Gov. Kathy Hochul will soon have to decide on a bill that would allow the public to know the true owners behind limited liability companies in New York — a measure that is spurring a lobbying battle among some of her biggest campaign supporters.
In June, Democrats in the state Legislature approved the LLC Transparency Act, a bill largely mirroring a soon-to-take-effect federal law requiring LLCs to reveal the name of their “beneficial owners” — the people who control the company.
But the New York bill goes a significant step further than the federal law.
While the federal law only requires LLCs to reveal their owners to the government, the New York legislation would require the state to create a publicly accessible database that includes the names of the owners anytime an LLC is created or reorganized.
Now, Hochul has until the end of the year to sign or veto the bill — which is pitting the state’s largest business interests and labor unions against one another as they try to convince her to see things their way.
“We’re actively in contact with the governor’s office on this and we continue to have conversations,” said Chelsea Lemon, director of government relations for the Business Council, the state’s largest business lobby. “Where she comes out on it? I’m not quite sure.”
A spokesperson for Hochul did not say which way the governor is leaning, and instead pointed to previous comments about the hundreds of bills before her.
At least 20 different organizations have reported lobbying on the bill since the start of the year, according to state records.
Supporting the measure are tenant advocates, good-government organizations and — crucially — labor unions, including the AFL-CIO, which provided key, on-the-ground support to Hochul during her successful bid for a full term last year. They said the bill — and particularly, the public database — could help root out money laundering and other types of fraud sometimes associated with anonymous…
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