NY State Senate Bill 2021-S741

Senate Bill S741

2021-2022 Legislative Session

Relates to the use of campaign funds for any settlement fees, fines or penalties for sexual harassment civil or criminal actions

download bill text pdf

Archive: Last Bill Status - In Senate Committee Elections Committee

Introduced
- In Committee Assembly
- In Committee Senate
- On Floor Calendar Assembly
- On Floor Calendar Senate
- Passed Assembly
- Passed Senate
Delivered to Governor
Signed By Governor

Please enter your contact information

First Name

Last Name

Email Address

A valid email address is required.

Home address is used to determine the senate district in which you reside. Your support or opposition to this bill is then shared immediately with the senator who represents you.

Optional services from the NY State Senate:

Create an account. An account allows you to officially support or oppose key legislation, sign petitions with a single click, and follow issues, committees, and bills that matter to you. When you create an account, you agree to this platform's terms of participation.

Include a custom message for your Senator? (Optional)

Enter a message to your senator. Many New Yorkers use this to share the reasoning behind their support or opposition to the bill. Others might share a personal anecdote about how the bill would affect them or people they care about.

Actions

View Actions

	Assembly Actions - Lowercase Senate Actions - UPPERCASE
Jan 05, 2022	referred to elections returned to senate died in assembly
Jun 03, 2021	referred to election law delivered to assembly passed senate
Jun 02, 2021	ordered to third reading cal.1433 committee discharged and committed to rules
Jan 06, 2021	referred to elections

Votes

- Jun 3, 2021 - Floor Vote
  S741
  
  62
  
  Aye
  
  1
  
  Nay
  
  0
  
  Absent
  
  0
  
  Excused
  
  0
  
  Abstained
  - - Floor Vote: Jun 3, 2021
      
      aye (62)
      
      Addabbo Jr.
      
      Akshar
      
      Bailey
      
      Benjamin
      
      Biaggi
      
      Borrello
      
      Boyle
      
      Breslin
      
      Brisport
      
      Brooks
      
      Brouk
      
      Comrie
      
      Cooney
      
      Felder
      
      Gallivan
      
      Gaughran
      
      Gianaris
      
      Gounardes
      
      Griffo
      
      Harckham
      
      Helming
      
      Hinchey
      
      Hoylman-Sigal
      
      Jackson
      
      Kaminsky
      
      Kaplan
      
      Kavanagh
      
      Kennedy
      
      Krueger
      
      Lanza
      
      Liu
      
      Mannion
      
      Martucci
      
      Mattera
      
      May
      
      Mayer
      
      Myrie
      
      O'Mara
      
      Oberacker
      
      Ortt
      
      Palumbo
      
      Parker
      
      Persaud
      
      Ramos
      
      Rath III
      
      Reichlin-Melnick
      
      Ritchie
      
      Rivera
      
      Ryan
      
      Salazar
      
      Sanders Jr.
      
      Savino
      
      Sepúlveda
      
      Serino
      
      Serrano
      
      Skoufis
      
      Stavisky
      
      Stec
      
      Stewart-Cousins
      
      Tedisco
      
      Thomas
      
      Weik
      
      nay (1)
      
      Jordan
  Jun 2, 2021 - Rules Committee Vote
  S741
  
  18
  
  Aye
  
  0
  
  Nay
  
  3
  
  Aye with Reservations
  
  0
  
  Absent
  
  0
  
  Excused
  
  0
  
  Abstained
  - - Rules Committee Vote: Jun 2, 2021
      
      aye (18)
      
      Addabbo Jr.
      
      Bailey
      
      Benjamin
      
      Biaggi
      
      Boyle
      
      Breslin
      
      Comrie
      
      Gallivan
      
      Gianaris
      
      Griffo
      
      Kennedy
      
      Krueger
      
      Lanza
      
      Liu
      
      Mayer
      
      Parker
      
      Ritchie
      
      Stewart-Cousins
      
      aye wr (3)
      
      O'Mara
      
      Ortt
      
      Savino

co-Sponsors

View additional co-sponsors

2021-S741 (ACTIVE) - Details

See Assembly Version of this Bill:: A53
Current Committee:: Senate Elections
Law Section:: Election Law
Laws Affected:: Amd §14-130, El L
Versions Introduced in Other Legislative Sessions:: 2019-2020: S4311, A7834
2023-2024: S4368, A4734

2021-S741 (ACTIVE) - Summary

Prohibits the use of campaign funds to pay any settlement fees, fines or penalties for sexual harassment civil or criminal actions.

2021-S741 (ACTIVE) - Sponsor Memo

                                
 
BILL NUMBER: S741

SPONSOR: BIAGGI
 
TITLE OF BILL:

An act to amend the election law, in relation to the use of campaign
funds to pay any settlement fees, fines or penalties for sexual harass-
ment civil or criminal actions

 
PURPOSE OF BILL:

To prohibit campaign funds from being used to pays settlement fees for
sexual harassment action, investigation or prosecution for alleged
violations of state law

 
SUMMARY OF SPECIFIC PROVISIONS:

Section 1: Amends Section 14-120 of the election law by adding subdivi-
sion 7 which does not allow campaign funds to be used to pay settlement
fees for sexual harassment civil or criminal action, investigation, or
prosecution for alleged violations of state law alleged to have been

committed by a candidate, public or party official, members of their
immediate family or domestic partner.

Section 2: Sets forth an effective date

 
JUSTIFICATION:

According to the New York State Board of Elections, a contribution is
defined as, "any gift... or deposit of money or anything of value, made
in connection with the nomination for election (e.g., primary), or
election (e.g., general), of any candidate, or made to promote the
success or defeat of a political party or principle, or of any ballot
proposal." Funds are given by donors with the expectation that their
contributions will be used for the candidate's election efforts and the
execution of their duties, not to fund the cost of their bad conduct.

Under current election law, section 14-130, it is illegal to use funds
for payment of any fines or penalties assessed against the candidate in
connection with a criminal conviction or by the joint commission for
public ethics. However, as the law is currently written, using campaign
funds to pay settlement fees including paying out sexual harassment
settlements, is legal. This practice is an abysmal breach of the
public's trust that their contributions are being appropriately used to
support an honest campaign.

 
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:

2019-2020: S4311/A7834A - Died in Elections/Died in Election Law

 
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS FOR STATE AND LOCAL GOVERNMENTS:

To be determined.

 
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect on the sixtieth day after it shall have
become a law.

2021-S741 (ACTIVE) - Bill Text download pdf

                            
 
                     S T A T E   O F   N E W   Y O R K
 ________________________________________________________________________
 
                                    741
 
                        2021-2022 Regular Sessions
 
                             I N  S E N A T E
 
                                (PREFILED)
 
                              January 6, 2021
                                ___________
 
 Introduced  by  Sens. BIAGGI, GOUNARDES, HOYLMAN, MAYER, SALAZAR -- 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 the use of campaign
   funds to pay any  settlement  fees,  fines  or  penalties  for  sexual
   harassment civil or criminal actions
 
   THE  PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, REPRESENTED IN SENATE AND ASSEM-
 BLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
 
   Section 1.  Paragraphs (x) and (xi) of subdivision 3 of section 14-130
 of the election law, paragraph (x) as  amended  and  paragraph  (xi)  as
 added  by  chapter  136 of the laws of 2019, are amended and a new para-
 graph (xii) is added to read as follows:
   (x) travel expenses including automobile purchases or  leases,  unless
 used  for  campaign  purposes or in connection with the execution of the
 duties of public office or party position  and  usage  of  such  vehicle
 which  is  incidental  to such purposes or the execution of such duties;
 [and]
   (xi) childcare expenses, other than expenses incurred in the  campaign
 or in the execution of the duties of public office or party position[.];
 AND
   (XII)  PAYMENT  OF  ANY  SETTLEMENT  FEES, FINES OR PENALTIES ASSESSED
 AGAINST THE CANDIDATE IN CONNECTION WITH A  CRIMINAL  OR  CIVIL  ACTION,
 INVESTIGATION,  OR  PROSECUTION  INVOLVING ALLEGATIONS OF SEXUAL HARASS-
 MENT.
   § 2. This act shall take effect on the sixtieth  day  after  it  shall
 have become a law.
 
 
  EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                       [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                            LBD01688-01-1

Comments

Open Legislation is a forum for New York State legislation. All comments are subject to review and community moderation is encouraged.

Comments deemed off-topic, commercial, campaign-related, self-promotional; or that contain profanity, hate or toxic speech; or that link to sites outside of the nysenate.gov domain are not permitted, and will not be published. Attempts to intimidate and silence contributors or deliberately deceive the public, including excessive or extraneous posting/posts, or coordinated activity, are prohibited and may result in the temporary or permanent banning of the user. Comment moderation is generally performed Monday through Friday. By contributing or voting you agree to the Terms of Participation and verify you are over 13.

Create an account. An account allows you to sign petitions with a single click, officially support or oppose key legislation, and follow issues, committees, and bills that matter to you. When you create an account, you agree to this platform's terms of participation.