STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
700
2023-2024 Regular Sessions
IN ASSEMBLY
January 11, 2023
___________
Introduced by M. of A. CARROLL -- read once and referred to the Commit-
tee on Governmental Operations
AN ACT to amend the business corporation law, in relation to prohibiting
gifts to public officials
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. The business corporation law is amended by adding a new
2 section 204 to read as follows:
3 § 204. Prohibition of gifts to public officials.
4 (a) For the purposes of this section:
5 (1) the terms "gift" and "public official" shall have the same meaning
6 as those terms are defined in the legislative law, except that the term
7 "gift", in addition to the definition set forth in the legislative law,
8 shall include any privileges, benefits or rights that are offered,
9 provided or made available to a public official but not to the general
10 public.
11 (2) the term "public financing" shall include, but not be limited to,
12 state or local grants, subsidies, tax exemptions or credits, tax abate-
13 ments, payments in lieu of taxes, and any debt issued by a state or
14 local agency, a public authority or a public benefit corporation.
15 (b)(1) Notwithstanding any provision of law to the contrary, no domes-
16 tic corporation, foreign corporation, or any subsidiary of such corpo-
17 ration which (i) is authorized to do or does business in this state and
18 (ii) receives directly or indirectly any form or type of public financ-
19 ing shall offer, give or provide a gift to any public official.
20 (2) Nothing in this section shall be construed to prohibit or prevent
21 a corporation from offering, giving or providing goods or services to a
22 public official on the same terms and conditions as goods or services
23 are offered or provided to the general public.
24 (c)(1) Any corporation that violates any provisions of this section
25 and
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD01051-01-3
A. 700 2
1 (i) generates annual gross revenues of less than one million dollars
2 shall be subject to a fine of up to five thousand dollars;
3 (ii) generates annual gross revenues of between one and five million
4 dollars shall be subject to a fine of up to ten thousand dollars but not
5 less than five thousand dollars;
6 (iii) generates annual gross revenues of more than five million
7 dollars but less than ten million dollars shall be subject to a fine of
8 up to fifty thousand dollars but not less than ten thousand dollars; and
9 (iv) generates annual gross revenues of more than ten million dollars
10 shall be subject to a fine of up to two hundred and fifty thousand
11 dollars but not less than fifty thousand dollars;
12 (2) Any director or officer who knowingly violates the provisions of
13 this section shall be guilty of a class A misdemeanor, and shall be
14 subject to a monetary fine of up to six times the value of the gift.
15 (d) The New York state attorney general shall be empowered and author-
16 ized to enforce compliance with this section, including imposing the
17 appropriate penalties on those parties who are found to have violated
18 the provisions of this section.
19 § 2. This act shall take effect immediately.
