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ALBANY — U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minnesota, and New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said Thursday it's incumbent on states to enact laws to require social media companies to disclose who is paying for political ads amid inaction by the federal government on evidence of Russian meddling in U.S. elections.

During a conference call with reporters, both Democrats pushed for legislation that would require social media companies, such as Facebook and Twitter, to make concerted efforts to disclose who paid for political advertisements, similar to the disclosures required on television ads and mailers.

In his executive budget proposal, Cuomo included provisions that would would require all political communications—including print, digital, visual or auditory—to state who paid for the ads. 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.” Cuomo's proposal allotted $5 million to protect local boards of elections from cybersecurity attacks.

“Imagine the passion around the midterm elections and if you inject in the current recognition that there are hacking violations—This is real and Americans question the results of those elections and that could really be a chaotic situation,” Cuomo said Thursday. “The president has been silent on this matter. Why? Because he can't say the word Russia. He's been in a political paralysis on this situation.”

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

While the Democratic-dominated Assembly and the governor are behind efforts to disclose online political ads, Republicans who control the state Senate haven't conferenced the matter with their members, a spokesman said. State Sen. Fred Akshar, a Republican who chairs the Senate elections committee, said on WCNY's Capitol Pressroom that he doubted the proposals would be done before the state budget, which is due by April 1.

Federally, Klobuchar, Sen. John McCain, R-Arizona, and Sen. Mark Warner, D-Virginia, are pushing a bill to prevent foreign interference in future elections. The so-called Honest Ads Act would amend the Campaign Reform Act of 2002's definition of electioneering communication to also include paid internet and digital ads. Their bipartisan proposal would require online platforms with at least 50 million monthly viewers to maintain a public file of political ads purchased by a person or group who spends more than $500 total.

Cuomo said states like New York, California and Illinois are leading the charge on online political ad disclosures.