Campaigns Fail To File Year End Report

WASHINGTON -- The Federal Election Commission today cited two U.S. House Campaigns for failure to file the required Year End financial disclosure report covering activity through December 31.

As of 5 p.m., February 11, 2004 disclosure reports from the following committees had not been filed:

CA/49...BYRON FOR CONGRESS...RAMONA BYRON, TREAS...MICHAEL P. BYRON‡DEM

MD/07...MCPEEK FOR CONGRESS...DAUN M. MERRILL, TREAS...CHARLES C. MCPEEK...DEM

The report was due January 31, 2004 and should have included financial activity for the period October 1, 2003, through December 31, 2003. If sent by certified or registered mail, the reports should have been postmarked by January 31. Mandatory electronic filing requirements became effective as of January 1, 2001. Any committee that receives contributions or makes expenditures in excess of $50,000 in the current calendar year, or that reasonably expects to do so, must submit its reports electronically. These rules became effective for reporting periods beginning on or after January 1, 2001.

Some individuals and their committees have no obligation to file reports under federal election law, even though their names may appear on state ballots. If an individual raises or spends less than $5,000, he or she is not considered a "candidate" subject to reporting under the FECA.

The FEC notified committees involved in the primary of their potential filing requirements on December 30. Those committees which did not file on the due date were notified on February 6 that reports had not been received and that their names would be published if they did not respond within four business days.

Other political committees supporting Senate and House candidates in elections (those which are not authorized units of a candidate''''s campaign) also are required to file year end reports. Those committee names are not published by the FEC.

Further Commission action against non-filers and late filers is decided on a case-by-case basis. Federal law gives the FEC broad authority to initiate enforcement actions and the FEC has implemented an administrative fine program which will subject committees to penalties ranging from $30 to $16,000 or more.