Federal Election Commission – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

Utah has scheduled a Special General Election on November 21, 2023, to fill the U.S. House of Representatives seat in the 2nd Congressional District being vacated by Representative Chris Stewart. A Special Primary Election, if necessary, will be held on September 5, 2023. Under Utah law, partisan candidates can seek nomination at their party's convention and/or gather signatures to appear on the primary election ballot. Political committees participating in the Utah special elections are required to file pre- and post-election reports. Filing deadlines for these reports are affected by whether one or two elections are held.

Rhode Island has scheduled special elections on September 5, 2023, and November 7, 2023, to fill the U.S. House of Representatives seat in the 1st Congressional District vacated by the Representative David N. Cicilline. Committees required to file reports in connection with the Special Primary Election on September 5, 2023, shall file a 12-day Pre-Primary Report. Committees required to file reports in connection with both the Special Primary and Special General Election on November 7, 2023, shall file a 12-day Pre-Primary, a 12-day Pre- General, and a 30-day Post-General Report.

The Commission is removing the regulatory prohibition on knowingly helping or assisting any person in making a contribution in the name of another. The Commission is taking this action to implement the order of the United States District Court in FEC v. Swallow, which enjoined the Commission from enforcing the provision and ordered the Commission to strike it from the Code of Federal Regulations. The Commission is accepting comments on this revision to its regulations and any comments received may be addressed in a subsequent rulemaking document.

The Federal Election Commission is publishing matching fund submission dates for publicly funded 2024 presidential primary candidates. Eligible candidates may present one submission and/or resubmission per month on the designated date. The Commission is also publishing the dates on which publicly funded 2024 presidential primary candidates must submit their statements of net outstanding campaign obligations after their dates of ineligibility. Candidates are required to submit a statement of net outstanding campaign obligations prior to each regularly scheduled date on which they receive Federal matching funds, on dates set forth in the SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION below.

The Federal Election Commission (``Commission'') adopted a program in 2011, which was last revised in 2019, providing for a means by which persons may have a legal question considered by the Commission earlier in both the report review process and the audit process. Because the Commission is separately adopting a new audit process, it is revising the policy for the legal question program to narrow its scope to encompass only legal questions arising from requests for corrective action made by the Commission's Reports Analysis Division.

The Commission is announcing a hybrid public hearing on proposed changes to regulations regarding the use of campaign funds by a candidate's principal campaign committee to pay compensation to the candidate.

As mandated by provisions of the Federal Election Campaign Act (``the Act''), the Federal Election Commission (``the Commission'') is adjusting certain contribution and expenditure limitations and the lobbyist bundling disclosure threshold set forth in the Act, to index the amounts for inflation. Additional details appear in the supplemental information that follows.

The Federal Election Commission is announcing the date, time, and place of a public hearing on its audit procedures for political committees that do not receive public funds.

The Federal Election Commission seeks public comment on its policies and procedures regarding the auditing of political committees that do not receive public funds. The Commission also is announcing a public hearing on its audit procedures.

The Securities and Exchange Commission (``Commission'') is adopting amendments to Form N-PX under the Investment Company Act of 1940 (``Investment Company Act'') to enhance the information mutual funds, exchange-traded funds (``ETFs''), and certain other funds currently report about their proxy votes and to make that information easier to analyze. The Commission also is adopting rule and form amendments under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (``Exchange Act'') that would require an institutional investment manager subject to the Exchange Act to report on Form N-PX how it voted proxies relating to executive compensation matters, as required by the Exchange Act. The reporting requirements for institutional investment managers complete implementation of those requirements added by the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (``Dodd-Frank Act'').

After considering comments received in response to its May 3, 2021, Notification of Availability, the Federal Election Commission seeks comments on proposed changes to its regulations regarding the use of campaign funds by a candidate's principal campaign committee to pay compensation to the candidate. The Notification of Availability was published in response to a Petition for Rulemaking filed by a former candidate for the United States House of Representatives. The Commission has made no final decision on the issues presented in this rulemaking.

The Federal Election Commission is seeking additional public comment on previously proposed rules that would modernize the agency's regulations in light of technological advances in communications, recordkeeping, and financial transactions, and that would eliminate and update references to outdated technologies and address similar technological issues. In particular, the Commission presently seeks comments on whether its definition of ``public communication'' should also include Internet communications that are ``promoted for a fee'' on another person's website, digital device, application, or advertising platform. The Commission also seeks to elicit comments concerning whether ``Internet public communications,'' a new defined term, should include public communications ``promoted for a fee'' on another person's website, digital device, application, or advertising platform. No final decision has been made by the Commission on the issues presented in this rulemaking.