Common Cause/NY Statement on State Disclosure Law

NEW YORK, NY (08/15/2016)(readMedia)-- In response to today's news report, Common Cause/NY released the following statement:

"Common Cause/NY strongly supports meaningful, useful and efficient disclosure laws that serve the public interest, but this legislation fails to meet that standard. Instead it creates unnecessary paperwork and penalizes organizations that engage in protected speech and appropriate collaboration, while deflecting from the systematic corruption in Albany. New Yorkers need true ethics reform, not overly vague and broad disclosure requirements that don't advance the public interest and make it harder to pass real reform., like requiring top donor information on ads paid for by independent expenditures."

The bill ((A10742/S8160) is expected to be signed into law by Governor Andrew Cuomo, and would force unnecessary disclosures for issue advocacy groups and not-for-profit organizations that engage in appropriate collaboration and protected speech. Common Cause/NY maintains that any serious attempt to strengthen ethics laws must include a ban on outside income, closing the LLC loophole, and greater transparency within the state's budget process.

Common Cause/NN discloses all of its donors who contribute more than $250 on its website: