§ 5-08 — Contributions Originally Received for Other Elections

§ 5-08 Contributions Originally Received for Other Elections.

(a) Transfers. (i) Generally. Notwithstanding 52 RCNY § 5-11(a), participants may transfer funds previously received for another election to the principal committee. Additionally, participants may transfer funds from the principal committee to another authorized committee, after all excess funds have been returned to the Board as provided by 52 RCNY § 5-11(c)(ii) and 52 RCNY § 9-02(c). (ii) Segregated accounts. Notwithstanding paragraph (i) of this subdivision, if a candidate has funds remaining in a segregated account after the election for which the account was established, such funds must be refunded to the contributors or paid to the Fund, or used to pay outstanding liabilities related to such election. Such funds may not be transferred into any other account or used for any future election. (b) Surplus funds. The cash balance reported in a non-participant's first semi-annual Board disclosure statement at the beginning of the first reporting period for an election is the total amount of surplus funds the committee had from a previous election; except that the amount deemed to be surplus funds may be reduced by the following: (i) the total amount of debts and obligations outstanding at the beginning of the reporting period; (ii) the total amount subsequently transferred to a political committee that is not involved in a covered election; and (iii) if the candidate was a participant in the previous election, the total amount of public funds subsequently repaid. (c) Additional requirements for transfers and surplus funds. (i) Candidates have the burden of demonstrating that surplus funds and transfers of funds from a committee not otherwise involved in the covered election, other than another authorized committee of the same candidate that has filed contemporaneous disclosure statements with the Board in a timely manner, do not derive from: (A) contributions in excess of the Act's contribution limits, including contributions that would exceed the Act's contribution limits when aggregated with other contributions accepted from the same source; or (B) contributions from sources prohibited by the Act, the Charter, or state or federal law. (ii) Participants have the burden of demonstrating that funds transferred from a committee, other than another authorized committee of the same candidate that has filed contemporaneous disclosure statements with the Board in a timely manner, derive solely from contributions for which records demonstrating the contributors' intent to designate the contributions for the covered election have been submitted and maintained as required pursuant to 52 RCNY §§ 4-05(c)(vi) and 4-01(b)(ii)(D), respectively. (iii) For purposes of enforcing the contribution limit and contribution prohibitions, the Board shall attribute surplus funds and such transfers to the last monetary contributions, loans, and other receipts received by: (A) the candidate on or before the date of the cash balance described in subdivision (b), in the case of surplus funds; or (B) the transferor committee before making the transfer. (iv) For any prohibited or over-the-limit contribution, the candidate must either: (A) promptly refund the excess portion or amount of the prohibited contribution, or (B) keep the excess portion or amount of the prohibited contribution in the transferor committee bank account, not to be used in a covered election. (d) Related expenditures. Expenditures incurred in connection with raising or administering funds transferred from a committee not otherwise involved in a covered election, other than from another principal committee of the same candidate, are presumed to be subject to the expenditure limits of the Act. Participants have the burden of demonstrating that any such expenditures are not subject to the expenditure limits of the Act, as provided in 52 RCNY § 6-01(j). (Added City Record 8/16/2019, eff. 9/15/2019; amended City Record 5/22/2020, eff. 6/21/2020)