Bill Text: NY S08039 | 2017-2018 | General Assembly | Introduced
Bill Title: Relates to government vendor contributions.
Spectrum: Bipartisan Bill
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2018-03-22 - REFERRED TO ELECTIONS [S08039 Detail]
Download: New_York-2017-S08039-Introduced.html
STATE OF NEW YORK ________________________________________________________________________ 8039 IN SENATE March 22, 2018 ___________ Introduced by Sen. CROCI -- read twice and ordered printed, and when printed to be committed to the Committee on Elections 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. (a) It shall be unlawful 4 during the restricted vendor contribution period for any person, organ- 5 ization, group of persons, or business entity that submits a bid, quota- 6 tion, offer or response to a state governmental entity posting or solic- 7 itation for procurement to make a contribution to any officeholder of or 8 with authority over the state governmental entity or entities responsi- 9 ble for issuing such procurement posting or solicitation, evaluating 10 responses to the procurement posting or solicitation for purposes of 11 determining an award, or approving the selection of an awardee, or 12 awarding the final contract, or to any candidate for an office of such 13 governmental entity, including to such officeholder's or candidate's 14 authorized political committees or political committees the officeholder 15 or candidate exerts operational control over. It shall further be unlaw- 16 ful, pursuant to section 14-120 of this article, to make contributions 17 to political committees not authorized or operationally controlled by 18 the officeholder or candidate for the purpose of transferring a contrib- 19 ution to the officeholder's or candidate's authorized political commit- 20 tees or political committees they exert operational control over. 21 (b) For purposes of this section the assembly and senate shall be 22 separate and distinct governmental entities when a particular posting or 23 solicitation for procurement is issued by only one respective house. 24 (c) The state governmental entity directly responsible for issuing 25 such posting or solicitation for procurement shall include a notice of 26 the prohibition established by this section and the state governmental 27 entity responsible for evaluating responses to such posting or solicita- 28 tion shall provide to any person, organization, group of persons, or EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets [] is old law to be omitted. LBD14548-01-8S. 8039 2 1 business entity that submits a proposal in response to such posting or 2 solicitation a notice of the prohibition established by this section and 3 the restricted vendor contribution period commencement date. 4 2. As used in this section "business entity" means a business corpo- 5 ration, professional services corporation, limited liability company, 6 partnership, limited partnership, business trust, association or any 7 other legal commercial entity organized under the laws of this state or 8 any other state or foreign jurisdiction, including any subsidiary 9 directly or indirectly controlled by the business entity, and any poli- 10 tical organization, including but not limited to any political organiza- 11 tion organized under section 527 of the Internal Revenue Code, that is 12 directly or indirectly controlled by the business entity. 13 3. The restricted vendor contribution period described in this section 14 shall commence, with respect to a specific person, organization, group 15 of persons, or business entity when it files a statement of registration 16 pursuant to section one-e of the legislative law, or engages lobbying, 17 as defined by subdivision (c) of section one-c of the legislative law, 18 to generate a procurement opportunity or pilot program or submits a bid, 19 quotation, offer or response to the state governmental entity posting or 20 solicitation, at the earliest posting, on a state governmental entity's 21 website, in a newspaper of general circulation or in the procurement 22 opportunities newsletter in accordance with article four-C of the 23 economic development law of written notice, advertisement or solicita- 24 tion of a request for proposal, invitation for bids, or solicitations of 25 proposals, or any other method provided for by law or regulation for 26 soliciting a response from offerers intending to result in a procurement 27 contract with a state governmental entity. The restricted vendor 28 contribution period does not apply to a person, organization, group of 29 persons or business entity that is responding to a state governmental 30 entity's request for information or other informational exchanges occur- 31 ring prior to such governmental entity's posting or solicitation for 32 procurement provided it has not filed a statement of registration pursu- 33 ant to section one-e of the legislative law or engaged in lobbying, as 34 defined by subdivision (c) of section one-c of the legislative law, to 35 generate a procurement opportunity or pilot program. 36 4. The restricted vendor contribution period described in this section 37 shall end with respect to a specific person, organization, group of 38 persons, or business entity if: 39 (a) the person, organization, group of persons, or business entity is 40 the recipient of the final contract award, the restricted vendor 41 contribution period shall end six months after the final contract award 42 and approval by the state governmental entity and, where applicable, the 43 state comptroller and if the person, organization, group of persons or 44 business entity does not lobby on the execution of the contract after 45 its award; or 46 (b) the person, organization, group of persons, or business entity is 47 not the recipient of the final contract award, the restricted vendor 48 contribution period shall end with the final contract award and approval 49 by the state governmental entity and, where applicable, the state comp- 50 troller. 51 5. The restricted vendor contribution period shall recommence if a 52 person, organization, group of persons or business entity engages in 53 activity pursuant to subdivision three of this section. 54 § 2. Section 14-126 of the election law is amended by adding a new 55 subdivision 7 to read as follows:S. 8039 3 1 7. (a) Any person, organization, group of persons, or business entity 2 as that term is used in section 14-131 of this article, who, under 3 circumstances evincing an intent to violate such law, makes a contrib- 4 ution in contravention of section 14-131 of this article shall be 5 subject to a civil penalty not to exceed the greater of ten thousand 6 dollars or an amount equal to two hundred percent of the contribution, 7 to be recoverable in a special proceeding or civil action to be brought 8 by the state board of elections chief enforcement counsel. 9 (b) Any person who, acting as or on behalf of an officeholder, candi- 10 date, or political committee, accepts a contribution or receives a 11 transfer in contravention of section 14-131 of this article shall be 12 required to refund such contribution. 13 § 3. This act shall take effect on the one hundred eightieth day after 14 it shall have become a law.
