14-100. Definitions. As used in this article: 1. "political committee" means any corporation aiding or promoting and any committee, political club or combination of one or more persons operating or co-operating to aid or to promote the success or defeat of a political party or principle, or of any ballot proposal; or to aid or take part in the election or defeat of a candidate for public office or to aid or take part in the election or defeat of a candidate for nomination at a primary election or convention, including all proceedings prior to such primary election, or of a candidate for any party position voted for at a primary election, or to aid or defeat the nomination by petition of an independent candidate for public office; but nothing in this article shall apply to any committee or organization for the discussion or advancement of political questions or principles without connection with any vote or to a national committee organized for the election of presidential or vice-presidential candidates; provided, however, that a person or corporation making a contribution or contributions to a candidate or a political committee which has filed pursuant to section 14-118 shall not, by that fact alone, be deemed to be a political committee as herein defined.
2. "party committee" means any committee provided for in the rules of the political party in accordance with section two-one hundred of this chapter, other than a constituted committee.
3. "constituted committee" means a state committee, a county committee or a duly constituted subcommittee of a county committee;
4. "duly constituted subcommittee of a county committee" means, outside the city of New York, a city, town or village committee, and, within the city of New York, an assembly district committee, which consists of all county committee members from the city, town, village or assembly district, as the case may be, and only such members;
5. "non-candidate expenditures" means expenditures made by a party committee or a constituted committee to maintain a permanent headquarters and staff and carry on ordinary party activities not promoting the candidacy of specific candidates;
6. "district" means the entire state or any part thereof, as the case may be;
7. "candidate" means an individual who seeks nomination for election, or election, to any public office or party position to be voted for at a primary, general or special or New York city community school district election or election for trustee of the Long Island Power Authority, whether or not the public office or party position has been specifically identified at such time and whether or not such individual is nominated or elected, and, for purposes of this subdivision, an individual shall be deemed to seek nomination for election, or election, to an office or position, if he has (1) taken the action necessary to qualify himself for nomination for election, or election, or (2) received contributions or made expenditures, given his consent for any other person to receive contributions or make expenditures, with a view to bringing about his nomination for election, or election, to any office or position at any time whether in the year in which such contributions or expenditures are made or at any other time; and
8. "legislative leader" means any of the following: the speaker of the assembly; the minority leader of the assembly; the temporary president of the senate and the minority leader of the senate.
9. "contribution" means:
(1) any gift, subscription, outstanding loan (to the extent provided for in section 14-114 of this chapter), advance, or deposit of money or any thing of value, made in connection with the nomination for election, or election, of any candidate, or made to promote the success or defeat of a political party or principle, or of any ballot proposal,
(2) any funds received by a political committee from another political committee to the extent such funds do not constitute a transfer,
(3) any payment, by any person other than a candidate or a political committee authorized by the candidate, made in connection with the nomination for election or election of any candidate, including any payment or expenditure where coordination has occurred as defined in section 14-107 of this article, or any payment made to promote the success or defeat of a political party or principle, or of any ballot proposal including but not limited to compensation for the personal services of any individual which are rendered in connection with a candidate's election or nomination without charge; provided however, that none of the foregoing shall be deemed a contribution if it is made, taken or performed by a candidate or his spouse or by a person or a political committee independent of the candidate or his agents or authorized political committees. For purposes of this article, the term "independent of the candidate or his agents or authorized political committees" shall mean that the candidate or his agents or authorized political committees did not authorize, request, suggest, foster or cooperate in any such activity; and provided further, that the term contribution shall not include:
(A) the value of services provided without compensation by individuals who volunteer a portion or all of their time on behalf of a candidate or political committee,
(B) the use of real or personal property and the cost of invitations, food and beverages voluntarily provided by an individual to a candidate or political committee on the individual's residential premises for candidate-related activities to the extent such services do not exceed five hundred dollars in value, and
(C) the travel expenses of any individual who on his own behalf volunteers his personal services to any candidate or political committee to the extent such expenses are unreimbursed and do not exceed five hundred dollars in value.
10. "transfer" means any exchange of funds or any thing of value between political committees authorized by the same candidate and taking part solely in his campaign, or any exchange of funds between a party or constituted committee and a candidate or any of his authorized political committees.
11. "election" means all general, special and primary elections, but shall not include elections provided for pursuant to the education law, special district elections, fire district elections or library district elections.
12. "clearly identified candidate" means that:
(a) the name of the candidate involved appears;
(b) a photograph or drawing of the candidate appears; or
(c) the identity of the candidate is apparent by unambiguous reference.
13. "general public audience" means an audience composed of members of the public, including a targeted subgroup of members of the public; provided, however, it does not mean an audience solely comprised of members, retirees and staff of a labor organization or members of their households or an audience solely comprised of employees of a corporation, unincorporated business entity or members of a business, trade or professional association or organization.
14. "labor organization" means any organization of any kind which exists for the purpose, in whole or in part, of representing employees employed within the state of New York in dealing with employers or employer organizations or with a state government, or any political or civil subdivision or other agency thereof, concerning terms and conditions of employment, grievances, labor disputes, or other matters incidental to the employment relationship. For the purposes of this article, each local, parent national or parent international organization of a statewide labor organization, and each statewide federation receiving dues from subsidiary labor organizations, shall be considered a separate labor organization.
15. "independent expenditure committee" means a political committee, that makes only independent expenditures as defined in this article, and does not coordinate with a candidate, candidate's authorized committees or an agent of the candidate as defined in paragraph (g) of subdivision one of section 14-107 of this article.
For purposes of this section, an independent expenditure committee may be created by a person, group of persons, corporation, unincorporated business entity, labor organization or business, trade or professional association, or organization, or political committee.
16. "political action committee" means a political committee which makes no expenditures to aid or take part in the election or defeat of a candidate, or to promote the success or defeat of a ballot proposal, other than in the form of contributions, including in-kind contributions, to candidates, candidate's authorized committees, party committees, constituted committees, or independent expenditure committees provided there is no common operational control between the political action committee and the independent expenditure committee; or in the form of communications that are not distributed to a general public audience as described in subdivision thirteen of this section.
For purposes of this paragraph, "common operational control" means that (i) the same individual or individuals exercise actual and strategic control over the day-to-day affairs of both the political action committee and the independent expenditure committee, or (ii) employees of the political action committee and the independent expenditure committee engage in communications related to the strategic operations of either committee.
Last modified: February 3, 2019