Federal Election Commission – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

New York has rescheduled the date of the Special General Election to fill the U.S. House of Representatives seat in the 27th Congressional District vacated by Representative Chris Collins. The Special General Election, formerly set for April 28, 2020, will now be held on June 23, 2020. Committees required to file reports in connection with the Special General Election on June 23, 2020, shall file a 12-day Pre-General Report, and a 30-day Post-General Report.

As mandated by provisions of the Federal Election Campaign Act (the Act), the Federal Election Commission (the Commission) is adjusting certain 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.

California has scheduled a Special General Election on March 3, 2020, to fill the U.S. House of Representatives seat in the 25th Congressional District vacated by Representative Katie Hill. Under California law, a majority winner in a special election is declared elected. Should no candidate achieve a majority vote, a Special Runoff Election will be held on May 12, 2020, between the top two vote- getters. Political committees participating in the California 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.

Wisconsin has scheduled special elections on December 30, 2019, and January 27, 2020, to fill the U.S. House of Representatives seat in the 7th Congressional District vacated by Representative Sean Duffy. Committees required to file reports in connection with the Special Primary Election on December 30, 2019, 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 January 27, 2020, shall file a 12-day Pre-Primary, a consolidated 12-day Pre-General Report and Year-End Report, and a 30-day Post-General Report.

On June 28, 2019, the Federal Election Commission received a Petition for Rulemaking asking the Commission to amend its existing regulation requiring political committees to report receipts and disbursements to specify that the regulation also applies to the receipt and disbursement of a mailing list or other valuable list, even if such a list is received or disbursed as part of an equal-value exchange. The Commission seeks comments on the petition.

On June 14, 2019, the Federal Election Commission received a Petition for Rulemaking, which asks the Commission to amend its existing regulation that sets forth filing dates for unauthorized political committees. The proposed amendment would require any unauthorized committee that starts an election year as a quarterly filer to maintain that status through any primary elections in which the committee is involved. The Commission seeks comment on the petition.

The Federal Election Commission (``Commission'') adopted a program on August 1, 2011, providing for a means by which persons and entities may have a legal question considered by the Commission earlier in both the report review process and the audit process. On October 23, 2013, the Commission revised this policy to provide an alternative electronic means to file a request with the Commission. On May 13, 2016, the Commission further revised this policy to clarify that requests for consideration must be submitted to the Commission Secretary to ensure that such requests are processed in a timely manner, and to build five business days into the program to allow time for the informal resolution of matters. The Commission is now republishing the policy to reflect the Commission's new mailing address. The Commission, however, is not making any substantive changes to the policy published on May 13, 2016.

On May 2, 2019, the Federal Election Commission revised Commission regulations regarding the point of entry for filing campaign finance reports. That document inadvertently contained technical language having the effect of removing a portion of one of the regulations. This document corrects the final regulations.