Report: Board of Elections to Discuss LLC Loophole

Capital NY reports that the State Board of Elections (SBOE) will discuss whether to rescind its 1996 advisory opinion that created the “LLC loophole” at its meeting this coming Thursday. (The SBOE does not appear to have posted its agenda for the meeting on its web site.)

Under that SBOE opinion, LLCs are treated as individuals rather than corporations for the purpose of calculating contribution limits. Corporations can only donate a total of $5,000 each calendar year, but individuals can donate far more.

According to the article, Democratic SBOE Co-Chair Douglas Kellner said that he and the board’s other Democratic Commissioner, Andrew Spano, support treating LLCs like corporations for campaign finance purposes, rather than treating them as individuals. It also notes that the proposal has not had Republican Commissioner support in the past, which is required for the Board to take action.

You can read more about this in my blog post from last week, and in Monday’s press release from six good government groups.