Timely Tips Archive

Trade Associations with Corporate Members Must Do the Two-Step. At last month's conference for trade associations, many questions were asked about the process for soliciting employees of corporate members of a trade association. It’s a two-step process: First, the trade association must seek and receive formal approval (written or electronic) from the member corporation. The request must include language explaining the prior approval requirements and restrictions set forth in FEC requlations. Once the corporate member grants "prior approval," the association may solicit the member’s individual executives and stockholders for PAC contributions. See 11 CFR 114.8 and Appendix C of the Campaign Guide for Corporations and Labor Organizations for more information about the specific requirements for prior approval requests.

Some Committees Required to File Lobbyist Bundling Reports on May 20. On May 20, 2009, certain monthly filing leadership PACs, Presidential campaigns and political party committees must file FEC Form 3L for the first time. Under the new lobbyist bundling disclosure rules, the above "reporting committees" must disclose information about lobbyist/registrants and lobbyist/registrant PACs that forwarded, or that the committee credited with raising, two or more bundled contributions aggregating in excess of $16,000 during the specific covered period from March 19 through April 30, 2009. See the May 2009 Record and the Commission's Lobbyist Bundling Disclosure home page for more information.

New Address for Senate Filers. The mailing address for FEC reports filed by Senate campaign committees as well as political committees that support only Senate candidates has changed. Starting with the Form 3 filing due April 15, Senate campaign reports should be sent to:

Secretary of the Senate
Office of Public Records
P.O. Box 2517
Alexandria, VA 22301-0517

Give Yourself the Gift of Education. The FEC periodically offers training conferences to help committees learn about the campaign finance law. The dates for the 2009 conferences have been posted at http://www.fec.gov/info/outreach.shtml#conferences. Over the years, these sessions have often sold out quickly. So don’t get left out in the cold this winter, sign up for our e-mail list to be notified when registration begins for any of these conferences. To subscribe, simply click here. You'll be among the first to know when a training opportunity becomes available.

Handy Election Day Links. Tuesday, November 4, is Election Day! The Commission frequently receives questions and e-mails about election-related topics that are not related to campaign finance law, such as:

• Where do I vote?
• How late are the polls open?
• How do I report voter fraud and intimidation?
• How does the Electoral College work?

To help direct voters and other interested parties to the resources that can best help them with these questions, the FEC's Information Division has developed and posted a handy page of non-FEC-related questions it normally receives on Election Day and the federal and state agencies who can answer those questions. Visit http://www.fec.gov/info/election_day_links.shtml to access the Election Day Links page.

Rescheduled Louisiana Primary - Pre-Primary Reports Due Today (9/22). Due to Hurricane Gustav, the Louisiana primary election was postponed from September 6, 2008, to October 4, 2008. Should no candidate achieve a majority vote in the October 4, 2008, Primary Election, a Primary Runoff Election will be held on November 4, 2008, with a General Election on December 6, 2008.

As a result, a pre-primary report is due today for candidates in those elections, as well as quarterly-filing PACs or party committees that made previously undisclosed contributions/expenditures in connection with those elections. In regard to contribution limits, campaign committees of candidates who were to participate in the September 6 election (including committees of unopposed candidates) may continue accepting contributions towards a contributor’s primary election limit up through October 4, 2008. Only candidates participating in a primary runoff election may retain contributions for that runoff election. Thus, independent candidates may not accept contributions for that election because they do not participate in the runoff. Also, candidates who received a majority of the vote in the primary election are not eligible to receive additional contributions because there will not be a runoff election as to their seat.

Contributions to Presidential Candidates. An individual may contribute up to $2,300 (multicandidate PAC: $5,000) to a Presidential candidate in the primary election campaign, whether or not the candidate accepts matching funds. (The $2,300 limit applies to the entire primary process, rather than to a single primary held in a particular state.) The primary election period ends on the date that the candidate accepts the nomination of the party. (For Democrats, that date will be 8/28/08, and for Republicans, that date will be 9/4/08.)

After that date, a major party nominee who chooses to accept public funding for the general election may not accept any private contributions to further his election. An individual, however, may contribute up to $2,300 to the legal/accounting compliance fund of a publicly funded major party nominee (multicandidate PAC: $5,000). In the case of a major party nominee who is not publicly funded, an individual may contribute up to $2,300 (multicandidate PAC: $5,000) to the general election campaign. For more information, see the brochure Public Funding of Presidential Elections.

New FEC Commissioners Assume Office: Will Hold First Open Meeting on July 10. The Federal Election Commission (FEC) will hold an open meeting on Thursday July 10, 2008. The meeting will be held at 10 a.m. at the Commission’s offices at 999 E Street, N.W. in Washington. This will be the first meeting for new Commissioners Cynthia L. Bauerly of Minnesota, Caroline C. Hunter of Florida, Donald F. McGahn of the District of Columbia and Matthew S. Petersen of Utah. They, along with Steven T. Walther of Nevada who served previously as a recess appointee, were unanimously confirmed by the United States Senate on June 24. 

Nonconnected PACs - It's Your Turn for Training! The FEC invites nonconnected PACs, including leadership PACs and PACs sponsored by partnerships, to register for a one-day seminar in Washington, DC on May 14. Workshops will focus on fundraising rules, reporting and best practices. Visit http://www.fec.gov/info/conferences/2008/nonconnectedseminar2008.shtml for details and registration information.

New FECFile E-mail Notification Feature! FECFile (the FEC's e-filing software) now has the capability to send confirmation receipts (or rejection notices) to two different e-mail addresses.  This feature is really useful for those treasurers who have someone else e-file their committees' reports:  not only can the person who actually uploads the report receive an e-mail, the treasurer can, too. Committees interested in using this new feature can now provide two e-mail addresses as part of the upload process when e-filing reports (this is done at the "Settings" step of the upload process). Filers who use vendor software should check with their vendors to see if the vendor incorporated this new feature in its software. To get the latest version of FECFile, click here. 

Midwinters Filing Reminder. Some Congressional and Senatorial campaigns, and the PACs and party committees that support or oppose them, have filings due soon: (1) Quarterly Filers and Pre-Primary Reporting - If you are a quarterly-filing PAC, party or candidate committee involved in a March primary, you will need to submit a pre-primary report. Visit http://www.fec.gov/info/charts_primary_dates.shtml for a complete chart of pre-primary reporting dates.  (2) Monthly Filers - Your February monthly report (covering January 1-31) is due tomorrow, February 20. As always, monthly filers do not need to worry about pre-primary reporting.