News & Media
March 27, 2024
On March 14, 2024, the Federal Election Commission approved a Statement of Policy with the intention to simplify the initial stages of processing Matters Under Review (MURs). According to the Federal Election Campaign Act (FECA), when the Commission receives a complaint, it must vote on whether there is “reason to believe” that those mentioned in the complaint may have violated FECA or may violate it in the near future. In practice, and through public guidance, the Commission has adopted several additional options to resolve MURs. The Commission intends to decrease confusion and administrative costs by eliminating several additional options in the initial stages of enforcement proceedings. The Commission will either find “reason to believe” that the evidence is sufficient to warrant an investigation or dismiss MURs. The Statement of Policy will be effective on April 19, 2024.
March 5, 2024
On February 15, 2024, the Federal Election Commission issued Advisory Opinion 2024-02 in which a candidate and candidate committee asked whether they may solicit and receive reimbursement from nonfederal sources for the costs associated with the portions of brochures that would be devoted to nonfederal candidates and ballot measures. The opinion allows solicitations from nonfederal sources, subject to the amount limitations, source prohibitions, and reporting requirements outlined under the Federal Election Campaign Act. The candidate committee must report the reimbursement activity relating to the brochures, and this is subject to the reporting requirements set forth in the Federal Election Campaign Act and Commission regulations.
December 20, 2023
At their open meeting on December 14, 2023, the Federal Election Commission approved a final rule that revises regulations regarding the use of campaign funds for candidate compensation. This includes changes in the requirements that determine whether a candidate can receive compensation from the campaign, when they can receive this compensation, and the maximum amount of compensation they can receive. The Commission also approved a final rule regarding technological modernization. This rule updates references to technology in existing regulations due to technological advancements in communications, recordkeeping, and financial transactions.
September 18, 2023
The FEC received a petition on August 16, 2023 to amend 11 CFR 110.16 that “prohibits a candidate or their agent from fraudulently misrepresenting other candidates or political parties.” The petitioner asked the Commission to expand this existing regulation to include restrictions on deliberately deceptive Artificial Intelligence in campaign advertisements. The deadline to submit comments on this proposed amendment is October 16, 2023.
August 3, 2023
On July, 17 2023, the United States District Court for the District of Columbia issued a Memorandum Opinion and Order in Heritage Action for America v. FEC, et. al. This case involved a series of deadlock votes in relation to a complaint brought to the FEC about Heritage Action for America and the FEC’s failure to disclose deadlock reason-to-believe votes. The District Court decided deadlock reason-to-believe votes are equivalent to deadlock dismissals, and therefore, they constitute a final agency action that requires prompt disclosure to the complainant, respondent, and public.
June 13, 2023
At its open meeting on May 18, 2023, the Federal Election Commission approved an Interim Final Rule that repeals regulation 11 C.F.R. § 110.4(b)(1)(iii), which states that people are not allowed to “knowingly help or assist any person in making a contribution in the name of another.” The Commission is making this change in response to an April 6, 2018, ruling from the United States District Court for the District of Utah in Federal Election Commission v. Swallow that held the provision invalid, prevented the Commission from enforcing it, and ordered the Commission to remove it from the regulations. The deadline to submit comments on the Interim Final Rule is June 26, 2023, and the rule goes into effect on August 5, 2023.
May 17, 2023
At their Open Meeting on May 4, 2023, the Federal Election Commission approved a new process for auditing political committees that do not receive public funds. These new procedures, detailed in the Federal Register at the link above, go into effect on June 1, 2024 and will only apply to audits that are initiated after that date. The stated goal of the new process is “to strike the appropriate balance, within the constraints of the Act, among efficiency, procedural protections for audited committees, orderly development of the law, transparency, and the Commission’s statutory authority to seek voluntary compliance with the Act.”
April 20, 2023
At their Open Meeting on April 19, 2023, the Federal Election Commission approved two noteworthy documents. The first is a Memorandum of Understanding between the FEC and the Department of Justice regarding their respective responsibilities when enforcing campaign and election laws, as well as providing for information sharing between the two agencies. The second is an internal memo directing the FEC’s Press Office to no longer confirm or deny the receipt of complaints in response to inquiries received.
March 28, 2023
On March 22, 2023, the Federal Election Commission held a public hearing with a panel of expert witnesses who discussed a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking that would amend the regulations regarding the use of campaign funds from a candidate’s authorized committee to provide a salary and benefits to the candidate.
February 3, 2023
The Federal Election Commission has announced the new, inflation-indexed contribution limits for the 2023-2024 election cycle. The per-election limit for an individual giving to a candidate committee has been raised to $3,300. More details are provided at the hyperlink above. The FEC has also announced the 2023 inflation-indexed limit for coordinated party expenditures and the 2023 inflation-indexed threshold for lobbyist bundling disclosures.
January 3, 2023
Effective December 29, 2022, and as required by law, the Federal Election Commission has amended its regulations to revise the monetary penalties for certain civil violations of federal campaign law to account for inflation, based on a statutory formula.
December 20, 2022
At their open meeting on December 1, 2022, the Federal Election Commission approved a final rule that requires clearly legible and noticeable disclaimers to be included on "communications placed for a fee on another person's website, digital device, application, or advertising platform," with an exception allowing for shortened disclaimers on communications that do not allow space for the full disclaimer or on which the full disclaimer would occupy more that 25% of the communication. This rule took effect on March 1, 2023.
At the same meeting, the Commission approved a Supplemental Notice of Public Rulemaking asking for public comment on a proposed rule that would amend the definition of public communication to include communications that are "promoted for a fee on another person's website, digital device, application, or advertising platform."
November 10, 2022
On October 20, 2022, the Federal Election Commission approved an advisory opinion in which the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee asked whether funds from their Legal Proceedings Account could be used to pay for two specific advertisements that solicited contributions to their Legal Proceedings Account and that involved certain candidates to varying degrees. The opinion allows for such ads to be paid for by the Legal Proceedings Account, subject to reasonable cost allocation between that account and other DSCC accounts. The ads may also be coordinated with the involved candidates, provided that any costs not attributable to the Legal Proceedings Account abide by the limits on coordinated expenditures or are treated as in-kind contributions to the candidates.
October 13, 2022
On October 12, 2022, the United States District Court for the District of Columbia dismissed the suit in Attorney General of the USA v. Stephen A. Wynn. The case involved a complaint made by the Department of Justice alleging that Wynn had acted as an agent of the People's Republic of China in 2017 and failed to register as a foreign agent under the Foreign Agents Registration Act. The District Court dismissed the suit because it found that the statute of limitations had expired according to the binding ruling of the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals in United States v. McGoff.