JCOPE Source of Funding Determination Reversed; Some Donors Will Remain Private

A judicial hearing officer has ruled that four abortion-related lobbying groups are covered by an exemption to the state’s “source of funding” law.  The decision, which means that the groups will not have to report the names of their large donors, reverses a determination by the Joint Commission on Public Ethics (JCOPE) which found that the groups were not entitled to an exemption.

The 2011 law – which was intended to enhance transparency by enabling the public to find out who is funding lobbying activities — requires certain lobbying entities to report their donors authorizes an exemption from the reporting requirement if donors might suffer “harm, threats, harassment or reprisals” as a result of the disclosure.

The exemption controversy was stoked last summer, when it was revealed that JCOPE granted the state’s NARAL chapter an exemption from the law.  In January, JCOPE said it had rejected the four applications and would require NARAL to re-reapply for its exemption. (Read my January 2014 blog post on JCOPE’s exemption denial here.)

In a decision dated July 11, Judicial Hearing Officer George Pratt called JCOPE’s exemption denial “clearly erroneous in view of the evidence in the record” and contrary to the legislative intent of the law governing the exemptions.

Read news coverage of the issue in the Times Union, the State of Politics blog, and Gannett.