§ 4-05 Disclosure Statements.
RCNY § 4-05
(a)Form. Disclosure statements must be generated by C-SMART, and such statements, as well as all supporting documentation, including bank statements, must be submitted using C-SMART. Daily pre-election disclosure statements must be submitted using C-SMART within 24 hours after a contribution, loan, or expenditure that meets the pre-election daily disclosure requirement has been accepted or made.
(i)Deficient submissions. A submission is deficient and may be rejected or deemed incomplete if: (1) it is not submitted in a format or manner authorized by the Board; (2) it is not submitted with the backup documentation substantiating each matchable contribution claimed within the particular statement, or said records are not accessible or legible; or (3) it is not submitted with all of the committee's bank statements from the applicable disclosure period. Any document that is illegible, improperly annotated, damaged, blank, improperly formatted, or otherwise unreadable by the Board, shall be deemed not to have been submitted.
(ii)C-SMART upgrades. The Board may issue upgrades or system improvements of C-SMART or its user instructions. To the extent reasonably practicable, the Board shall provide candidates with reasonable advance notice of such upgrades.
(iii)Verification. The candidate or treasurer must verify that the submission is true and complete to the best of such candidate's or treasurer's knowledge, information, or belief. The disclosure statement must contain such signatures as may be required by the Board.
(iv)Exceptions. Any candidate who seeks to submit disclosure statements, or a portion thereof, in any format or manner other than that permitted by this section, including but not limited to non-electronic formats and electronic formats not generated by C-SMART, must submit a written request for authorization to the Board no later than four weeks before the filing date for the first disclosure statement for which the candidate desires an exception from such requirements, or in the case of a special election, as soon as possible but no later than seven days before such disclosure statement filing date. Such written request must be in a form and manner as prescribed by the Board. Candidates who demonstrate that submission of disclosure statements in an electronic format would pose a substantial hardship shall be permitted, upon request, to submit disclosure statements to the Board in non-electronic formats. Board authorization shall be in writing and shall apply only to the candidate, paper forms, and electronic submission form and manner specified therein. The authorization shall indicate whether it applies to one or more disclosure statements.
(b)Timing of submissions.
(c)Content.
(1)Contemporaneous reporting. Matchable contributions must be reported in the disclosure statement covering the reporting period in which they were received. The candidate's disclosure statement must state the amount of matchable contributions claimed in a reporting period, and must indicate which contributions are claimed for match.
(2)Backup documentation. For each matchable contribution claimed in the disclosure statement, candidates must submit a copy of the records required to be maintained pursuant to 52 RCNY § 4-01(b). (C) Contributions totaling $99 or less from a single source. Contributions totaling $99 or less from a single source need not be separately itemized in a disclosure statement, unless such contributor is an employee of the candidate or of the spouse, or domestic partner of such candidate or of an entity in which such candidate, spouse, or domestic partner has an ownership interest of 10% or more or in which such candidate, spouse or domestic partner holds a management position, such as the position of officer, director, or trustee; provided, however, that contributions that are not itemized shall not be matchable. (D) Must itemize all contributions from a single source that exceeds $99. If a candidate has accepted contributions totaling more than $99 from a single source, all contributions comprising the total (including previously unitemized contributions) must be fully reported (i.e., itemized) in the same disclosure statement. All subsequent contributions from that single source must be fully reported as well. (E) Affiliated contributors. Affiliated contributors considered to be a "single source" under 52 RCNY §§ 1-02 and 5-10(b) must be reported.
(v)Intermediaries. In addition to fully reporting contributions, candidates must fully report any intermediary that solicited or delivered a contribution as provided in paragraph (ii) of this subdivision. (A) Exceptions.
(3)The candidate need not report an intermediary who is a spouse, domestic partner, parent, child, or sibling of the candidate. (B) Contributions collected at a non-campaign sponsored fundraising event with multiple hosts. In the case of contributions collected at a fundraising event neither organized by the candidate nor paid for in whole or in part by such candidate's authorized committee, where there are multiple hosts, the hosts must designate one host who must be reported by the candidate as the intermediary for all such contributions. (C) Contributions delivered by an intermediary's agent. The candidate must report as the intermediary an individual who solicits contribution(s) and directs such individual's agent to deliver them to the candidate or fundraising agent. The candidate must not report the agent as an intermediary.
(vi)Transfers. (A) Candidates must report contemporaneously: (1) the aggregate amount of each transfer to an authorized committee from a committee not otherwise involved in the covered election, and, unless the transferring committee is another authorized committee of the same candidate that has filed contemporaneous disclosure statements with the Board in a timely manner, (2) each contribution the transfer consists of (using a last-in/first out attribution), including the name and residential address of the contributor and the amount and date of the contribution. (B) In the case of a transfer to an authorized committee from a committee not otherwise involved in the covered election, unless the transferring committee is another authorized committee of the same candidate that has filed contemporaneous disclosure statements with the Board in a timely manner, participants must (1) report to the Board, in the same disclosure statement in which the transfer is reported, any expenditures incurred by the transferor committee in connection with raising or administering the transferred contributions, regardless of when the expenditures were incurred, and (2) upon request by the Board, disclose all expenditures made by the transferor committee during the covered election cycle for purposes other than raising or administering the transferred contributions. Candidates must also contemporaneously submit the records required to be maintained pursuant to 52 RCNY § 4-01(b)(ii)(D).
(vii)Advances and reimbursements. (A) For advance payments, the candidate must report in each disclosure statement: (1) the name and address of each individual or entity, including the candidate, that has made purchases on behalf of the committee during the reporting period with the expectation of being reimbursed by the committee; (2) the date and amount of each purchase; (3) the name and address of the individual or entity from whom the purchase has been made; (4) the payment method; (5) the purpose code and explanation of the purchase; and (6) such other information as the Board may require. (B) For advance reimbursements, the candidate must report in each disclosure statement: (1) the name of each individual or entity, including the candidate, whom the candidate reimbursed for purchases made on behalf of the committee during the reporting period; (2) the date and amount of each reimbursement; (3) the payment method of each reimbursement, provided that, if the reimbursement is done by check, the candidate must also report the bank account and check number from which the check was issued; and (4) such other information as the Board may require.
(viii)Loans. Each disclosure statement shall include the following information about loans accepted, forgiven, or repaid by the candidate during the reporting period: (A) for each loan accepted, the lender's, guarantor's or other obligor's full name, residential address, occupation, employer, and business address; (B) the date and amount of each loan, guarantee, or other security for a loan accepted; (C) for each loan repayment made, the date, amount, check number, name of bank account or credit card, and name of any third party payor; and (D) the date and amount of any portion of a loan which has been forgiven.
(ix)Documentation. Together with each disclosure statement, the candidate must submit documentation to verify the accuracy of the data reported, including all bank records and deposit slips required to be maintained pursuant to 52 RCNY § 4-01(b)(i) and 52 RCNY § 4-01(d)(i) not previously submitted.
(d)Amendments to disclosure statements are prohibited unless expressly authorized or requested by the Board. (Added City Record 8/16/2019, eff. 9/15/2019; amended City Record 5/22/2020, eff. 6/21/2020; amended City Record 1/19/2021, eff. 2/18/2021; amended City Record 2/15/2023, eff. 3/17/2023; amended City Record 1/23/2026, eff. 2/22/2026)
