AP Photo Legislature passes transparency bill before 5 a.m.

ALBANY — The end of session reform package passed by lawmakers early Saturday morning includes a dozen changes to the state’s campaign finance system, lobbying law, and constitution.

However, despite a spate of scandals involving top legislators and multiple investigations into several levels of government, it doesn’t do much to directly affect the behavior of the elected officials who voted for it.


The compromise mostly focuses on the activity of private sector groups. Super PACs will be subjected to clearer rules governing their relations with candidates, more advocacy groups will need to disclose their donors, and some consultants will need to register with the state. Aside from a constitutional amendment to strip felons of their pensions, the only new attempt to regulate elected officials comes from a requirement that they close their campaign committees no later than two years after they die.

“This bill, frankly, is like taking an aspirin for a broken arm,” said Sen. Daniel Squadron during his chamber’s debate on the bill. “It may make you feel a little better, but it’s not going to fix the underlying problem. … The ways we deal with outside income in the Legislature and the LLC loophole are central to the ethics crisis we face today.”

“Nobody that has gone to prison or has been convicted that has served in this body has been convicted of anything having to do with independent expenditures,” said Sen. Diane Savino, before voting no.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo had a more positive review. Cuomo said in a statement that the bill, which was introduced at 1:45 a.m., won the approval of the Senate at 3:00 a.m., and passed the Assembly at 4:50 a.m., will “help bring more transparency, trust, and faith to state government.”

“I think it’s too rushed, I think there hasn’t been enough analysis of it,” Savino said.

“I’m not sure any of us can tell you exactly what’s in this bill,” said Sen. Liz Krueger.

Most of what is in the bill doesn’t come as a major surprise. Cuomo’s recently announced push to regulate Super PACs faced little opposition from legislative leaders and was included in its entirety.

State law has already prohibited coordination between independent expenditure committees and the candidates they support, but the definition of coordination has been somewhat vague. A number of activities considered de facto evidence of coordination are now spelled out in statute, including whether a committee employs a former staffer or family member of a candidate it backs and whether the candidate fundraises for the committee or engaged in “strategic discussions” with it.

Independent expenditure committees will now be prohibited from living a dual existence as PACs that give contributions to candidates, and the threshold for donations that will need to be reported on a daily basis will drop from “more than $1,000” to $1,000 or more.

As part of a separate piece of legislation, lawmakers have agreed to give first passage to a constitutional amendment that would make officials who entered the pension system before 2011 forfeit their pensions if they’re convicted of a felony related to their public position. (Those who entered it before 2011 are already covered by a statute enacted that year).

This is the second year in a row they’ve announced such an agreement – the Assembly backed out last year due to concerns it was too broad and could harm the families of low-level state employees. Ultimately, the amendment was limited to elected officials and high-level appointees such as agency heads.

It would still need to pass again next session and be approved of by voters (who support the concept overwhelmingly, according to polls) at a referendum before it kicks in.

The Joint Commission on Public Ethics’ brief and controversial attempt to treat some individuals dealing with the press as lobbyists appears to have ended before it fully started. The ethics watchdog adopted an opinion in January which found that people who are paid more than $5,000 in a year to encourage editorial boards to take positions on specific legislation should be considered lobbyists. JCOPE quickly faced an intense backlash and a lawsuit from five of the state’s largest public relations firms. The agreement struck Friday night changes the law to explicitly state that no interactions with the media constitute lobbying.

Despite this, some people and institutions hoping to influence government are going to need to report a lot more information.

More not-for-profits that lobby will need to disclose their funders. Currently, many groups that spend over $50,000 in a year need to identify anybody who gave them over $5,000. These thresholds will be lowered to $15,000 and $2,500.

It’s not immediately clear how many new groups will be covered by these new tiers, but it’s reasonable to estimate that the number disclosing information about who’s funding them should roughly double. Last year, 1,559 lobby clients spent $50,000 or more, about a hundred of whom disclosed; 1,393 spent between $15,000 and $50,000.

One notable exception was added to this section: Groups won’t need to disclose their donations if they constitute “dues, fees, or assessments” charged to members.

“Political consultants” will need to register with the Department of State. Anybody who provides services to an officeholder or candidate will need to disclose information about “each client who retains them” and the type of work they did for each of these clients.

Charitable 501(c)(3)s will need to report more information about their involvement with lobbying campaigns. Specifically, these charities will need to file reports with the Department of Law disclosing any donations of over $2,500 they have made to 501(c)(4)s that are registered as lobby clients.

The bill also requires JCOPE to provide detailed information to people it is investigating, include specifics of the allegations levied against them and the section of law they’re believed to have violated.

The issue of “ghost committees” will be partially addressed. A POLITICO New YORK analysis last July found that 55 active campaign committees belonging to former officeholders combined to have more than $14.7 million in their bank accounts. Risa Sugarman, the independent enforcement counsel at the state Board of Elections, announced several days later that she would launch an investigation into whether they were spending money appropriately.

The agreement requires that these committees disband within two years of the death of the politician they were created to support. This won’t cover all the committees belonging to people who will clearly not run for office anytime soon: Both former Senator Carl Kruger, who is in jail and has $416,325 in his campaign account, and former Assembly speaker Sheldon Silver, who has been sentenced to jail and has $246,609, will be able to keep their warchests. But former Senate Majority Leader Ralph Marino, who was ousted from his leadership role in 1994, died in 2002, and still has $75,541 in his campaign account, wouldn’t be allowed to keep his.

The proposal also makes several other minor changes to election law.

Parties’ “housekeeping” committees, which can raise unlimited money but can’t spend it directly on elections, will need to be kept in a segregated account. (Most already are). A long-standing proposal from Sen. John DeFrancisco that would let candidates create committees of three people who would decide what happens to their funds should the candidate die was tossed in.

This was the second reform package to be enacted this year. In March, the Assembly adopted a number of internal rules reforms that will take effect at the end of the year. Among other things, this package required the chamber to end its work each day at 10 p.m. rather than its current. frequently missed deadline of midnight.