Home/Bills/A 8970New York · 2025–2026 Legislative Session
Assembly BillIntroduced

A 8970: Provides that a person designated as a candidate for two or more party nominations for an office to be filled at the time of a general election who is not nominated at a primary election by one or more such parties may decline a nomination not later than the last day to certify the ballot or to determine the candidates and questions that shall appear on the ballot; relates to the timing for certain candidates to decline a designation or nomination under certain circumstances.

New York · Assembly · 2025–2026 Legislative Session · last verified January 8, 2026

What A 8970 does, verified January 8, 2026

The bill aims to provide candidates with more flexibility in declining party nominations. A candidate can decline a nomination no later than ten days after the primary election. This allows them to decide their party affiliation after the primary election has taken place. The candidate must submit a signed and acknowledged certificate to the election authorities by the specified deadline. The bill takes effect immediately, giving candidates more time to reconsider their party affiliations.

Bill journey
1IntroducedCurrent
2In CommitteePending
3First Chamber FloorPending
4Second ChamberPending
5GovernorPending
6ChapteredPending
Last action: referred to election law (2026-01-07)Alert me
Quick answers about A 8970
What is the current status of A 8970?
As of January 8, 2026, A 8970 is recorded as "Introduced": it has been introduced and is waiting for its first committee hearing or floor vote. The last recorded action, on January 7, 2026, was "referred to election law".
Did A 8970 pass?
Not yet. A 8970 has been introduced and has not passed either house.
Who wrote A 8970, and where is it now?
A 8970 was authored by Asm. Kalman Yeger. Its committee of record is Assembly Election Law.
Recent actions2 total · showing 2
Jan. 07, 2026referred to election law
Aug. 13, 2025referred to election law
Latest bill textIntroduced version, August 13, 2025 · 365 words
  
  STATE OF NEW YORK ________________________________________________________________________ 8970 2025-2026 Regular Sessions  IN ASSEMBLY August 13, 2025 ___________ Introduced by M. of A. YEGER -- read once and referred to the Committee on Election Law AN ACT to amend the election law, in relation to the timing for a candi- date to decline a nomination The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem- bly, do enact as follows: 1 Section 1. Subdivision 6 and the opening paragraph of subdivision 7 of 2 section 6-146 of the election law, subdivision 6 as added by chapter 276 3 of the laws of 2021 and the opening paragraph of subdivision 7 as added 4 by chapter 178 of the laws of 2022, are amended to read as follows: 5 6. A person designated as a candidate for two or more party nomi- 6 nations for an office to be filled at the time of a general election who 7 is not nominated at a primary election by one or more such parties may 8 decline the nomination of one or more parties not later than [ten days 9 after the primary election] the last day to certify the ballot pursuant 10 to section 4-112 of this chapter or to determine the candidates duly 11 nominated for public office and the questions that shall appear on the 12 ballot pursuant to section 4-114 of this chapter. 13 A person designated as a candidate for nomination or for party posi- 14 tion, or nominated for an office, may, in a certificate signed and 15 acknowledged by such person and filed no later than the last day to 16 certify the ballot pursuant to section 4-110 or section 4-112 of this 17 chapter or the last day to determine the candidates duly nominated for 18 public office and the questions that shall appear on the ballot pursuant 19 to section 4-114 of this chapter, decline the designation or nomination 20 under the following circumstances: 21 § 2. This act shall take effect immediately. EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets [ ] is old law to be omitted. LBD13444-01-5 
Text of A 8970 as introduced, from the official record. Connect Plus keeps every version and highlights what changed.Compare versions
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