Provides that contributions up to the first $250 of any contribution amount shall be matchable contributions under the public campaign financing program.
NEW YORK STATE ASSEMBLY MEMORANDUM IN SUPPORT OF LEGISLATION submitted in accordance with Assembly Rule III, Sec 1(f)
BILL NUMBER: A3292
SPONSOR: Dinowitz TITLE OF BILL:
An act to amend the election law, in relation to matchable contributions
under the public campaign financing program
PURPOSE:
To clarify the intent of what qualifies as a matchable contribution
within the New York State Public Campaign Finance Program.
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:
Section one of the bill amends paragraph (a) of subdivision 11 of §
14-200-a of the election law to, within the definition of "matchable
contribution," specify that the contribution be not less than five
dollars and up to two hundred and fifty dollars of any contribution
greater than five dollars.
Section two of the bill provides the effective date.
JUSTIFICATION:
A deficiency in the New York State Public Campaign Finance Program
("Program") currently exists in that if a candidate receives a contrib-
ution from an individual of any amount greater than $250, then no
portion of that contribution is matched, even though all other require-
ments are satisfied.For example, an Assembly or Senate candidate who
receives a contribution from an in-district resident in the amount of
$300 would not receive any matching funds from that contribution. Yet,
if that contribution was for $250 instead of $300, then that candidate
would receive $2,300 public matching funds for a maximum of $2,550. The
intent of the Program is to provide candidates the opportunity to obtain
sufficient resources to run competitive campaigns and should not penal-
ize candidates who otherwise meet all the criteria to receive a matcha-
ble contribution. This legislation will ensure that the first $250 of a
contribution greater than $250 is matchable provided the other parame-
ters of the Program are met.
PRIOR LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:
New bill.
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:
To be determined
EFFECTIVE DATE:
Immediately.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
3292
2023-2024 Regular Sessions
IN ASSEMBLY
February 2, 2023
___________
Introduced by M. of A. DINOWITZ, L. ROSENTHAL, GALLAGHER, ROZIC, SIMON,
KELLES, MAMDANI, STECK -- read once and referred to the Committee on
Election Law
AN ACT to amend the election law, in relation to matchable contributions
under the public campaign financing program
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. Paragraph (a) of subdivision 11 of section 14-200-a of the
2 election law, as added by section 4 of part ZZZ of chapter 58 of the
3 laws of 2020, is amended to read as follows:
4 (a) "matchable contribution" means a contribution not less than five
5 dollars and [not more than] up to two hundred fifty dollars of any
6 contribution over such amount, for a candidate for public office to be
7 voted on by the voters of the entire state or for nomination to any such
8 office, a contribution for any covered elections held in the same
9 election cycle, made by a natural person who is a resident in the state
10 of New York to a participating candidate, and for a candidate for
11 election to the state assembly or state senate or for nomination to any
12 such office, a contribution for any covered elections held in the same
13 election cycle, made by a natural person who is also a resident of such
14 state assembly or state senate district from which such candidate is
15 seeking nomination or election, that has been reported in full to the
16 PCFB in accordance with sections 14-102 and 14-104 of this article by
17 the candidate's authorized committee and has been contributed on or
18 before the day of the applicable primary, general, runoff, or special
19 election. Any contribution, contributions, or a portion of a contrib-
20 ution determined to be invalid for matching funds by the PCFB may not be
21 treated as a matchable contribution for any purpose.
22 § 2. This act shall take effect immediately.
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD03046-01-3
