ALBANY — Amid federal inaction on Russian interference in U.S. elections, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo and the Democratic-dominated state Assembly said Wednesday they plan to push a new law to require social media companies to disclose who is paying for their political ads.

The proposal, included in the governor's executive budget proposal unveiled in mid-January, would require all political communications—including print, digital, visual or auditory—to state who paid for the advertisements. The so-called Democracy Protection Act also would require online platforms, such as social media sites, to archive political ads and “protect state elections from foreign influence.”

The push from the Democratic governor—who has long been rumored to have presidential ambitions—comes amid allegations and evidence that Russia interfered with the 2016 presidential election to aid President Donald Trump. In Washington, a bipartisan group of lawmakers introduced the Honest Ads Act in October in an effort to regulate online ads similarly to the way that political ads are regulated on television and radio.

“We have a situation where citizens, rightfully, can be distrustful of the outcome of an election. This is no longer a plot in a cheap spy novel. Russia hacked our elections. Russia hacked state elections. Russia stole identities of American citizens with the intent of influencing elections and what happened is a confluence of events,” Cuomo told reporters.

Inquiries made to several social media companies were not immediately returned.

The Internet Association, a trade group that represents such companies as Facebook, Google and Twitter, lauded the governor and said it's working with federal lawmakers on a possible solution to “ensure consistency for digital platforms.”

Facebook revealed in September that around 3,000 ads were connected to user accounts in Russia. Facebook, Google and Twitter counsel testified before Congress in the Russia investigation in October.

Floyd Abrams, senior counsel at Cahill Gordon & Reindel's litigation practice group, said the electorate should be aware of who is paying for political ads.

“We protect political speech more than any other country, but it is just as critical as we learned with regret in the last presidential election that anyone who sees a political ad should know who is speaking, who is paying for the speech, and where the speech comes from,” Abrams told reporters during the conference call.

Abrams added that there's nothing in the First Amendment or in First Amendment law that restrains states from identifying who is paying for political ads online.

Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie, who leads more than 100 Democrats in the 150-seat chamber, said his conference is poised to pass the bill later Wednesday.

“New York laws need to reflect the rapidly changing nature of political campaigns. Social media and digital advertising has dramatically changed how we receive political advertisements in today's world. The recent elections have brought to attention a serious need to re-evaluate how we safeguard the electoral process to ensure the integrity of our democracy,” said Heastie, a Bronx Democrat.

Additionally, Cuomo criticized Congress for the apparent inaction to address foreign interference in the presidential election.

“My message to Washington is very simple; lead, follow, or get out of the way. The Republicans used to believe in state rights. That was their mantra. That was before they took control of the federal government. But if Washington is not going to act, then let the states act,” Cuomo said.

“I think letting the states act, frankly, is a way to achieve federal action because the social media companies won't be able to defend either the loss of business or the duality of the systems,” Cuomo added.