Federal Election Commission – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

On November 18, 2014, the Federal Election Commission received a Petition for Rulemaking from Public Citizen. The petitioner asks the Commission to amend its regulations regarding federal contractors to include certain factors for determining whether entities of the same corporate family are distinct business entities for purposes of the prohibition on contributions by federal contractors. The Commission seeks comments on this petition.

Mississippi has scheduled a Special General Election on May 12, 2015, to fill the U.S. House of Representatives seat held by the late Representative Alan Nunnelee. Under Mississippi law, a majority winner in a nonpartisan special election is declared elected. Should no candidate achieve a majority vote, a Special Runoff Election will be held on June 2, 2015, between the top two vote-getters. Committees participating in the Mississippi special elections are required to file pre-and post-election reports. Filing dates for these reports are affected by whether one or two elections are held.

On October 21, 2014, the Commission published in the Federal Register a final rules implementing changes to its rules governing independent expenditures and electioneering communications by corporations and labor organizations. This document announces the effective date of amendments made by that final rule.

As mandated by provisions of the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971, as amended (``FECA'' or ``the Act''), the Federal Election Commission (``FEC'' or ``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 Commission is adopting as a final rule, without change, an interim rule that removed regulatory limits on the aggregate amounts that an individual may contribute to federal candidates and political committees in each two-year election cycle. The Commission is taking this action in light of the Supreme Court's recent decision in McCutcheon v. FEC, which held that the aggregate contribution limits are unconstitutional.