BILL NUMBER: S896

SPONSOR: HOYLMAN
 
TITLE OF BILL:

An act to amend the election law, in relation to the use of campaign
funds to pay attorney's fees

 
PURPOSE:

The purpose of this legislation is to explicitly prohibit the use of
campaign funds to pay attorney's fees or other costs associated with
criminal or civil litigation.

 
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:

Section 1 amends section 14-130 of the election law to expressly prohib-
it the use of campaign funds to pay attorney's fees or costs of defend-
ing against civil or criminal investigation or prosecution for alleged
violations of state or federal law. The only exception would be for
costs related to civil actions for alleged violations of Article 16 of
the Election Law.
              

Section 2 sets forth the effective date.

 
JUSTIFICATION:

Currently, New York's election law, allowing candidates to spend
campaign funds for "any lawful purpose," is among the most lax in the
nation. While spending campaign funds for personal use is technically
prohibited, the lack of any definition for what constitutes a personal
use renders the provision meaningless. This shortcoming in the law is
striking when compared to the detailed restrictions issued by the Feder-
al Election Commission.

Campaign donors have a reasonable expectation that their contributions
will be used for the candidate's election efforts and the execution of
his or her duties. They do not expect their contributions to subsidize
attorney's fees or litigation costs that have nothing to do with the
nomination or election of the candidate to whom they made a donation.
This legislation would therefore clarify that campaign funds may not be
used for this purpose while preserving candidates' ability to use
campaign funds for legal fees directly involved with nomination or
election to office.

 
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:

S.0682 of 2021-2022 (Hoylman): Died in Elections

A.4174 of 2021-2022 (Lavine): Died in Election Law

S.0050 of 2019-2020 (Hoylman): Died in Elections

A.1827 of 2019-2020 (Lavine): Died in Election Law

S.0088 of 2017-2018 (Hoylman): Died in Elections

A.4181 of 2017-2018 (Lavine): Died in Election Law

S.338-A of 2015-2016 (Hoylman): Died in Elections (2015 /Died in Inves-
tigations & Government Operations (2016)

A.9331 of 2016 (Lavine): Died in Election Law

S.5094 of 2013-2014 (O'Brien): Died in Elections

 
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:

None.

 
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect on the sixtieth day after it shall have
become a law; provided, however, that the state board of elections shall
notify all registered campaign committees of the applicable provisions
of this act within thirty days after this act shall have become law.