Federal Election Commission March 2007 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The Federal Election Commission is revising its regulations to amend four aspects of its Administrative Fines Program (``AFP''), a streamlined process through which the Commission assesses civil money penalties for late filers and non-filers under the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971, as amended (``FECA''). First, the Commission is revising its rules regarding the permissible grounds for challenging a proposed civil money penalty by clarifying the scope of the defense based on factual errors. Second, the Commission is incorporating a defense for political committees that demonstrate that they used their best efforts to file reports timely. Third, the Commission is revising its rules regarding its final determinations to clarify when the Commission finds that no violation has occurred. Lastly, the rules are being amended to explain that the Commission's statement of reasons for its final decision in an AFP matter usually consists of the reasons set forth by the Commission's reviewing officer as adopted by the Commission. The supplementary information that follows provides further information.

Georgia has scheduled a special general election on June 19, 2007, to fill the U.S. House of Representatives seat in the Tenth Congressional District held by the late Representative Charlie Norwood. Under Georgia law, a majority winner in a nonpartisan special election is declared elected. Should no candidate achieve a majority vote, a special runoff election will be held on July 17, 2007, between the top two vote-getters. Committees participating in the Georgia special elections are required to file pre- and post-election reports. Filing dates for these reports are affected by whether one or two elections are held.