FEC Announces 2000 Party Spending Limits

For Immediate Release:                                                                                             Contact:   Sharon Snyder
March 1, 2000                                                                                                                            Ron Harris
                                                                                                                                                        Ian Stirton
                                                                                                                                                        Kelly Huff



FEC ANNOUNCES 2000 PARTY SPENDING LIMITS



--AMOUNTS RANGE FROM $ 135,120 TO $ 3.3 MILLION FOR SENATE RACES--


WASHINGTON -- The Federal Election Commission today announced the 2000 general election spending limits for the national and state political party committees.

	Amounts for the Senate campaigns will range from a low of $135,120 in Delaware, to a high of $3,272,876 in California.

	These general election expenditures, known as "coordinated expenditures", are limited under the election law.  The national committees of each political party have a set amount they may spend on behalf of each U.S. House and Senate candidate.  State party committees may spend equal amounts or may transfer their limits to the national committees, effectively doubling the national committees'''' expenditure limits in those states or districts.

	Coordinated expenditures are made in addition to direct contributions.  They are allowed only with regard to the general election, and do not count as either contributions to candidates or as expenditures made by candidates.  Party committees may work with candidates'''' campaigns to determine how the money should be spent, but the campaigns do not receive the funds, the expenditures are reported directly by the party committees on special schedules on their financial disclosure reports.

	The election law sets the limit for House races at $10,000, plus cost-of-living adjustment (COLA).  For 2000, that limit is $33,780, except in states with only one congressional district, where the limit will be $67,560.

	The limits for Senate races are based on state voting age populations (VAP), with a base limit for states with smaller populations.  The formula for determining a state''''s limit is:

	$.02 x State VAP + Cost-of-Living-------------------------------------
                  -or-	-whichever is greater
	$20,000 + Cost-of-Living-------------------------------------------------

	The following page lists political party expenditure limits for each state.


Note to editors/correspondents: The spending limits are, at this time, unofficial until updated VAP and COLA figures, provided by the Labor Department and the Bureau of Census, have been certified. However, the FEC does not expect the computations to change and committees are being so notified.











2 U.S.C. 441a(d)(3)(A)(i) Spending Limitations


For Elections Held In 2000


(Applicable to National and State Party Committee''''s expenditures for a Senate Candidate; or a candidate for the House of Representatives from a state which is entitled to only one Representative)























State

VAP

Expenditure

State

VAP

Expenditure



 (in thousands)

Limitation


 (in thousands)

Limitation
















Alabama

3,304 

$223,218 

Montana

659 

$67,560 


Alaska

423 

$67,560 

Nebraska

1,222 

$82,558 


Arizona

3,444 

$232,677 

Nevada

1,318 

$89,044 


Arkansas

1,891 

$127,756 

New Hampshire

897 

$67,560 


California

24,222 

$1,636,438 

New Jersey

6,140 

$414,818 


Colorado

2,991 

$202,072 

New Mexico

1,244 

$84,045 


Connecticut

2,454 

$165,792 

New York

13,756 

$929,355 


Delaware

571 

$67,560 

North Carolina

5,710 

$385,768 


DC

424 

$67,560 

North Dakota

474 

$67,560 


Florida

11,541 

$779,710 

Ohio

8,413 

$568,382 


Georgia

5,731 

$387,186 

Oklahoma

2,476 

$167,279 


Hawaii

896 

$67,560 

Oregon

2,489 

$168,157 


Idaho

901 

$67,560 

Pennsylvania

9,141 

$617,566 


Illinois

8,947 

$604,459 

Rhode Island

750 

$67,560 


Indiana

4,414 

$298,210 

South Carolina

2,930 

$197,951 


Iowa

2,150 

$145,254 

South Dakota

535 

$67,560 


Kansas

1,955 

$132,080 

Tennessee

4,143 

$279,901 


Kentucky

2,995 

$202,342 

Texas

14,325 

$967,797 


Louisiana

3,182 

$214,976 

Utah

1,422 

$96,070 


Maine

963 

$67,560 

Vermont

454 

$67,560 


Maryland 

3,862 

$260,917 

Virginia

5,208 

$351,852 


Massachusetts

4,707 

$318,005 

Washington

4,270 

$288,481 


Michigan

7,303 

$493,391 

West Virginia

1,403 

$94,787 


Minnesota

3,504 

$236,730 

Wisconsin

3,902 

$263,619 


Mississippi

2,016 

$136,201 

Wyoming

353 

$67,560 


Missouri

4,069 

$274,902