Enforcement Counsel reports and cases pursued

Sam Mellins
Senior Reporter
New York Focus
sam@nysfocus.com<mailto:sam@nysfocus.com>

Dear Mr. Mellin,

The State Board of Elections has received your request for access to public documents, more specifically, "1. The annual reports of the New York State Board of Elections for the years 2019, 2020, and 2021; 2. The annual reports of the Division of Election Law Enforcement for the State Board of Elections for the years 2019, 2020, and 2021. All quarterly reports prepared by the Board's enforcement counsel from the beginning of 2021 through the date that this request is completed."

We have conducted a diligent search of our records and found the attached materials in response to your request. We are behind on the 2020 Annual Report due to COVID and will begin work on the 2021 Report once the 2020 Report is completed. The Enforcement Division's Annual Report is incorporated into the 2019 Report. They did not provide one for 2020.

Aside from the FOIL requests, you asked about a regulation resulting from Chapter 4 of the Laws of 2019 (NY Election Law Section 14-120.3). I did attempt to return your call this afternoon but you did not answer and your voicemail was full and I could not leave a message.

The agency has not done a regulation in response to Chapter 4 at this time. Nonetheless, we have complied with all aspects of the law, we promulgated the form, issued instructions and guidance and published all this to the agency website. And each year we publish on the website the list of LLCs that have filed the form.

Our attorneys believe there is no mandatory timeframe for adopting a regulation and rely on case law for that position. The legislation provides we shall enact regulations that prevent avoidance of the filing requirements. The legislature left the timing up to the Board and tethered the requirement to a purpose - i.e. "prevent[ing] avoidance of the filing requirements". That necessarily requires assessment over time. In full context, the regulatory provision was designed to empower NYSBOE to act as needed to avoid noncompliance.

The Board's Compliance Unit reviews the disclosure filings made by candidates and committees for the required attributions for contributions made by LLC's. Where the attributions are lacking the Compliance unit follows-up with the committee instructing the treasurer to obtain the necessary disclosures to the best of their abilities.

This is separate and apart from the Statements of Identity required by NY Election Law Section 14-116.3 enforced by the Division of Election Law Enforcement, the separate entity created by the Legislature to regulate Article 14.

If you have any additional questions, please let me know.

Sincerely yours,
J.Conklin
Director of Public Information
Records Access Officer
NYS Board of Elections
40 North Pearl Street, 5th Floor
Albany, NY 12207-2109
518-474-1953
John.Conklin@elections.ny.gov<mailto:John.Conklin@elections.ny.gov>
www.elections.ny.gov<http://www.elections.ny.gov/>
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Hi John,

Thanks very much for this response. I have a few further questions on the
points about regulations per Chapter 4 of the Laws of 2019 (NY Election Law
Section 14-120.3).

1. Does NYSBOE have an anticipated timeline for issuing regulations per
this law?
2. Should one expect that regulations will be issued in the next five
years?
3. Does NYSBOE believe that regulations are necessary, or would be useful,
to ensure maximum compliance with the law?

Thank you,
Sam Mellins

Hi Sam,

The answer to 1 and 2 is there is no anticipated timeline. It is an ongoing assessment.

Our attorneys do not believe a regulation is necessary to ensure maximum compliance, but it is an ongoing assessment. The requirements are in statute. A regulation is not more forceful than a statute. We have made the requirements known to the regulated community. We created the form to comply, issued guidance and instructions. Our Compliance Unit follows-up with the committees to insure they are obtaining the proper attribution disclosures. The Enforcement Unit has undertaken a review of what they need to do to step up compliance. Mr. Johnson has only been on the job for barely six months and the 2022 year-end LLC filings are the first opportunity he would have to take any action. It's far from clear that a regulation would change any of that. But, as I said, it's an ongoing assessment.

Sincerely yours,
J.Conklin
Director of Public Information
Records Access Officer
NYS Board of Elections
40 North Pearl Street, 5th Floor
Albany, NY 12207-2109
518-474-1953
John.Conklin@elections.ny.gov<mailto:John.Conklin@elections.ny.gov>
www.elections.ny.gov<http://www.elections.ny.gov/>
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Dear Mr. Mellins,

The answer to the February 10th request was provided on February 18th and is contained in the email string you provided. The 2019 Annual Report and the sole quarterly report provided by the Enforcement Counsel were attached to that email response.

Sincerely yours,
John W. Conklin
Public Information Office
New York State Board of Elections
40 North Pearl Street, 5th Floor
Albany, New York 12207-2109
INFO@elections.ny.gov<mailto:INFO@elections.ny.gov>
www.elections.ny.gov<http://www.elections.ny.gov/>

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