This file contains archived live captions of the open meeting of the Federal Election Commission held on March 08, 2018. This file is not a transcript of the meeting, and it has not been reviewed for accuracy or approved by the Federal Election Commission.



>> CHAIRMAN HUNTER: The meeting for the Federal Election Commission for Thursday, March 8th will come to order.  Hello everybody.  Welcome.

We have a couple of matters, actually ..Is there a motion on the correction approval of the minutes? 

>> COMMISSIONER WEINTRAUB: Yes, Madam Chair.  I move that we approve the minutes as set forth in agenda document 1807A, the minutes for the meeting of December 14th.  And the minutes for the meeting of January 11th, 2018 is set forth in agenda document 1809A.

>> CHAIRMAN HUNTER: All those in favor?

>> Aye

>> Aye

>> CHAIRMAN HUNTER: The motion passes unanimously.  The next matter on the agenda.  2001102, draft notice of rulemaking on internet disclaimers and definition of communication.  We intended to discuss that motion today.  We are close to finalizing it.  We were working here last night until relatively late and have been working to come up with something that will garner four votes.  At this point it's not really so much of a substantive agreement, I think, as what to put in the document, as making it as readable as possible and as clear as possible.  And the few things we're working through.  I have full confidence that we'll get there.  We want to make sure that what we put out is something that the public can readily read and understand.  And when you put sort of two different proposals together, sometimes that takes a little bit longer and makes it a little bit more complicated.  But I think we'll get there and we're working on just sort of figuring out exactly how much more time we need.  It's a little bit complicated by the fact that we're moving from this building.  Some people's last day in the building is today.  And some people's last day in the building is next Thursday.  So we're trying to work through a bunch of different scheduling issues.  But we anticipate voting on the document next week, probably either Tuesday or Wednesday.  Either Tuesday at some point.  Or Wednesday afternoon at 2:00.  But again, we're working on that and we'll put a notice out when we're able to finalize both the document and the time.

So any other comments about that?  If not, we will discuss it at the next meeting.  Madam Vice Chair? 

>> COMMISSIONER WEINTRAUB: Thank you.  Yes.  Trust me when I say there was no one in the country who was more eager to have that document ready to be voted on today than me.  If I could have caused it to happen, I would have.  The chair and I have spent a lot of quality time together recently.  We're working very hard on this.  And I think some of the press reporting has already forecast that we're heading down road towards disagreement.  I think that would be an unfair characterization at this point.  We're certainly working on a document that would have to get unanimous support in order to pass.  I'm encouraged by it and I think we'll be able to do that.  As the Chair indicated, well let me back up a step, as everybody probably knows, I put out a proposal on February 15th.  And at the time I said that there was another proposal in the works.  And that the proposal that I put out that is already on the public record is, would probably be folded into a larger document.  And that is indeed what is happening.  And it's, you know, a long and complicated document.  It's about 70 pages long at this point.  And we want to make sure that it's clear and that people will have, will know what they're commenting on, and we're hoping to get a lot of great comments.  And looking forward to having, putting it out, having a hearing, having a great discussion, and trying to move the ball forward.  It's really an important issue.  I think a lot of people care about it.  We heard from about 150,000 of them when we said should we do this.  And the consensus was overwhelmingly yes.
And the consensus of the comments was overwhelmingly that we should strengthen our internet disclaimer rules.  It's certainly not going to solve every problem that's out there, but I think it will be a small step forward.  And my goal is to continue and try to push this forward so we can get a rule in place before the election.  I'm very much aware that the primaries are already starting and we're already, the election is well underway.  So the sooner we can get this done, the better, I think for the agency and for the American people.  And I share the chair's optimism about our being able to get it done next.  And I share her opinion that the process has been a collegial one and we're working hard to get the job done.

>> CHAIRMAN HUNTER: Thank you.  Any other comments?  That takes care of the next item on the agenda.  We'll move onto the Libertarian Party of Utah.  We have a late submitted document.

>> COMMISSIONER WEINTRAUB: I move that we waive the matter of timely submission of the agenda document so we can consider it, a draft advisory opinion for the Libertarian Party of Utah.

>> CHAIRMAN HUNTER: Thank you.  All those in favor?

>> Aye.

>> Aye.

>> CHAIRMAN HUNTER: Motion passes unanimously. 

>> Thank you, Chair Hunter and commissions.  Before you is a draft response to an advisory opinion request by the Libertarian Party of Utah.  The requestor asks whether the committee qualifies as a state committee of a political party, and the draft concludes that it does.  The requester has demonstrated that the Libertarian Political Party is a national political party.  The requester is recognized as part of that national political party in terms of the official structure of the party.  And the requester has also demonstrated that it is responsible for the daytoday operations of the Libertarian National Party at the state level.  The commission received no comments on the request itself or on the draft.  Thank you.  And I would be happy to address any questions you may have. 

>> CHAIRMAN HUNTER: Thank you.  Madam Vice Chair? 

>> COMMISSIONER WEINTRAUB: I apologize.  I didn't realize that it had not been formally added to the agenda.  I think that now that we discussed it that the commission add to the agenda.  And that the commission determine pursuant to 11CFR11D that no earlier public announcement was possible.  And let me explain I think what happened to this is we pushed it onto the agenda early because we knew we were going to have a gap where we're not going to have a lot of open meetings for a few weeks while we're dealing with the move.  So that's why this one got added late. 

>> CHAIRMAN HUNTER: That's correct. 

>> COMMISSIONER WEINTRAUB: So there's a motion on the table.

>> CHAIRMAN HUNTER: All those in favor

>> Aye.

>> CHAIRMAN HUNTER: Motion also passes unanimously.  Thank you.  Any questions or comments on the draft?  Is there a motion?

>> COMMISSIONER WEINTRAUB: Sure.  I move approval of advisory opinion 201801 as set forth in agenda document 1811A.

>> CHAIRMAN HUNTER: All those in favor?

>> Aye.

>> Aye.

>> CHAIRMAN HUNTER: Opposed?  Steve, you said aye?

>> I said aye.

>> CHAIRMAN HUNTER: The motion passes unanimously.  He was quiet  Thank you very much.  Appreciate it.  I think that's it for the day.  Are there any administrative matters the commission needs to discuss for the day.

>> Madam Chair, there are none.

>> CHAIRMAN HUNTER: Thank you very much.  We'll see you next week and let you know as soon as possible when the meeting date and time will be.  This meeting is adjourned.  Thank you!