FEC Collects $234,405 in Administrative Fines from 185 Political Committees

FEC Collects $234,405 in Administrative Fines
from 185 Committees

WASHINGTON -- The Federal Election Commission (FEC/the Commission) has fined 185 political committees a total of $234,405 in civil penalties for filing late campaign finance reports or failing to file at all.*  Most of the cases involved reports filed with the Commission in 2005 and 2006.  Since its inception in 2000, the FEC has collected $2,148,633 in civil penalties for 1,596 cases processed under the Commission’s Administrative Fine Program.

      The Administrative Fine Program has a two-fold purpose: to free critical Commission resources for more important and complex enforcement efforts, and to reduce the number of financial reports filed late or not at all.  The program encompasses a range of civil money penalties set high enough to discourage committees from considering them an acceptable ‘cost of doing business’, but not so high as to be exorbitant.

      Monetary penalties are determined by the number of days late, the amount of financial activity involved, and any prior penalties for reporting violations. Election sensitive reports (reports and notices filed immediately prior to an election) receive higher penalties.  Additional information about the Administrative Fine Program is available on the FEC website at http://www.fec.gov/af/af.shtml.

Tables attached to this release contain summary information on cases closed after June of this year.  Publicly available documents for completed Administrative Fines cases are also available in the Commission’s Press and Public Records Offices.

Campaign Committees [excel] [pdf]

PAC/Party Committees [excel] [pdf]

*Late filers are those committees filing non-election sensitive reports after the due date, but within 30 days of the due date and/or filing election sensitive reports after the due date, but prior to four days before the election. Non-filers are committees that have either not filed a report or filed a report after the parameters outlined above.

The Federal Election Commission (FEC) is an independent regulatory agency that administers and enforces federal campaign finance laws. The FEC has jurisdiction over the financing of campaigns for the U.S. House, the U.S. Senate, the Presidency and the Vice Presidency. Established in 1975, the FEC is composed of six Commissioners who are nominated by the President and confirmed by the U.S. Senate.

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