News Releases, Media Advisories

For Immediate Release:                                  Contact:  Ron Harris
March 16, 1998                                                    Sharon Snyder
                                                                  Ian Stirton
                                                                  Kelly Huff

WASHINGTON-The Federal Election Commission has submitted legislative recommendations to the President and Congress, an annual requirement under federal election law.

For 1998 there are 60 recommendations for legislative action in a variety of election law areas, including three new recommendations specifically designed to help alleviate the projected shortfall in the Presidential Election Campaign Fund for the year 2000.

The following are synopses of the new, and some previously submitted, recommendations.*

• Automatic Adjustment of the Presidential Election Checkoff : Would correct a fundamental flaw in the public funding law by indexing the value of the checkoff (currently $3) to inflation, similar to the automatic adjustment to campaign spending limits and corresponding public subsidies. (New recommendation.)
• Priorities for Public Funding Payments: Would help alleviate the projected shortfall in funds available for primary candidates by making the national nominating conventions the third priority for receiving payments, rather than the first priority, and by suggesting an alternative mechanism for allocating funds between primary and general election candidates. (New recommendation.)
• Qualifying Threshold for Eligibility for Primary Matching Funds: Would raise the qualifying threshold for eligibility for publicly funded Presidential candidates and make it adjustable for inflation. (New recommendation.)
• Electronic Filing Threshold: Would result in better use of government and political committee resources by granting the FEC the authority to require electronic filing of reports by committees that meet a specific level of financial activity. (Previously submitted recommendation, revised.)
• Campaign-Cycle Reporting: Would eliminate burdensome recordkeeping and reporting provisions that require campaigns to track contributions on both a calendar-year basis and a per-election basis. (Previously submitted recommendation.)
• Monthly Reporting for Congressional Candidates: Would give principal campaign committees of Congressional candidates the option of filing monthly reports instead of quarterly reports during an election year. (Previously submitted recommendation, revised.)
• Election Period Limitations: Would eliminate complicated and time-consuming bookkeeping requirements by applying a single contribution limit to an election cycle, instead of separate limits for the primary and general elections.

(Previously submitted recommendation, revised.)

• Ensuring Independent Authority of FEC in all Litigation: Would ensure nonpartisan enforcement of the law by explicitly authorizing the Commission, rather than the U.S. Solicitor General, to petition the Supreme Court for certiorari under Title 2. (Previously submitted recommendation.)
• Commission as Sole Point of Entry for Disclosure Documents: Would conserve government resources and promote public disclosure of campaign finance information. (Previously submitted recommendation, revised.)
• Issue Advocacy Advertising: Would stipulate when coordination of an issue advocacy advertisement with a candidate or a campaign would be considered an in-kind contribution, clearly stating that coordination of such a public communication with a corporation or labor organization would be prohibited activity. (Previously submitted recommendation, revised.)

# # #

*The full list of Legislative Recommendations for 1998 contains an explanation of, the need for, and expected benefits from each recommended change. The package is available from the FEC Press Office, 202-694-1220.