It Would Be Despicable to Wreck Fair Elections Program in the Late Budget

Reinvent Albany completely opposes any changes to New York’s public campaign finance program in the budget. Unfortunately, sources in Albany have confirmed to us that both the Senate and Assembly have secretly discussed altering the program, as was reported in Newsday yesterday. We previously opposed those changes when they were proposed in a bill. 

Newsday reports that the Assembly and Senate are contemplating:

1. Increasing the size of matchable contributions to more than the current $250.
2. Changing the “surplus calculation” to functionally allow public matching funds to be diverted to other candidates and party accounts. 

New York’s public campaign finance program was created to boost small donors – not to make icing on the cake for wealthy special interests. 
State legislators have persistently tried to raise the size of matchable contributions above $250, including a 2023 attempt that would have allowed matchable contributions to Senate candidates of $12,000 (by matching the first $250 of a contribution). Legislators have deceptively argued that they are merely trying to mirror the highly respected New York City matching program. However, state legislators completely disregard the crucial fact that contribution limits in NYC are far lower. Donors can contribute $18,000 to gubernatorial candidates and $2,100 to candidates for Mayor. 

Legislators could also be considering raising the maximum amount of contributions that can be matched. We strongly oppose this and note that for most New Yorkers, $250 is a very large amount for a campaign contribution. “Small donors” do not make $500 contributions and matching contributions that large further undermines the whole reason for the public matching program. The Public Campaign Finance Board is currently at work on a technology overhaul that will make it much easier for candidates to comply with the $250 limit. 

Changing the “surplus calculation” so candidates and parties can effectively bank public funds will destroy confidence in public campaign finance.
Earlier this year, we calculated that the Public Campaign Finance Board’s December 2024 changes to the “surplus” formula will result in candidates being able to bank or transfer $4 million in public matching funds to party accounts and allies. If this last-minute budget proposal mirrors legislation introduced last year, we calculate that $12 million in NYS public funds would have been banked by candidates or shuffled between candidates and party accounts in the 2024 election cycle.

Here is an analysis showing that $4 million in public matching funds were functionally diverted by the December 2024 changes in campaign finance regulations.