Federal Election Commission 2011 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The Federal Election Commission seeks comments on proposed changes to its rules regarding corporate and labor organization funding of expenditures, independent expenditures and electioneering communications. These and other proposed changes are in response to a Petition for Rulemaking filed by the James Madison Center for Free Speech urging the Commission to amend its regulations in response to the decision of the Supreme Court in Citizens United v. FEC. The Commission has made no final decision on the issues presented in this rulemaking.

The Federal Election Commission is publishing matching fund submission dates for publicly funded 2012 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 2012 presidential primary candidates must submit their statements of net outstanding campaign obligations (``NOCO statement'') after their dates of ineligibility (``DOI''). Candidates are required to submit a NOCO statement 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'' or ``FEC''), with the concurrence of the Office of Government Ethics (``OGE''), is revising the Commission's ``Standards of Conduct,'' which are the FEC rules that govern the conduct of Commissioners and Commission employees. The new rules update the Commission's regulations to reflect statutory changes enacted after the Standards of Conduct were originally promulgated in 1986, and to conform them to regulations issued by OGE and the Office of Personnel Management (``OPM''). In addition to the revisions to the FEC's Standards of Conduct, the Commission, with OGE's concurrence, is issuing regulations that supplement the Standards of Ethical Conduct for Employees of the Executive Branch issued by OGE. These supplemental regulations address outside employment of Commissioners and Commission employees. The new rules are unchanged from the rules presented in the Notice of Proposed Rulemaking.

The Federal Election Commission requests comments on whether to begin a rulemaking to revise its regulations concerning disclaimers on certain Internet communications and, if so, what changes should be made to those rules. The Commission intends to review the comments received as it decides what revisions, if any, it will propose making to these rules.

Oregon has scheduled elections on November 8, 2011, and January 31, 2012, to fill the U.S. House seat in the 1st Congressional District vacated by Representative David Wu. Committees required to file reports in connection with the Special Primary Election on November 8, 2011, 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 31, 2012, shall file a 12-day Pre-Primary Report, a consolidated 12-day Pre-General Report and Year-End Report, and a 30-day Post-General Report.

The Federal Election Commission (``Commission'') is adopting a program 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 January 26, 2010, the James Madison Center for Free Speech submitted to the Commission a Petition for Rulemaking. The Petition urges the Commission to conform its regulations regarding independent expenditures and electioneering communications made by corporations, membership organizations, and labor organizations to the decision of the Supreme Court in Citizens United v. FEC. The Petition is available for inspection in the Commission's Public Records Office, on its Web site, https://www.fec.gov/fosers/, and through its Faxline service.

On May 19, 2011, a Nevada state court ruled in Nevada Republican Party v. State of Nevada, case no. 11 OC 001471B, that Nevada's Secretary of State may not place members of major or minor political parties on the special general election ballot until candidates are designated by their respective political parties. The Nevada Republican and Democratic state central committees will select their parties' nominees at Special Party Caucuses on June 18, 2011, and June 25, 2011, respectively. Due to this development, the Commission is issuing filing dates for these caucuses.\1\ Committees required to file reports in connection with the Republican and Democratic caucuses shall file a 12-day Pre-Caucus report.