Source: http://nyccfb.info/law/cfb-rules/rule-1-04-contributions/
Timestamp: 2019-05-26 03:46:54
Document Index: 482366476

Matched Legal Cases: ['§3', '§3', '§3', '§3', '§3', '§14', '§3', '§3', '§3', '§3', '§3', '§3']

Rule 1-04 Contributions | New York City Campaign Finance Board
Rule 1-04 Contributions
(a) Receipt. A monetary contribution is received on the date it is delivered. Notwithstanding the foregoing, a text message contribution is received on the date it is delivered to an authorized committee, after payment of the contributor’s wireless bill, by a wireless carrier or other mobile fundraising vendor. An in-kind contribution is received on the date the goods or services are received or rendered. Candidates must report the date of receipt of each contribution that is accepted and deposited on disclosure statements filed with the Board.
(b) Deposit. All monetary contributions must be accepted and deposited, or rejected and returned to a contributor, within 10 business days after receipt; provided, however, that contributions made in the form of checks received by an authorized committee of a candidate for the office of City Council more than one year before the first covered election for which such candidate is seeking nomination or election may be accepted and deposited, or rejected and returned to a contributor, within 20 business days after receipt. All contributions that are accepted and deposited are subject to the Act's contribution limits and prohibitions and must be reported to the Board. If a candidate returns a contribution after its deposit, the return must be reported to the Board.
(c) Returning receipts.
(1) Excess and prohibited contributions. When a candidate knows or has reason to know that he or she has accepted a contribution, contributions, or aggregate contributions from a single source in excess of the applicable contribution limit, including a contribution or contributions from a contributor having business dealings with the city, or from a source prohibited by the Act or the Charter, the candidate shall promptly return the excess portion or prohibited contribution, as the case may be, by bank check or certified check made out to the contributor; provided, however, that in the case of a contribution from a contributor having business dealings with the city in excess of the applicable limitation set forth in §3-703(1-a) of the Code, the candidate shall return the excess portion of such contribution within 20 days of receipt of notice from the Board that the contribution exceeds such limitation. Alternatively, if return of the contribution to the contributor is impracticable, the candidate may pay to the Fund an amount equal to the amount of the prohibited contribution or the excess portion, as the case may be. Remedial actions taken pursuant to this rule will not, however, preclude imposition of a penalty under the Act; provided, however, that no violation shall issue and no penalty shall be imposed where the excess portion of a contribution from a contributor having business dealings with the city is postmarked or delivered within 20 days of receipt of notification from the Board. The Board shall provide such notification to the candidate within 20 days of the reporting of the contribution, or, in the case of a contribution reported during the six weeks preceding the candidate's next covered election, the Board shall provide such notification within 3 business days; provided, however, that if such twentieth day is a Saturday, Sunday, or legal holiday, notification by the Board by 5 p.m. on the next business day shall be considered timely. If the candidate demonstrates to the Board, within 20 days of receipt of such notice, that the contributor identified by the Board as having business dealings with the city has applied to the Mayor's Office of Contract Services or the City Clerk for removal from the doing business database and that such application is pending, the candidate may retain contribution(s) received from such contributor until the Board notifies the candidate that the Mayor's Office of Contract Services or the City Clerk has denied the application for removal, in which case the candidate shall have 20 days from receipt of such second notice to return the excess portion of the contribution(s). Contributions from contributors who have applied for removal from the doing business database shall not be considered matchable contributions unless and until the contributor is removed from the doing business database by the Mayor's Office of Contract Services or the City Clerk. A candidate may not accept any contributions in excess of the applicable contribution limits or from sources prohibited by the Act or the Charter.
(2) Restrictions on return. After receiving public funds for an election, a participant may not return a contribution, unless directed by the Board to do so, until any required repayments to the Fund have been made, except if the contribution: (i) exceeds the contribution limit, including the limit applicable to contributors having business dealings with the city, (ii) is otherwise illegal, (iii) is returned because of the particular source involved, or (iv) was deposited in a separate account pursuant to Rule 2-06(c) for a runoff election that is not held.
(d) Contributions from political committees. (1) Pursuant to §3-703(1)(k) of the Code, a participant may not accept a contribution from a political committee, unless the political committee has registered with the Board pursuant to §3-707 of the Code for the period that includes the participant's next covered election or so registers within ten days of receipt of the contribution. The registration shall be submitted in such form and manner as shall be determined by the Board and shall include such information as may be required by the Board, including:
(i) the name and address of the committee, and the name, address, and employer of the chairperson, treasurer, and liaison of the committee;
(ii) an indication whether the committee is a political action committee, a candidate committee (and if so, identification of the candidate(s) supported by the committee), or another kind of political committee;
(iii) identification of the governmental agency or agencies with which the committee files its financial disclosure statements;
(iv) an indication whether the committee makes monetary contributions, in-kind contributions, and/or independent expenditures, and the name, address and employer of each person with the authority to determine the candidates for whom the committee makes contributions and/or independent expenditures; and
(v) an indication whether the committee accepts contributions from corporations, limited liability companies, or partnerships and undertakes not to use funds from such entities for contributions to participants.
Political committees that do not submit the information required by the Board, or any required signatures or notarizations, will not be considered to be registered.
(2) The registration shall remain in effect through the January 11 following the next regularly scheduled citywide election, unless there has been a material change in the information included in the registration. In the event of a material change, an amendment to the registration shall be filed in order to keep the registration in effect. The Board shall establish a procedure for renewing a previous registration for the next election cycle.
(3) It is the responsibility of the participant to determine whether a contribution from a political committee may be accepted. Participants have the burden to check the cumulative list of registered political committees, published by the Board on a daily basis, to ensure that each political committee contribution accepted is from a political committee that registered with the Board previously or within ten days after the acceptance of the contribution. The participant has the burden of demonstrating why a contribution from a political committee that had not registered in a timely manner has been retained.
(e) Corporations, limited liability companies, and partnerships. Candidates may not accept, directly, indirectly, or by transfer, contributions, loans, guarantees or other security for a loan from a corporation, limited liability company, or partnership, including a limited liability partnership or professional corporation. This prohibition does not apply to loans made in the regular course of business, regardless of the lender's form of business entity; but does prohibit the acceptance of a guarantee or other security for such a loan from a corporation, limited liability company, or partnership. This prohibition does not apply to contributions by political committees that are corporations, limited liability companies, or partnerships.
(f) Attributing a contribution to an election. A contribution is presumed to be accepted for the first election in which the participant, limited participant, or non-participant is a candidate following the day that it is received, except: (1) as otherwise provided in Rules 1-04(c)(2), 1-04(m), and 1-07; (2) in the case of a State or local election, contributions received before the first January 12 after an election will also be presumed to be accepted for that election; and (3) in the case of a federal election, contributions received before the first January 1 after the election will also be presumed to be accepted for that election, except as may otherwise be provided under federal law and regulations.
(g) In-kind contributions.
(1) As expenditures. An in-kind contribution to a candidate is also an expenditure made by the candidate. The date an in-kind contribution is received is also the date of its expenditure. If a debt, other than a loan, incurred by a candidate is forgiven, the act of forgiving is an in-kind contribution to but not an expenditure by the candidate.
(2) Valuation. The candidate shall use a reasonable estimate of fair market value in determining the monetary value of an in-kind contribution and shall maintain a receipt or other written record supporting the valuation. "Fair market value" for goods means the price of those goods in the market from which they ordinarily would have been purchased at the time the goods are received. "Fair market value" for services, other than those provided by an unpaid volunteer, means the hourly or piecework charge for the services at a commercially reasonable rate prevailing at the time the services were rendered.
(3) Goods and services provided at a price below fair market value. If goods or services are provided at less than fair market value, the amount of the resulting in-kind contribution is the difference between the fair market value of the goods or services at the time the goods or services are received and the amount charged to the candidate.
(4) Extensions of credit.
(i) Generally. A creditor who extends credit to a candidate for a period beyond 90 days, has made a contribution equal in value to the credit extended, unless the creditor has made a commercially reasonable attempt to collect the debt.
(ii) Corporate, limited liability company, and partnership vendors. Notwithstanding subparagraph (i), if a candidate demonstrates that a creditor that is a corporation, limited liability company, or partnership did not intend to make a contribution, the extension of credit will not result by itself in the candidate being deemed to have accepted a contribution from a corporation, limited liability company, or partnership, as prohibited by law.
(iii) Loans. This paragraph does not apply to loans.
(5) Debts forgiven. A debt owed by a candidate which is forgiven or settled for less than the amount owed is a contribution, unless the debt was forgiven or settled by a creditor who has treated the outstanding debt in a commercially reasonable manner.
(6) Commercially reasonable treatment of debts. The Board will consider as evidence of commercially reasonable treatment that: (i) all commercially reasonable efforts have been taken to satisfy the outstanding debt; and (ii) the creditor has pursued its remedies in the same manner as that employed by creditors of other debtors, including the institution of lawsuits.
(7) Failure to report liability. Notwithstanding any implication of paragraph (4) to the contrary, a candidate's failure to report an outstanding liability in a contemporaneous manner is a violation of §3-703(6) of the Code. Such a liability will be deemed an in-kind contribution.
(h) Multiple contributions from a single source. If a candidate accepts more than one contribution from a single source, the contributions shall be totaled to determine the candidate's compliance with the applicable contribution limit. A "single source" includes any person, persons in combination, or entity who or which establishes, maintains, or controls another entity and every entity so established, maintained, or controlled, including every political committee established, maintained, or controlled by the same person, persons in combination, or entity­. If a candidate accepts multiple contributions from a single source consisting of at least one contribution from a person having business dealings with the city and one or more contributions from an entity established, maintained, or controlled by that person, the applicable contribution limit shall be the limit applicable to persons having business dealings with the city pursuant to §3-703(1-a) of the Code.
(1) General factors. Factors for determining whether a person, persons in combination, or an entity establishes, maintains, or controls another entity include, but are not limited to:
(i) whether the person or entity makes decisions or establishes policy for the other entity, including determinations of the recipients of its contributions and the purposes of its expenditures;
(ii) whether the person or entity has the authority to hire, appoint, discipline, discharge, demote, remove, or otherwise influence other persons who make decisions or establish policies for the other entity;
(iii) whether contributions made by the person or entity and the other entity reflect a similar pattern; and
(iv) whether the person or entity knows of and has acquiesced in public representations by the other entity that it is acting on its behalf or under its direction.
(2) Labor organizations. Notwithstanding paragraph (1), different labor organizations shall not be considered to be a single source for the purpose of compliance with the applicable contribution limit if the candidate demonstrates that the contributors satisfy the four criteria below:
(i) the labor organizations do not share a majority of members of their governing boards;
(ii) the labor organizations do not share a majority of the officers of their governing boards;
(iii) the labor organizations maintain separate accounts with different signatories; and
(iv) the labor organizations make contributions from separate accounts.
It is the responsibility of the candidate to determine whether a contribution exceeds the applicable contribution limit. To ensure that the candidate does not accept a contribution exceeding the applicable limit, the candidate must review the relationship between affiliated contributors before the candidate accepts and deposits their contributions or rejects and returns the contributions under Rule 1-04(b) and (c). The candidate has the burden of demonstrating why the candidate has retained an over-the-limit contribution from contributors who or which constitute a single source.
(j) Earmarked contributions. If a candidate accepts from a political committee a contribution that had been given to the committee by a contributor who limits the political committee's choice or directs the selection of the recipient, the contribution shall be considered to be from both the original contributor and from the political committee. This rule does not apply to political committees acting solely as intermediaries and not exercising any discretion over the selection of the ultimate recipient, or to political committees making contributions from funds that have not been earmarked by the contributors. Nothing in this subdivision shall be construed to modify the requirements of New York Election Law §14-120.
(k) Joint contributions. (1) Except as otherwise provided for in subdivisions (i) or (j), no contribution shall be considered to be made by more than one person or entity, unless the check or other monetary instrument representing the contribution includes the signature of each person making the contribution (or authorized person in the case of an entity making a contribution).
(2) If a check or other monetary instrument representing a joint contribution does not indicate the amount to be attributed to each contributor, the contribution shall be attributed equally to each contributor.
(l) Tickets for fund-raising events. The entire amount paid to attend a fund-raising event and the entire amount paid as the purchase price for a fund-raising item sold by a candidate are contributions.
(m) Post-election contributions. Contributions accepted after an election may be used to pay liabilities incurred in that election, subject to the applicable contribution limit and prohibitions, only if deposited in and disbursed from an account established and maintained for that election, as provided in Rule 2-06(b).
(n) Solicitation of contributions for elections not subject to the Act. If a candidate makes a solicitation for a contribution for an election not subject to the requirements of the Act, the solicitation must specify that the contribution is being solicited for an election that is not subject to the requirements of the Act.
(o) Court-ordered rerun elections. Candidates may not accept additional contributions permitted for a court-ordered rerun election pursuant to §3-703(1)(f) of the Code before the canvass of returns in, or conduct of, the preceding election is contested in a court of competent jurisdiction. If a rerun election is ordered by a court but subsequently canceled, a candidate who would have been on the ballot has the burden of demonstrating that any portion of contributions in excess of the limit applicable under §3-703(1)(f) of the Code may be reasonably attributed to expenses incurred for the rerun election before its cancellation.
(p) Joint fundraising; endorsements. (1) If a candidate makes expenditures in connection with, or otherwise cooperates in, raising contributions for any other candidate or political committee:
(i) the expenditures incurred and in-kind contributions received in connection with such fundraising, including in the form of endorsements, shall be allocated in accordance with Rule 1-08(h); and
(ii) if any of the contributions so raised is:
(A) in an amount that exceeds the amount of the contribution limit applicable to the candidate under §3-703(1)(f) of the Code (including when aggregated with contributions the candidate receives from the same source); or
(B) from a source that would be prohibited to the candidate by the Act or the Charter; the candidate shall have the burden of demonstrating that the contribution was not used in a manner that directly or indirectly assisted or benefitted the candidate in violation of the applicable limit or prohibition.
This paragraph shall not be construed to prohibit a candidate from making a monetary contribution to any other candidate or political committee, provided, however, that such contributions may result in reduced public funds payments pursuant to Rule 5-01(n).
(2) To ensure compliance with the contribution limits of §3-703(1)(f) of the Code, candidates who run together as a "ticket," and make joint expenditures to raise contributions, shall additionally abide by the requirements of this subdivision.
(i) When paying his or her share of joint expenditures (by direct payment or reimbursement), the payor shall have the burden of demonstrating that the amount disbursed does not derive from contributions that would exceed the other candidate's contribution limit, if those contributions were aggregated with contributions previously received by the other candidate.
(ii) Therefore, no disbursement for joint expenditures shall be made before the candidate is able to account fully for the disbursement with contributions that would not exceed the other candidate's contribution limit, if so aggregated. Failure to make reimbursement within 30 days of the expenditure, however, will result in a deduction in public funds payments otherwise due to the candidate to be reimbursed, pursuant to Rule 5-01(n)(1), and failure to make reimbursement within 90 days will result in treatment of the expenditure as an in-kind contribution to the candidate failing to make reimbursement, pursuant to Rule 1-04(g)(4).
(q) Anticipated runoff primary or runoff special elections. A candidate seeking the nomination of a political party or seeking election in a special election may not accept contributions for a runoff primary election or runoff special election, unless the candidate has previously demonstrated to the Board that a runoff election is reasonably anticipated. Runoff election contributions may not be accepted once it is no longer reasonable to anticipate such a runoff election. To the extent permitted by this subdivision, the candidate (and each opposing candidate seeking the same party nomination or seeking election in the same special election, as the case may be) may solicit and accept additional contributions for the anticipated runoff election, up to the amount permitted for the runoff election by §3-703(1)(f) of the Code, under the following conditions:
(1) every runoff election contribution shall be deposited in a separate account and subject to restrictions on use, as provided in Rule 2-06(c);
(2) until a primary or special election is held that results in a runoff election, each solicitation of runoff election contributions shall expressly state that such contributions are being solicited only for a runoff election that may not occur;
(3) no single contribution check shall be accepted in an amount that exceeds the limit applicable for the primary and general election, or a special election, under §3-703(1)(f) or (h) of the Code; and
(4) each disclosure statement submitted by the candidate shall include a copy of the most recent bank statement for its runoff election account.
(r) Contributions by minors. (1) A participant or non-participant may accept a contribution from a minor child (individual under 18 years of age) only if: (i) the decision to contribute was made knowingly and voluntarily by the minor child; (ii) the funds, goods, or services contributed were owned and controlled exclusively by the minor child, such as income earned by the child, or a bank account opened and maintained exclusively in the child's name; and (iii) the contribution was not made from the proceeds of a gift, the purpose of which was to provide funds to be contributed.
(2) Contributions by individuals under 18 years of age shall not be matchable.