Federal Election Commission August 2024 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

Texas has scheduled a Special General Election on November 5, 2024, to fill the U.S. House of Representatives seat in the 18th Congressional District held by the late Representative Sheila Jackson Lee. There are two possible elections, but only one may be necessary. Under Texas law, all qualified candidates, regardless of party affiliation, will appear on the ballot. The majority winner of the Special General Election is declared elected. Should no candidate achieve a majority vote, the Governor will then set the date for a Special Runoff Election that will include only the top two vote- getters. Committees participating in the Texas special election are required to file pre- and post-election reports.

Since the inception of the Federal Election Commission's Administrative Fines Program in 2000, the Commission has been assessing civil monetary penalties for certain violations of the reporting requirements of the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971, as amended. In 2013, Congress authorized the Commission to expand the Administrative Fines Program to include violations for reporting requirements not currently covered. Accordingly, the Commission proposes to extend its Administrative Fines Program to include violations in the timely filing of 24-Hour Reports of Independent Expenditures, 48-Hour Reports of Independent Expenditures, and 24-Hour Notices of Electioneering Communications. This proposal will allow more efficient and predictive adjudication of these filing violations. The Commission invites public comment on the proposed regulatory amendments.

The Commission announces its disposition of a Petition for Rulemaking ("Petition") filed on June 14, 2016, by the Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party and its Chair, Ken Martin. The Petition asked the Commission to amend several of its regulations applicable to state, district, or local committees of political parties. On June 26, 2024, the same petitioners submitted a new petition that incorporates the substance of this Petition while "revok[ing]" this Petition. Given the new petition, the Commission is not initiating a rulemaking in response to this Petition.