COMMITTEES FINED FOR FILING REPORTS LATE

WASHINGTON -- The Federal Election Commission is releasing 40 more Administrative Fines cases with $45,675 in civil money penalties, bringing to 188 the number of cases made public with $247,393 in fines collected. In addition, there are numerous cases in various stages of the Administrative Fines process. Closed Administrative Fines case files are available in the FEC’s Press and Public Records offices.

The Administrative Fine Program, authorized by Congress in 1999 in response to a legislative recommendation made by the FEC (see News Release May 31, 2000), has a twofold purpose: to free critical Commission resources for more important and complex enforcement efforts, and to reduce the number of financial reports filed late or not at all. The Administrative Fines Program encompasses a range of civil money penalties set high enough to discourage committees from considering them an acceptable ‘cost of doing business’, but not so high as to be exorbitant.

Civil money penalties will be determined by the number of days late, the amount of financial activity involved, and any prior penalties for reporting violations. Election sensitive reports (reports and notices filed prior to an election) will receive higher penalties.

*Late filers are those committees filing reports after the due date, but within 30 days of the due date and/or filing election sensitive reports after due date, but prior to four days before election. Non-filers are committees that have either not filed a report or filed a report after the parameters outlined above.