Restricts certain corporations from participating or intervening in any political campaign on behalf of or in opposition to any candidate for public office.
NEW YORK STATE ASSEMBLY MEMORANDUM IN SUPPORT OF LEGISLATION submitted in accordance with Assembly Rule III, Sec 1(f)
BILL NUMBER: A623
SPONSOR: Paulin (MS) TITLE OF BILL: An act to amend the tax law, in relation to limita-
tions on political activity
PURPOSE OR GENERAL IDEA OF BILL:
To codify the federal prohibition on not-for-profit corporations partic-
ipating or intervening in political campaigns.
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:
Section one amends section 1116 of the tax law to provide that a corpo-
ration of any kind to which this chapter applies shall not participate
in, or intervene in, any political campaign on behalf of or in oppo-
sition to any candidate for public office. The provisions of this para-
graph regarding political campaign activity shall be interpreted in the
same manner as section 501(c)(3) of the United States internal revenue
code has been interpreted as of the effective date of the chapter of the
laws of two thousand eighteen that amended this paragraph.
Section two provides the effective date.
JUSTIFICATION:
The Johnson Amendment to 501(c) (3) of the Internal Revenue Service Code
provides that a 501(c)(3) organization, which is exempt from taxation,
may not "participate in, or intervene in (including the publishing or
distributing of statements), any political campaign on behalf of (or in
opposition to) any candidate for public office." While this critical
protection has been in place since the Internal Revenue Code of 1954 was
enacted, there have been efforts by Congress to repeal it.
Repeal of the Johnson Amendment would politicize non-profits, including
religious organizations, which would then be able to endorse candidates
and make donations to campaigns. The vast majority of religious organ-
izations and non-profits oppose the repeal, including more than 100
faith groups and more than 5,700 nonprofits which have signed letters to
Congress expressing their opposition(1).
Codifying the Johnson Amendment into New York law will ensure that,
should Congress repeal it, not-for-profit corporations in our state
would still be prohibited from engaging in political activity.
PRIOR LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:
2018: Referred to Ways & Means / S.8366A Committed to Elections
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS FOR STATE AND LOCAL GOVERNMENTS:
None.
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect immediately.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
623
2019-2020 Regular Sessions
IN ASSEMBLY(Prefiled)
January 9, 2019
___________
Introduced by M. of A. PAULIN, BUCHWALD, GALEF, SEAWRIGHT, DINOWITZ,
ZEBROWSKI, GOTTFRIED, SIMON, MAGNARELLI, FAHY, D'URSO, LIFTON, BLAKE,
MOSLEY, ABINANTI, DiPIETRO -- Multi-Sponsored by -- M. of A. COOK,
LAWRENCE, THIELE -- read once and referred to the Committee on
Election Law
AN ACT to amend the tax law, in relation to limitations on political
activity
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. Paragraph 4 of subdivision (a) of section 1116 of the tax
2 law, as amended by chapter 270 of the laws of 2001, is amended to read
3 as follows:
4 (4) Any corporation, association, trust, or community chest, fund,
5 foundation, or limited liability company, organized and operated exclu-
6 sively for religious, charitable, scientific, testing for public safety,
7 literary or educational purposes, or to foster national or international
8 amateur sports competition (but only if no part of its activities
9 involve the provision of athletic facilities or equipment), or for the
10 prevention of cruelty to children or animals, no part of the net earn-
11 ings of which inures to the benefit of any private shareholder or indi-
12 vidual, no substantial part of the activities of which is carrying on
13 propaganda, or otherwise attempting to influence legislation, (except as
14 otherwise provided in subsection (h) of section five hundred one of the
15 United States internal revenue code of nineteen hundred fifty-four, as
16 amended), and which does not participate in, or intervene in (including
17 the publishing or distributing of statements), any political campaign on
18 behalf of or in opposition to any candidate for public office. The
19 provisions of this paragraph regarding political campaign activity shall
20 be interpreted in the same manner as section 501(c)(3) of the United
21 States internal revenue code has been interpreted as of the effective
22 date of the chapter of the laws of two thousand nineteen that amended
23 this paragraph;
24 § 2. This act shall take effect immediately.
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD02092-01-9
