On January 8, 2024, the New York State Senate passed, with bipartisan support, the Democracy Preservation Act (S371), a bill designed to end the influence of foreign corporate money in statewide elections. If passed in the Assembly, and signed into law, New York would be the second state to ban multinational corporate money in elections. The Senate bill number is S371 and the Assembly bill number is A2633. The Democracy Preservation Act was built on the groundwork laid by similar legislation passed in Seattle, Washington and St. Petersburg, Florida, which Free Speech For People helped to draft. I Watch: Videos About This Legislation II Current Organizational Endorsements III Previous New York Legislation Relating to Foreign Influence in Elections IV Report: Ending Foreign-Influenced Corporate Spending in U.S. Elections V Report: Quantifying Foreign Institutional Block Ownership at Publicly Traded U.S. Corporations Watch: Videos About This Legislation New York’s Democracy Preservation Act: Explained New York Voices: The Democracy Preservation Act New York Democracy Preservation Act Town Hall Current Organizational Endorsements Adirondacks Indivisible Amazon Labor Union Blue Haven Initiative Blue Wave Postcard Movement Center for American Progress Citizen Action of New York Common Cause New York Communications Workers of America, District 1 DemCast USA Democracy Policy Network Dutchess County Progressive Action Alliance Empire State Indivisible End Citizens United // Let America Vote Action Fund Faiths for Safe Water Fix Democracy First Free Speech For People Indivisible Nation BK Justice Committee Albany Province, Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet Main Street Alliance Metro New York Health Care for All New York Public Interest Research Group People For the American Way RepresentUs Secure Elections Network Sisters of Mercy of the Americas Justice Team Sisters of the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary Sisters of St. Joseph Sisters of St. Joseph Brentwood NY Office of Justice, Peace, Integrity of Creation Sisters of St. Joseph of Rochester SMART Legislation Stand Up America Westchester for Change The Workers Circle Click here to read the letter to the NY Assembly. Previous New York Legislation Relating to Foreign Influence in Elections In 2020, State Senator Michael Gianaris introduced a similar bill S7578, which went further than a bill that Governor Andrew Cuomo had introduced that same year. “Unlimited corporate expenditures have a pernicious effect on our elections and the Democracy Preservation Act will make substantial inroads in fighting the influence of big corporations,” Gianaris told WhoWhatWhy. “Enactment of this bill would ensure that New York’s elections are decided by its people, not by big corporations.” Read our blog post from February 12, 2020. Report: Ending Foreign-Influenced Corporate Spending in U.S. Elections A report from the Center for American Progress, written by senior fellow Michael Sozan, highlights the problem of political spending by foreign-influenced corporations. The report—which cites Free Speech For People’s pioneering legislative work in places like Seattle, St. Petersburg, and Massachusetts—proposes banning political spending by partially-foreign-owned corporations, using the same thresholds for foreign ownership as the Seattle and Massachusetts legislation that we helped develop. Report and Resources Ending Foreign-Influenced Corporate Spending in U.S. Elections Center for American Progress (Nov. 21, 2019) (full report) Letter from Michael Sozan Senior Fellow, Center for American Progress (Dec. 20, 2019) Fact Sheet (Updated May 3, 2022) Report: Quantifying Foreign Institutional Block Ownership at Publicly Traded U.S. Corporations Report by John C. Coates, Ron Fein, Kevin Crenny & L. Vivian Dong Since the Supreme Court’s 2010 Citizens United decision invalidated restrictions on corporate political spending, considerable public and policymaker interest has developed in the potential for U.S. elections to be influenced by foreign interests through U.S. corporations. On the one hand, existing federal law (the Federal Election Campaign Act) already prohibits political spending in federal, state, or local elections by corporations that are incorporated outside the U.S., or which have their principal place of business abroad. On the other hand, current law still allows substantial avenues for foreign influence over corporate political spending by U.S.-incorporated and -based corporations. Lawmakers in Congress and members of the Federal Election Commission have expressed interest in addressing this phenomenon. As of yet, federal reform proposals have failed to advance. A more likely near-term prospect for new policy measures is at the state and local level. Local governments (notably in St. Petersburg, Florida) are now contemplating measures to address this concern. This paper focuses on ownership of significant blocks of stock as a potential mechanism for foreign influence over corporate political spending. We found that roughly one in eleven (9%) companies in the S&P 500 has one or more foreign institutions each owning five percent or more blocks of stock, nine have foreign institutions with ten percent or more blocks, five have a foreign institution with more than fifteen percent, and three have foreign institutions with more than 20% blocks. Three firms have multiple foreign institutional blockholders. This is the first recent empirical analysis of the level of foreign institutional blockholder ownership of publicly traded corporations. Download the Report