STATE OF NEW YORK ________________________________________________________________________ 5839 2021-2022 Regular Sessions IN ASSEMBLY February 26, 2021 ___________ Introduced by M. of A. GALEF, ABINANTI, PAULIN, J. RIVERA, GOTTFRIED, MAGNARELLI, ENGLEBRIGHT, COLTON, HEVESI, SANTABARBARA, LAVINE, CAHILL, JACOBSON, STECK, ASHBY, GOODELL, TAGUE, B. MILLER, FERNANDEZ, REYES, RA, MONTESANO, MORINELLO, J. M. GIGLIO -- Multi-Sponsored by -- M. of A. DAVILA, MANKTELOW, McDONOUGH, SIMON -- read once and referred to the Committee on Election Law AN ACT to amend the election law, in relation to government vendor contributions 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 14-131 2 to read as follows: 3 § 14-131. Government vendor contributions. 1. For the purpose of this 4 section, "state governmental entity" shall mean any public authority, 5 public benefit corporation or not-for-profit corporation, the majority 6 of whose board members are officials of the state or are appointed by 7 such officials. 8 2. (a) It shall be unlawful during the restricted vendor contribution 9 period for any person, organization, group of persons, or business enti- 10 ty that submits a bid, quotation, offer or response to a state govern- 11 mental entity posting or solicitation for procurement to make a contrib- 12 ution to any officeholder of or with authority over the state 13 governmental entity or entities responsible for issuing such procurement 14 posting or solicitation, evaluating responses to the procurement posting 15 or solicitation for purposes of determining an award, or approving the 16 selection of an awardee, or awarding the final contract, or to any 17 candidate for an office of such governmental entity, including to such 18 officeholder's or candidate's authorized political committees or poli- 19 tical committees the officeholder or candidate exerts operational 20 control over. It shall further be unlawful, pursuant to section 14-120 21 of this article, to make contributions to political committees not EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets [] is old law to be omitted. LBD02547-01-1A. 5839 2 1 authorized or operationally controlled by the officeholder or candidate 2 for the purpose of transferring a contribution to the officeholder's or 3 candidate's authorized political committees or political committees they 4 exert operational control over. 5 (b) For purposes of this section the assembly and senate shall be 6 separate and distinct governmental entities when a particular posting or 7 solicitation for procurement is issued by only one respective house. 8 (c) The state governmental entity directly responsible for issuing 9 such posting or solicitation for procurement shall include a notice of 10 the prohibition established by this section and the state governmental 11 entity responsible for evaluating responses to such posting or solicita- 12 tion shall provide to any person, organization, group of persons, or 13 business entity that submits a proposal in response to such posting or 14 solicitation a notice of the prohibition established by this section and 15 the restricted vendor contribution period commencement date. 16 3. As used in this section "business entity" means a business corpo- 17 ration, professional services corporation, limited liability company, 18 partnership, limited partnership, business trust, association or any 19 other legal commercial entity organized under the laws of this state or 20 any other state or foreign jurisdiction, including any subsidiary 21 directly or indirectly controlled by the business entity, and any poli- 22 tical organization, including but not limited to any political organiza- 23 tion organized under section 527 of the Internal Revenue Code, that is 24 directly or indirectly controlled by the business entity. 25 4. The restricted vendor contribution period described in this section 26 shall commence, with respect to a specific person, organization, group 27 of persons, or business entity when it files a statement of registration 28 pursuant to section one-e of the legislative law, or engages lobbying, 29 as defined by subdivision (c) of section one-c of the legislative law, 30 to generate a procurement opportunity or pilot program or submits a bid, 31 quotation, offer or response to the state governmental entity posting or 32 solicitation, at the earliest posting, on a state governmental entity's 33 website, in a newspaper of general circulation or in the procurement 34 opportunities newsletter in accordance with article four-C of the 35 economic development law of written notice, advertisement or solicita- 36 tion of a request for proposal, invitation for bids, or solicitations of 37 proposals, or any other method provided for by law or regulation for 38 soliciting a response from offerers intending to result in a procurement 39 contract with a state governmental entity. The restricted vendor 40 contribution period does not apply to a person, organization, group of 41 persons or business entity that is responding to a state governmental 42 entity's request for information or other informational exchanges occur- 43 ring prior to such governmental entity's posting or solicitation for 44 procurement provided it has not filed a statement of registration pursu- 45 ant to section one-e of the legislative law or engaged in lobbying, as 46 defined by subdivision (c) of section one-c of the legislative law, to 47 generate a procurement opportunity or pilot program. 48 5. The restricted vendor contribution period described in this section 49 shall end with respect to a specific person, organization, group of 50 persons, or business entity if: 51 (a) the person, organization, group of persons, or business entity is 52 the recipient of the final contract award, the restricted vendor 53 contribution period shall end six months after the final contract award 54 and approval by the state governmental entity and, where applicable, the 55 state comptroller and if the person, organization, group of persons orA. 5839 3 1 business entity does not lobby on the execution of the contract after 2 its award; or 3 (b) the person, organization, group of persons, or business entity is 4 not the recipient of the final contract award, the restricted vendor 5 contribution period shall end with the final contract award and approval 6 by the state governmental entity and, where applicable, the state comp- 7 troller. 8 6. The restricted vendor contribution period shall recommence if a 9 person, organization, group of persons or business entity engages in 10 activity pursuant to subdivision four of this section. 11 § 2. Section 14-126 of the election law is amended by adding a new 12 subdivision 8 to read as follows: 13 8. (a) Any person, organization, group of persons, or business entity 14 as that term is used in section 14-131 of this article, who, under 15 circumstances evincing an intent to violate such law, makes a contrib- 16 ution in contravention of section 14-131 of this article shall be 17 subject to a civil penalty not to exceed the greater of ten thousand 18 dollars or an amount equal to two hundred percent of the contribution, 19 to be recoverable in a special proceeding or civil action to be brought 20 by the state board of elections chief enforcement counsel. 21 (b) Any person who, acting as or on behalf of an officeholder, candi- 22 date, or political committee, accepts a contribution or receives a 23 transfer in contravention of section 14-131 of this article shall be 24 required to refund such contribution. 25 § 3. This act shall take effect on the one hundred eightieth day after 26 it shall have become a law.