate contributor and may make the maximum allowable
contribution. Since a single individual or a small group of
individuals often control multiple LLCs in some cases a very large
number of such LLCs-the treatment of these LLCs as separate
contributors effectively allows one or more individuals to make a
virtually unlimited amount of campaign contributions.

This bill would correct this by simply attributing contributions from
LLCs to the members of the LLC in the same way the law currently
attributes contributions from partnerships to the individual partners.

PRIOR LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:
2009-10: S.5277 (Squadron) - Elections, A.7069 (Kavanagh) - Election Law

FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:
None.

EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect immediately.

S38-2011 Text

                      S T A T E   O F   N E W   Y O R K
  ________________________________________________________________________

                                     38

                         2011-2012 Regular Sessions

                              I N  SENATE

                                 (PREFILED)

                               January 5, 2011
                                 ___________

  Introduced by Sens. SQUADRON, HASSELL-THOMPSON, KRUEGER, SERRANO -- read
    twice  and  ordered  printed,  and when printed to be committed to the
    Committee on Elections

  AN ACT to amend the election law,  in  relation  to  contributions  from
    limited liability companies

    THE  PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, REPRESENTED IN SENATE AND ASSEM-
  BLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:


    Section 1. Subdivision 2 of section 14-120 of  the  election  law,  as
  added by chapter 79 of the laws of 1992, is amended to read as follows:

    2.  Notwithstanding subdivision one of this section, a partnership, as
  defined in section ten of the partnership law, OR  A  LIMITED  LIABILITY
  COMPANY,  AS DEFINED IN SECTION ONE HUNDRED TWO OF THE LIMITED LIABILITY
  COMPANY LAW, may be considered a separate entity  for  the  purposes  of
  this  section,  and  as  such may make contributions in the name of said
  partnership  OR  LIMITED  LIABILITY  COMPANY  without  attributing  such
  contributions  to  the  individual members of the partnership OR LIMITED
  LIABILITY COMPANY provided that any such contribution made by a partner-
  ship OR LIMITED LIABILITY COMPANY to  a  candidate  or  to  a  political
  committee, shall not exceed[,] twenty-five hundred dollars. In the event
  that  such  partnership OR LIMITED LIABILITY COMPANY contribution to any
  such  candidate  or  political  committee  exceeds  twenty-five  hundred
  dollars,  the  aggregate amount of such contribution shall be attributed
  to each partner OR LIMITED LIABILITY COMPANY MEMBER whose share  of  the
  contribution exceeds ninety-nine dollars.
    S 2. This act shall take effect immediately.


   EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                        [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                             LBD00058-01-1