Bill Text: NY A05155 | 2011-2012 | General Assembly | Introduced
Bill Title: Provides for the disclosure of the identity of the sponsors of political communications, including those printed or broadcasted which advocate the election or defeat of a particular candidate, and whether or not such communication is endorsed by the candidate; exempts individual expenditures.
Spectrum: Moderate Partisan Bill (Democrat 13-3)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2012-01-03 - enacting clause stricken [A05155 Detail]
Download: New_York-2011-A05155-Introduced.html
S T A T E O F N E W Y O R K ________________________________________________________________________ 5155 2011-2012 Regular Sessions I N A S S E M B L Y February 14, 2011 ___________ Introduced by M. of A. KAVANAGH, COLTON, JAFFEE, MOLINARO, REILLY, SPANO, WEPRIN -- Multi-Sponsored by -- M. of A. CLARK, GALEF, LINARES, MAGEE, MURRAY, SWEENEY, WEISENBERG -- read once and referred to the Committee on Election Law AN ACT to amend the election law, in relation to identification of the source of certain political communications THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, REPRESENTED IN SENATE AND ASSEM- BLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS: 1 Section 1. The election law is amended by adding a new section 14-107 2 to read as follows: 3 S 14-107. IDENTIFICATION OF THE SOURCE OF CERTAIN POLITICAL COMMUNI- 4 CATIONS. 1. WHENEVER ANY PERSON MAKES AN EXPENDITURE FOR THE PURPOSE OF 5 FINANCING, OR OTHERWISE PUBLISHES OR DISTRIBUTES, COMMUNICATIONS 6 EXPRESSLY ADVOCATING THE ELECTION OR DEFEAT OF A CLEARLY IDENTIFIED 7 CANDIDATE, SUCH COMMUNICATION: 8 (A) IF PAID FOR AND AUTHORIZED BY A CANDIDATE, AN AUTHORIZED POLITICAL 9 COMMITTEE OF A CANDIDATE, OR ITS AGENTS, SHALL CLEARLY STATE THAT THE 10 COMMUNICATION HAS BEEN PAID FOR BY SUCH CANDIDATE, AUTHORIZED POLITICAL 11 COMMITTEE, OR AGENT; OR 12 (B) IF PAID FOR BY OTHER PERSONS BUT AUTHORIZED BY A CANDIDATE, AN 13 AUTHORIZED POLITICAL COMMITTEE OF A CANDIDATE, OR ITS AGENTS, SHALL 14 CLEARLY STATE THAT THE COMMUNICATION IS PAID FOR BY SUCH OTHER PERSONS 15 AND AUTHORIZED BY SUCH CANDIDATE, AUTHORIZED POLITICAL COMMITTEE, OR 16 AGENT; OR 17 (C) IF NOT AUTHORIZED BY A CANDIDATE, AN AUTHORIZED POLITICAL COMMIT- 18 TEE OF A CANDIDATE, OR ITS AGENTS, SHALL CLEARLY STATE THE NAME OF THE 19 PERSON WHO PAID FOR, OR OTHERWISE PUBLISHED OR DISTRIBUTED, THE COMMUNI- 20 CATION AND STATE THAT THE COMMUNICATION IS NOT AUTHORIZED BY ANY CANDI- 21 DATE OR CANDIDATE'S COMMITTEE. 22 (D) THE PROVISIONS OF THIS SUBDIVISION SHALL NOT APPLY TO INDEPENDENT 23 EXPENDITURES BY INDIVIDUALS. EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets [ ] is old law to be omitted. LBD07414-01-1 A. 5155 2 1 2. FOR PURPOSES OF THIS SECTION, THE FOLLOWING TERMS SHALL HAVE THE 2 FOLLOWING MEANINGS: 3 (A) THE TERM "CLEARLY IDENTIFIED" MEANS THAT: 4 (1) THE NAME OF THE CANDIDATE INVOLVED APPEARS; 5 (2) A PHOTOGRAPH OR DRAWING OF THE CANDIDATE APPEARS; OR 6 (3) THE IDENTITY OF THE CANDIDATE IS APPARENT BY UNAMBIGUOUS REFER- 7 ENCE. 8 (B) THE TERM "COMMUNICATION" INCLUDES ANY ADVERTISEMENTS, PAMPHLETS, 9 CIRCULARS, FLYERS, BROCHURES, LETTERHEADS, OR OTHER PRINTED MATTER, AND 10 RADIO OR TELEVISION BROADCASTS. 11 (C) THE TERM "PERSON" INCLUDES AN INDIVIDUAL, PARTNERSHIP, COMMITTEE, 12 ASSOCIATION, CORPORATION, LABOR ORGANIZATION, OR ANY OTHER ORGANIZATION 13 OR GROUP OF PERSONS. 14 3. A VIOLATION OF THE PROVISIONS OF THIS SECTION SHALL CONSTITUTE A 15 MISDEMEANOR. 16 S 2. This act shall take effect on the first of January next succeed- 17 ing the date on which it shall have become a law. Effective immediately, 18 the addition, amendment and/or repeal of any rules or regulations neces- 19 sary for the implementation of the foregoing section of this act on its 20 effective date are authorized and directed to be made and completed on 21 or before such effective date.