Federal Election Commission 2007 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The Federal Election Commission is revising its rules governing electioneering communications. These revisions implement the Supreme Court's decision in FEC v. Wisconsin Right to Life, Inc., which held that the prohibition on the use of corporate and labor organization funds for electioneering communications is unconstitutional as applied to certain types of electioneering communications. Further information is provided in the supplementary information that follows.

Illinois has scheduled elections on February 5, 2008, and March 8, 2008, to fill the U.S. House of Representatives seat in the Fourteenth Congressional District vacated by Representative J. Dennis Hastert. Committees required to file reports in connection with the Special Primary Election on February 5, 2008, 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 March 8, 2008, shall file a 12-day Pre-Primary Report, a 12-day Pre-General Report, and a 30-day Post-General Report.

Louisiana has scheduled special elections to fill the U.S. House of Representatives seat in the First Congressional District being vacated by Representative Bobby Jindal. There are three possible special elections, but only two may be necessary. Primary Election: March 8, 2008. Possible Runoff Election: April 5, 2008. In the event that one candidate does not achieve a majority vote in his/her party's Special Primary Election, the top two vote-getters will participate in a Special Runoff Election. General Election: May 3, 2008. However, if a Special Runoff Election is not necessary, the Special General will instead be held on April 5, 2008.

The Federal Election Commission (``Commission'') is making permanent a program that allows respondents in enforcement proceedings under the Federal Election Campaign Act, as amended (``FECA''), to have a hearing before the Commission. Hearings will take place prior to the Commission's consideration of the General Counsel's recommendation on whether to find probable cause to believe that a violation has occurred. The Commission will grant a request for a probable cause hearing if any two commissioners agree to hold a hearing. The program will provide respondents with the opportunity to present arguments to the Commission directly and give the Commission an opportunity to ask relevant questions. Further information about the procedures for the program is provided in the supplementary information that follows.

The Federal Election Commission requests comments on proposed rules implementing new statutory provisions regarding the disclosure of information about bundled contributions provided by certain lobbyists and registrants. The proposed rules would require authorized committees, leadership PACs and political committees of political parties to disclose certain information about lobbyists and registrants and lobbyists' and registrants' political committees that provide bundled contributions. No final decisions have been made by the Commission on any of the proposed regulations in this Notice. Further information is provided in the supplementary information that follows.

The Federal Election Commission is revising its rules regarding the use of campaign funds by candidates and other individuals. The revision adds to the current list of permissible uses of campaign funds in Commission regulations: donations to non-Federal candidates; and any other lawful purpose other than personal use. This change conforms the provision with those in the Federal Election Campaign Act, as amended (``the Act''). Further information is provided in the supplementary information that follows.

The Federal Election Commission requests comments on a proposed revision to its rules regarding the use of campaign funds. The proposed revision would add to the current list of permissible uses of campaign funds in Commission regulations: donations to non-Federal candidates; and any other lawful purpose other than personal use. This change would conform the provision with those in the Federal Election Campaign Act, as amended (``the Act''). The Commission has made no final decision on the issues presented in this rulemaking. Further information is provided in the supplementary information that follows.

The Federal Election Commission (the ``Commission'') is issuing a Policy Statement to clarify its enforcement policy with respect to the circumstances under which it intends to consider a political committee and its treasurer to be in compliance with the recordkeeping and reporting requirements of the Federal Election Campaign Act, as amended (``FECA''). Section 432(i) of FECA provides that when the treasurer of a political committee demonstrates that best efforts were used to obtain, maintain, and submit the information required by FECA, any report or records of such committee shall be considered in compliance with FECA or the statutes governing the public financing of Presidential candidates. In the past, the Commission has interpreted this section to apply only to a treasurer's efforts to obtain required information from contributors to a political committee, and not to maintaining information or to submitting reports. However, the district court in Lovely v. FEC, 307 F. Supp. 2d 294 (D. Mass. 2004), held that the Commission should consider whether a treasurer used best efforts under FECA with regard to efforts made to submit a report in a timely manner. This Policy Statement makes clear that the Commission intends to apply FECA's best efforts provision to treasurers' and committees' efforts to obtain, maintain, and submit information and records to the Commission consistent with the holding of the Federal court in Lovely. Further information is provided in the supplementary information that follows.

Massachusetts has scheduled elections on September 4, 2007, and October 16, 2007, to fill the U.S. House of Representatives seat in the Fifth Congressional District vacated by Representative Martin T. Meehan. Committees required to file reports in connection with the Special Primary Election on September 4, 2007, 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 October 16, 2007, shall file a 12-day Pre-Primary Report, a 12-day Pre-General Report, and a 30-day Post-General Report.

The Federal Election Commission requests comments on a proposed rule to attribute the disbursements for a public communication made by a political party that refers to a clearly identified Federal candidate and that also generically refers to other candidates of a political party without clearly identifying them. Several alternatives are presented, including an alternative to include public communications that refer to multiple Federal candidates. The Commission has made no final decision on the issues presented in this rulemaking. Further information is provided in the supplementary information that follows.

The Commission is issuing a Statement of Policy to announce that it is creating a safe harbor for the benefit of political committees that have certain internal controls in place to prevent misappropriations and associated misreporting. Specifically, the Commission does not intend to seek civil penalties against a political committee for filing incorrect reports due to the misappropriation of committee funds if the committee has the specified safeguards in place.