AO 2016-10: US citizen residing abroad may solicit contributions to state and local party committees

A U.S. citizen living in Canada may solicit contributions or donations to state and local political party committees so long as she does not knowingly solicit any foreign national. Her solicitations need not reference the ban on soliciting foreign nationals, and she is free to inform the state or local parties that she is soliciting contributions to those party committees.

Background
Caroline Goodson Parker is a United States citizen who currently lives in Canada. She plans to solicit friends and family by email and text message for contributions to state and local political party committees in the United States. She will also encourage these individuals to forward the solicitations to their friends and families. Some of the individuals whom Ms. Parker intends to solicit reside outside of the United States but had informed her some years ago that they were U.S. citizens. She also would like to solicit friends who she knows to have been Canadian citizens but who have lived in the U.S. for over five years. Ms. Parker asked if her proposed solicitations would be permissible and if she would be required to take any steps to ascertain the citizenship status of individuals whom she plans to solicit. Further, she asked if she would be required to inform individuals whom she solicits that they in turn are prohibited from soliciting foreign nationals. Finally, Ms. Parker asked whether she could inform the state and local party committees that she is soliciting contributions to those party committees.

Legal Analysis
The Federal Election Campaign Act (the Act) and Commission regulations prohibit any foreign national from making a contribution or donation to any committee of a political party. 52 U.S.C. § 30121(a)(1)(B) and 11 CFR 110.20(c). Commission regulations further prohibit any person from knowingly soliciting a contribution or donation from a foreign national. 11 CFR 110.20(g). The term "knowingly" is defined as 1) having actual knowledge that the person being solicited is a foreign national, 2) being aware of facts that would lead a reasonable person to conclude that there is a substantial probability that the person being solicited is a foreign national, or 3) being aware of facts that would lead a reasonable person to inquire whether the person solicited is a foreign national, but failing to make such an inquiry. 11 CFR 110.20(a)(4). U.S. citizens and non-citizens who are lawfully admitted for permanent residence to the United States (i.e., green card holders) are not foreign nationals for the purpose of the prohibition. 52 U.S.C. § 30121(b).

Commission regulations do not prohibit Ms. Parker from soliciting funds from other U.S. citizens, regardless of where they may live. However, Ms. Parker would be required to ascertain the citizenship status of some of the individuals whom she plans to solicit to avoid knowingly soliciting foreign nationals. Her responsibility to inquire into the citizenship status of a person she solicits depends on whether she is aware of facts that would lead a reasonable person to believe that the solicited person is a foreign national.

Since Ms. Parker wishes to solicit Canadian friends who have lived in the United States for more than five years, the Commission concludes that since she has actual knowledge that the individuals were foreign nationals in the past, she may not solicit them for contributions or donations unless she is able to determine through a reasonable inquiry that they are no longer foreign nationals. However, when soliciting friends and family who live in the U.S. and who, to her knowledge, have never lived abroad, she is not required to conduct further inquiry into their citizenship status, unless she is aware of other facts that would indicate a substantial probability that the person to be solicited is a foreign national.

Ms. Parker is not required to inform individuals whom she solicits that they (the individuals being solicited) are in turn prohibited from soliciting foreign nationals. Commission regulations prohibit knowingly providing "substantial assistance" in the solicitation of a foreign national. 11 CFR 110.20(h)(1). The Commission has interpreted “substantial assistance” to mean "active involvement in the solicitation, making, receipt or acceptance of a foreign national contribution or donation with an intent to facilitate successful completion of the transaction. Contribution Limitations and Prohibitions at 67 FR 69928, 69945 (November 19, 2002). However, in this circumstance, the Commission concludes that merely requesting individuals to pass along the solicitation to others does not constitute "active involvement" in their solicitation.

Finally, the Commission concluded that Ms. Parker may inform state and local party committees of her efforts to solicit contributions and donations to those committees.

With respect to the question of whether Ms. Parker is able to solicit persons who had informed her several years ago that they were U.S. citizens, but who reside abroad, the Commission could not approve a response by the required four affirmative votes.

Date Issued: 09/29/16; 6 pages.

Resources

• AO 2016-10 [PDF]
• Commission discussion of AOR 2016-10 [mp3]