Assemblyman Thiele (I, D, WF, WE – Sag Harbor) announced that the Assembly passed legislation he co-sponsored to close the limited liability corporation (LLC) loophole in the state’s campaign finance law to help curb the influence of big money in politics A.1926.

“Our government should always represent the people, and not be at the beck and call of wealthy special interests,” said Assemblyman Thiele. “This measure enhances the integrity of our elections and closes a loophole that allows power-hungry mega donors to make nearly unlimited campaign contributions.”

Under current election law, individuals and corporations can make unlimited contributions to the same candidate, political party or campaign committee by creating new LLCs for each contribution. Each LLC is treated as an individual donor, even if multiple LLCs are owned by the same person or entity, which makes it harder to determine the real contributor. This issue was compounded by McCutcheon v. FEC, a 2014 U.S. Supreme Court decision that eliminated aggregate contribution limits on individual donations.

The Assembly measure would extend the $5,000 aggregate contribution limit, already applicable to corporations, to include LLCs, and require LLCs to disclose the names of individuals with membership interests, attributing LLC contributions to them.

The Assembly has continually led the fight to make our elections more transparent and fair so that New Yorkers’ concerns aren’t drowned out by special interests. Not only has the Assembly repeatedly passed legislation to close the LLC loophole, but a law was passed last year to increase public disclosure requirements for groups that lobby in New York (Ch. 286 of 2016). Further, the Assembly passed a resolution earlier this year requiring legislators to submit information about their outside income to the independent Legislative Ethics Commission (LEC) to determine whether a conflict of interest exists (B.404/C.25). It’s now time for the state Senate to vote to close the LLC loophole to stop special interests from wielding undue influence in our elections, noted Assemblyman Thiele.

“Unchecked campaign donations corrupt our democracy,” said Assemblyman Thiele. “This legislation will begin to level the playing field to help make sure all voices are heard equally.”