L.L. 2014/041
Enactment date: 8/28/2014
Int. No. 148-A
By Council Members Lander, Torres, Chin, Cumbo, Levine, Menchaca, Johnson, Miller, Reynoso, Van Bramer, Rosenthal, Kallos and Barron
A Local Law to amend the New York city charter, in relation to increasing independent expenditure disclosure requirements.
Be it enacted by the Council as follows:
Section 1. Legislative findings. Under current law, disclosure on independent expenditure advertisements includes only the name of the individual or organization responsible for the advertisement. Many independent expenditure-making organizations in the 2013 election cycle, however, had generic names that told voters little about who or what the organizations represented, obscuring the actual sources of the spending and making it difficult for voters to evaluate the arguments in election-related advertisements. Requiring the inclusion of the names of donors to these organizations within such advertisements, and linking to a website with more detailed information, will alleviate this problem in a targeted way by enhancing voters' understanding of the interests and individuals whose financial support substantially enabled the creation of such advertisements. The Council therefore finds that it has an interest in promoting transparency by ensuring that the electorate has sufficient information and that voters are informed about the sources of spending related to local elections, and that this legislation is substantially related to such interest.
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[Consolidated provisions are not included in this Appendix A]
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§ 4. Severability. If any section, subsection, sentence, clause, phrase or other portion of this local law is, for any reason, declared unconstitutional or invalid, in whole or in part, by any court of competent jurisdiction, such portion shall be deemed severable, and such unconstitutionality or invalidity shall not affect the validity of the remaining portions of this local law, which remaining portions shall continue in full force and effect.
§ 5. This local law shall take effect one year after its enactment, provided, however, that the campaign finance board shall take such actions, including the promulgation of rules, as are necessary for timely implementation of this local law.