N.Y. Election Law § 14-100: Definitions

§ 14-100. Definitions. As used in this article: 1. "political

committee" means any corporation aiding or promoting and any committee,

political club or combination of one or more persons operating or

co-operating to aid or to promote the success or defeat of a political

party or principle, or of any ballot proposal; or to aid or take part in

the election or defeat of a candidate for public office or to aid or

take part in the election or defeat of a candidate for nomination at a

primary election or convention, including all proceedings prior to such

primary election, or of a candidate for any party position voted for at

a primary election, or to aid or defeat the nomination by petition of an

independent candidate for public office; but nothing in this article

shall apply to any committee or organization for the discussion or

advancement of political questions or principles without connection with

any vote or to a national committee organized for the election of

presidential or vice-presidential candidates; provided, however, that a

person or corporation making a contribution or contributions to a

candidate or a political committee which has filed pursuant to section

14-118 shall not, by that fact alone, be deemed to be a political

committee as herein defined.

2. "party committee" means any committee provided for in the rules of

the political party in accordance with section two-one hundred of this

chapter, other than a constituted committee.

3. "constituted committee" means a state committee, a county committee

or a duly constituted subcommittee of a county committee;

4. "duly constituted subcommittee of a county committee" means,

outside the city of New York, a city, town or village committee, and,

within the city of New York, an assembly district committee, which

consists of all county committee members from the city, town, village or

assembly district, as the case may be, and only such members;

5. "non-candidate expenditures" means expenditures made by a party

committee or a constituted committee to maintain a permanent

headquarters and staff and carry on ordinary party activities not

promoting the candidacy of specific candidates;

6. "district" means the entire state or any part thereof, as the case

may be;

7. "candidate" means an individual who seeks nomination for election,

or election, to any public office or party position to be voted for at a

primary, general or special or New York city community school district

election or election for trustee of the Long Island Power Authority,

whether or not the public office or party position has been specifically

identified at such time and whether or not such individual is nominated

or elected, and, for purposes of this subdivision, an individual shall

be deemed to seek nomination for election, or election, to an office or

position, if he has (1) taken the action necessary to qualify himself

for nomination for election, or election, or (2) received contributions

or made expenditures, given his consent for any other person to receive

contributions or make expenditures, with a view to bringing about his

nomination for election, or election, to any office or position at any

time whether in the year in which such contributions or expenditures are

made or at any other time; and

8. "legislative leader" means any of the following: the speaker of the

assembly; the minority leader of the assembly; the temporary president

of the senate and the minority leader of the senate.

9. "contribution" means:

(1) any gift, subscription, outstanding loan (to the extent provided

for in section 14-114 of this chapter), advance, or deposit of money or

any thing of value, made in connection with the nomination for election,

or election, of any candidate, or made to promote the success or defeat

of a political party or principle, or of any ballot proposal,

(2) any funds received by a political committee from another political

committee to the extent such funds do not constitute a transfer,

(3) any payment, by any person other than a candidate or a political

committee authorized by the candidate, made in connection with the

nomination for election or election of any candidate, including any

payment or expenditure where coordination has occurred as defined in

section 14-107 of this article, or any payment made to promote the

success or defeat of a political party or principle, or of any ballot

proposal including but not limited to compensation for the personal

services of any individual which are rendered in connection with a

candidate's election or nomination without charge; provided however,

that none of the foregoing shall be deemed a contribution if it is made,

taken or performed by a candidate or his spouse or by a person or a

political committee independent of the candidate or his agents or

authorized political committees. For purposes of this article, the term

"independent of the candidate or his agents or authorized political

committees" shall mean that the candidate or his agents or authorized

political committees did not authorize, request, suggest, foster or

cooperate in any such activity; and provided further, that the term

contribution shall not include:

(A) the value of services provided without compensation by individuals

who volunteer a portion or all of their time on behalf of a candidate or

political committee,

(B) the use of real or personal property and the cost of invitations,

food and beverages voluntarily provided by an individual to a candidate

or political committee on the individual's residential premises for

candidate-related activities to the extent such services do not exceed

five hundred dollars in value, and

(C) the travel expenses of any individual who on his own behalf

volunteers his personal services to any candidate or political committee

to the extent such expenses are unreimbursed and do not exceed five

hundred dollars in value.

10. "transfer" means any exchange of funds or any thing of value

between political committees authorized by the same candidate and taking

part solely in his campaign, or any exchange of funds between a party or

constituted committee and a candidate or any of his authorized political

committees.

11. "election" means all general, special and primary elections, but

shall not include elections provided for pursuant to the education law,

special district elections, fire district elections or library district

elections.

12. "clearly identified candidate" means that:

(a) the name of the candidate involved appears;

(b) a photograph or drawing of the candidate appears; or

(c) the identity of the candidate is apparent by unambiguous

reference.

13. "general public audience" means an audience composed of members of

the public, including a targeted subgroup of members of the public;

provided, however, it does not mean an audience solely comprised of

members, retirees and staff of a labor organization or members of their

households or an audience solely comprised of employees of a

corporation, unincorporated business entity or members of a business,

trade or professional association or organization.

14. "labor organization" means any organization of any kind which

exists for the purpose, in whole or in part, of representing employees

employed within the state of New York in dealing with employers or

employer organizations or with a state government, or any political or

civil subdivision or other agency thereof, concerning terms and

conditions of employment, grievances, labor disputes, or other matters

incidental to the employment relationship. For the purposes of this

article, each local, parent national or parent international

organization of a statewide labor organization, and each statewide

federation receiving dues from subsidiary labor organizations, shall be

considered a separate labor organization.

15. "independent expenditure committee" means a political committee,

that makes only independent expenditures as defined in this article, and

does not coordinate with a candidate, candidate's authorized committees

or an agent of the candidate as defined in paragraph (g) of subdivision

one of section 14-107 of this article.

For purposes of this section, an independent expenditure committee may

be created by a person, group of persons, corporation, unincorporated

business entity, labor organization or business, trade or professional

association, or organization, or political committee.

16. "political action committee" means a political committee which

makes no expenditures to aid or take part in the election or defeat of a

candidate, or to promote the success or defeat of a ballot proposal,

other than in the form of contributions, including in-kind

contributions, to candidates, candidate's authorized committees, party

committees, constituted committees, or independent expenditure

committees provided there is no common operational control between the

political action committee and the independent expenditure committee; or

in the form of communications that are not distributed to a general

public audience as described in subdivision thirteen of this section.

For purposes of this paragraph, "common operational control" means

that (i) the same individual or individuals exercise actual and

strategic control over the day-to-day affairs of both the political

action committee and the independent expenditure committee, or (ii)

employees of the political action committee and the independent

expenditure committee engage in communications related to the strategic

operations of either committee.

17. "foreign national" means foreign national as such term is defined

by subsection (b) of section 30121 of title 52 of the United States

code.