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Federal Election Commission | United States of America

Registering affiliated SSFs

Under FEC rules, affiliation between SSFs results when committees are established, financed, maintained or controlled by the same organization.

Automatic affiliation

When SSFs are established by different parts of one organization, they are automatically affiliated. For example:

  • An SSF established by a parent corporation is affiliated with an SSF established by a subsidiary corporation.
  • An SSF established by a national or international union is affiliated with any SSFs established by local or regional units of the same union.
  • SSFs established by a federation of national or international unions and the SSFs of the federation’s state and local central bodies are affiliated.
  • An SSF of a national membership organization (including a national trade association) is affiliated with the SSFs established by its related state and local entities.

Circumstances indicating affiliation

When committees are not automatically affiliated under the conditions described, they may seek an advisory opinion to determine if they are affiliated. The Commission will consider on a case-by-case basis a number of factors in its regulations to determine whether two or more committees are affiliated.

Registration

An SSF must list any affiliated committees on the Statement of Organization, along with their relationship to the registering committee (i.e., “connected” or “affiliated”).

An SSF set up by a parent organization with several subsidiaries or local units must list any SSFs established by those units. The SSF of a subsidiary or subordinate unit, however, only needs to list the SSFs of the parent organization. It is not required to list other affiliates.

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Legal citations

Regulations

11 CFR 100.5(g)(2)
Affiliated committee

11 CFR 100.5(g)(3) and 110.3(a)(2)
List of automatically affiliated committees

11 CFR 100.5(g)(4) and 110.3(a)(3)
Case-by-case determination of affiliation

11 CFR 102.2(a)(1)(ii) and (b)(1)(ii)(A) and (B)
Affiliation disclosed on Statement of Organization

This information is not intended to replace the law or to change its meaning, nor does this information create or confer any rights for or on any person or bind the Federal Election Commission or the public.

The reader is encouraged also to consult the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971, as amended (52 U.S.C. 30101 et seq.), Commission regulations (Title 11 of the Code of Federal Regulations), Commission advisory opinions and applicable court decisions.