Commission transmits 2022 legislative recommendations
December 16, 2022
At its open meeting on December 15, 2022, the Commission unanimously approved 15 legislative recommendations to send to Congress for consideration. The recommendations transmitted to Congress are available on the Commission’s legislation page.
The Commission’s highest priority recommendations urge Congress to enact legislation that would:
- Make the Administrative Fine Program for reporting violations permanent;
- Increase the rate of pay for the FEC’s Staff Director and General Counsel;
- Amend the foreign national prohibition to include knowingly helping or assisting a foreign national in violating the prohibition; and
- Amend the foreign national prohibition to include state and local ballot initiatives, referenda, and recall elections.
The Commission also made priority recommendations that request the enactment of legislation that would:
- Require electronic filing of electioneering communication reports;
- Prohibit fraudulent PAC practices;
- Revise the prohibitions on fraudulent misrepresentation of campaign authority;
- Amend the prohibition of the personal use of campaign funds to apply to all political committees;
- Prohibit the aiding or abetting of making of contributions in the name of another;
- Require disclosures to contributors regarding recurring contributions;
- Increase and index for inflation certain thresholds and exemptions that have not been changed since the 1970s; and
- Permit political committees to make disbursements by methods other than check.
The Commission also identified other potential improvements, recommending that Congress enact legislation to:
- Extend the period for notifying respondents of the receipt of a compliant from 5 to 10 days;
- Extend the time period for the Commission to establish the reporting dates for a special election from five calendar days to five business days; and
- Update the Federal Election Campaign Act (FECA) and the Presidential Election Campaign Fund Act (PECFA) to remove provisions held to be unconstitutional or made inoperative by subsequent legislation, revise certain citations, and modernize the spelling of “subpena” in FECA.