ALBANY – Governor Andrew Cuomo has signed first-in-the-nation legislation (S.8160/A.10742) to curb the power of independent expenditure campaigns unleashed by the 2010 Supreme Court case Citizens United vs. Federal Election Commission.
The legislation also takes significant steps to strengthen disclosure requirements for political consultants and lobbyists who provide services to sitting elected officials or candidates for elected office by requiring them to register with the state and reveal their clients.
According to Gov. Cuomo, the Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision unleashed a torrent of dark money into electoral politics. By permitting independent expenditure committees to receive and spend unlimited amounts of funds on elections, the Court bestowed unlimited power on society’s most powerful individuals and entities, and revoked what little power ordinary citizens had left in our electoral process.
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