§ 7-07 Deductions from Payments.
RCNY § 7-07
(a)The total amount of public funds payable to a participant for a covered primary, general, or special election shall be reduced by the sum of the following: (i) the amount of outstanding civil penalties assessed by the Board as a result of the participant's failure to comply with the Act and these rules during the current covered election; and (ii) the amount of the participant's: (A) transfers and other disbursements from a political committee that is involved in an election in which the candidate is currently a participant, to a political committee that is not involved in that election; (B) expenditures made to pay expenses for or debt from a previous election, including repayments of public funds and payment of penalties owed to the Board for a previous election; (C) contributions to other political committees that do not meet the requirements provided in § 3-705(8) of the Code for contributions that shall not be a basis for reducing public funds payments; (D) loans to other candidates that are not repaid within 30 days or by the date of the election, whichever is earlier, or spending for other candidates, including joint expenditures, to the extent such expenditures benefit another candidate, and independent expenditures; provided that independent expenditures made by the principal committee of a candidate shall not be a basis for reducing public funds payments to that candidate, where such expenditures do not, in the aggregate, exceed the amount provided in §§ 3-705(8)(i), (ii), or (iii) of the Code, as applicable, for contributions to political committees; (E) loans to or spending for political party committees and political clubs that are not reimbursed within 30 days or by the date of the election, whichever is earlier, provided that if the candidate demonstrates that the expenditure was for a tangible item that directly promotes the candidate's election, such as an advertisement in a fundraising journal, this subparagraph shall not apply to the fair market value of that item; (F) expenditures made for the purpose of furthering the candidate's selection as Speaker of the City Council; and (G) contributions to charitable organizations designated as 501(c)(3) organizations pursuant to the Internal Revenue Code except the fair market value purchase price of goods or services provided by the charitable organization.
(b)Disbursements that would otherwise result in a deduction pursuant to paragraph (ii) of subdivision (a) of this section shall not result in any such deduction if: (i) such disbursements are made out of a segregated bank account; (ii) at no time does the segregated bank account contain any funds other than contributions received by the candidate and deposited directly into the account pursuant to this section, and bank interest paid thereon; (iii) funds deposited into the segregated bank account are not used for any purpose other than disbursements governed by paragraph (ii) of subdivision (a) above or payment of bank fees associated with the segregated bank account; (iv) contributors whose contributions are deposited into the segregated bank account have confirmed in writing, pursuant to 52 RCNY § 4-01(b)(ii)(B), that they understand that these contributions will only be used for such disbursements and will not be matched with public funds; (v) copies of such written confirmations are submitted to the Board by the due date of the disclosure statement in which such contributions are required to be reported pursuant to these rules; (vi) copies of checks for each disbursement out of the segregated bank account are submitted to the Board by the due date of the disclosure statement in which such disbursements are required to be reported pursuant to these rules; (vii) a copy of each bank statement for the segregated bank account is submitted to the Board by the due date of the next disclosure statement; and (viii) for each individual contribution deposited into the segregated bank account, and each disbursement out of the segregated bank account, the candidate has complied with all other applicable provisions of the Act and these rules, including but not limited to the record keeping and reporting provisions.
(c)Candidates must deposit the entire amount of a contribution into the segregated bank account provided for in subdivision (b), and may not divide the contribution between different accounts.
(d)Contributions deposited into a segregated bank account pursuant to this section will not be matched with public funds.
(e)Any funds remaining in a segregated bank account after the election must be returned to the contributors whose contributions were deposited into the account, or, if that is impracticable, to the Fund, on or before December 31 in the year following the year of the election; provided, however, that expenditures made for the purpose of furthering the candidate's selection as Speaker of the City Council may be made from a segregated bank account after the election, but no later than the financial disclosure cut-off date of the first semi-annual disclosure statement in the year following the year of the election.
(f)A candidate who establishes a segregated bank account pursuant to this section, but fails to comply with any provision of subdivisions (b), (c), (d), or (e) of this section, shall no longer be entitled to the exception from subdivision (a) contained in subdivision (b) of this section.
(g)Funds deposited into, and disbursements made from, a segregated bank account established and maintained in compliance with this section for the purpose of making expenditures to pay expenses for or debt from a previous election, including repayments of public funds owed to the Board, will not be considered to be raised or spent for the current covered election for purposes of the participant's expenditure limit calculation. (Added City Record 8/16/2019, eff. 9/15/2019; amended City Record 6/10/2021, eff. 7/10/2021; amended City Record 2/15/2023, eff. 3/17/2023; amended City Record 11/19/2024, eff. 12/19/2024)
