Federal Election Commission December 14, 2005 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The Federal Election Commission requests comment on proposed revisions to its regulations regarding communications that have been coordinated with Federal candidates and political party committees. The Commission's current rules set out a three-prong test for determining whether a communication is ``coordinated'' with, and therefore an in- kind contribution to, a Federal candidate or a political party committee. In Shays v. FEC, the Court of Appeals invalidated one aspect of the so-called content prong of the coordinated communications test, because the court believed that the Commission had not provided adequate explanation and justification for the current rules under the Administrative Procedure Act. To comply with the decision of the Court of Appeals, and to address other issues involving the coordinated communication rules, the Commission is issuing this Notice of Proposed Rulemaking. No final decision has been made by the Commission on the issues presented in this rulemaking. Further information is provided in the supplementary information that follows.