S 8445: Requires disclosure of major contributors on independent expenditure communications; provides language for such disclaimers.

  
  STATE OF NEW YORK ________________________________________________________________________ 8445 2025-2026 Regular Sessions  IN SENATE June 23, 2025 ___________ Introduced by Sen. FAHY -- read twice and ordered printed, and when printed to be committed to the Committee on Rules AN ACT to amend the election law, in relation to requiring disclosure of major contributors on independent expenditure communications The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem- bly, do enact as follows: 1 Section 1. Section 14-107 of the election law is amended by adding a 2 new subdivision 9 to read as follows: 3 9. (a) Any individual, entity, or political committee that makes an 4 independent expenditure for a covered communication shall include on 5 such communication the following disclaimer, prominently displayed and 6 clearly readable or audible, as applicable: 7 "Paid for by (name of person or organization). This expenditure was 8 not made in cooperation with any candidate or candidate's committee." 9 (b) (i) If the independent spender has received aggregate contrib- 10 utions exceeding one thousand dollars from any person or entity during 11 the twelve months preceding the communication, the disclaimer shall also 12 include: 13 "Top contributors: (Name one) (Name two) (Name three)." 14 (ii) The names listed under subparagraph (i) of this paragraph shall 15 be those contributors who contributed the largest aggregate amounts 16 exceeding one thousand dollars, in descending order. 17 (c) If the independent spender has a treasurer, the disclaimer shall 18 also include: 19 "The treasurer of (name of person or organization) is (name of treas- 20 urer)." 21 (d) The disclosure shall appear in a type size and format that is 22 easily readable or, for audio or video communications, clearly audible 23 and/or visible for at least four seconds. The disclosure shall also 24 include the web address of the state board of elections candidates and 25 campaign disclosures reporting system. EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets [ ] is old law to be omitted. LBD13406-01-5 
 S. 8445 2 1 (e) Nothing in this section shall be applicable to candidates for 2 public offices under the jurisdiction of the New York city campaign 3 finance board. 4 (f) For the purposes of this subdivision, the term "covered communi- 5 cation" shall mean any public communication made via direct mail, print, 6 internet, radio, television, telephone, or other mass distribution meth- 7 od that expressly advocates for the election or defeat of a clearly 8 identified candidate or ballot proposal, or refers to such candidate or 9 proposal within sixty days of an election. 10 § 2. The election law is amended by adding a new section 14-107-c to 11 read as follows: 12 § 14-107-c. Donor attribution rules for independent expenditures. 1. 13 For purposes of determining the top contributors required to be 14 disclosed under subdivision nine of section 14-107 of this title, only 15 those contributions that are earmarked, solicited for, or reasonably 16 expected to support independent expenditures shall be considered. 17 2. No later than one hundred eighty days after the effective date of 18 this section, state board of elections shall promulgate any rules or 19 regulations necessary to implement the provisions of this section and 20 subdivision nine of section 14-107 of this title, including standardized 21 disclaimer formats, font sizes, and methods for identifying top contrib- 22 utors. 23 § 3. Severability clause. If any clause, sentence, paragraph, subdivi- 24 sion or section of this act shall be adjudged by any court of competent 25 jurisdiction to be invalid, such judgment shall not affect, impair, or 26 invalidate the remainder thereof, but shall be confined in its operation 27 to the clause, sentence, paragraph, subdivision or section thereof 28 directly involved in the controversy in which such judgment shall have 29 been rendered. It is hereby declared to be the intent of the legislature 30 that this act would have been enacted even if such invalid provisions 31 had not been included herein. 32 § 4. This act shall take effect on the first of January next succeed- 33 ing the date upon which it shall have become a law. Effective immediate- 34 ly, the addition, amendment and/or repeal of any rule or regulation 35 necessary for the implementation of this act on its effective date are 36 authorized to be made and completed on or before such effective date.