STATE OF NEW YORK ________________________________________________________________________ 2138 2025-2026 Regular Sessions IN SENATE January 15, 2025 ___________ Introduced by Sens. LIU, BAILEY, COMRIE, SKOUFIS -- read twice and ordered printed, and when printed to be committed to the Committee on Elections AN ACT to amend the election law, in relation to requiring certain candidates to file a statement attesting to the veracity of statements regarding the candidate's educational history, and service, employment and residency record The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem- bly, do enact as follows: 1 Section 1. The election law is amended by adding a new section 6-170 2 to read as follows: 3 § 6-170. Veracity of statements of candidates. 1. Fifteen days after 4 the filing of a certificate of acceptance, certificate to fill a vacan- 5 cy, a petition for an opportunity to ballot by a candidate pursuant to 6 section 6-158 of this article, the filing of a designating petition 7 pursuant to section 6-132 of this article, or the filing of an independ- 8 ent nominating petition pursuant to section 6-140 of this article, each 9 candidate shall submit a sworn statement including the following infor- 10 mation: 11 (a) military service record, if any, including dates of enlistment and 12 discharge and appointments; 13 (b) employment history, if any, for the previous five years; 14 (c) current residential address; 15 (d) an attestation by the candidate that the candidate meets the resi- 16 dency requirements of the office that they seek; and 17 (e) educational history, including high schools, colleges or universi- 18 ties attended, dates of attendance and year of graduation and degrees 19 received if any, or employment history not otherwise disclosed pursuant 20 to paragraph (b) of this subdivision, that the candidate voluntarily 21 represents on their website, in their campaign literature or verbally 22 during the course of their campaign. EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets [ ] is old law to be omitted. LBD05987-01-5
S. 2138 2 1 In the event that the fifteenth day after the filing of a certificate 2 of acceptance, certificate to fill a vacancy, a petition for an opportu- 3 nity to ballot by a candidate pursuant to section 6-158 of this article, 4 the filing of a designating petition pursuant to section 6-132 of this 5 article, or the filing of an independent nominating petition pursuant to 6 section 6-140 of this article occurs on a weekend or state or federal 7 holiday, the filing shall be due on the next succeeding business day. 8 Such statement shall be attested to by the candidate under penalty of 9 perjury, notarized and filed with the board of elections where the 10 certificate of acceptance, certificate to fill a vacancy, petition for 11 an opportunity to ballot, designating petition filed pursuant to section 12 6-132 of this article, or independent nominating petition filed pursuant 13 to section 6-140 of this article was filed. Such statement shall be 14 amended, as needed, upon the making of additional representations by the 15 candidate during the course of the campaign. Such amendments shall be 16 filed with the applicable board of elections that the candidate filed 17 their original statement with on the date that the next statement of 18 campaign receipt and expenditure is filed pursuant to the schedule 19 promulgated by the state board of elections. Such amended statement 20 shall be attested to by the candidate under penalty of perjury and nota- 21 rized in the same manner as the original statement. Failure to file an 22 amended statement shall constitute a further attestation by the candi- 23 date that the original statement remains true, complete and correct. 24 2. Within five business days of the filing of any statement or amended 25 statement by a candidate pursuant to this section, the applicable board 26 of elections which has received the statement or amended statement, 27 shall post the statements required by this section on its website. If 28 the candidate statement required by this section has not been received, 29 the applicable board of elections shall notify the candidates who have 30 failed to provide the required statement that they are required to 31 comply with the requirements of this section and shall individually 32 identify each candidate for whom a certificate of acceptance, certif- 33 icate to fill a vacancy, petition for an opportunity to ballot, desig- 34 nating petition or independent nominating petition has been received, 35 but who has failed to provide the statement required by this section on 36 the applicable board of elections website along with the completed 37 statements that it has received from other candidates. 38 3. Failure to file the statement, or an amended statement, required by 39 this section within five business days of the applicable filing period 40 deadline of any designating petition carries an initial civil penalty 41 not to exceed one thousand dollars, with additional penalties accruing 42 at twenty-five dollars for each day the statement is more than ten busi- 43 ness days overdue, up to a maximum additional penalty of one thousand 44 dollars. Penalties imposed by the board of elections for violations of 45 the reporting requirement set forth in this section shall be paid by the 46 candidate failing to file the required disclosure. Such penalty levied 47 by the board of elections shall not be paid from contributions or funds 48 available in a campaign account. 49 4. For purposes of this section, the following terms shall have the 50 following meanings: 51 a. "military service record" means military service of the state or 52 military service of the United States, as defined in section one of the 53 military law, service as a member of military reserves, and military 54 service for any other country or territory or subdivision thereof, the 55 number of years served by the candidate, the year the candidate finished
S. 2138 3 1 their military service and the rank with which the candidate left mili- 2 tary service with; 3 b. "employment history" means information including whether the candi- 4 date was an employee or subcontractor, the name of the employer, the 5 title of the position held, and dates of employment. 6 § 2. This act shall take effect on the ninetieth day after it shall 7 have become a law. Effective immediately, the addition, amendment and/or 8 repeal of any rule or regulation necessary for the implementation of 9 this act on its effective date are authorized to be made and completed 10 on or before such effective date.