FEC Describes Plans for Rulemakings

WASHINGTON – The Federal Election Commission (FEC) announced today that it is moving forward aggressively to complete action on a series of campaign finance rulemakings.  The FEC is reconsidering regulations that implement parts of the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002, pursuant to court rulings in Shays v. FEC.  On October 21 the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit declined to rehear en banc the Commission’s appeal of an earlier D.C. Circuit decision upholding a District Court remand of several of the Commission’s regulations.

FEC Chairman Scott Thomas, along with Vice-Chairman Michael Toner, announced during the Commission’s open meeting today that the Commission is committed to completing action on all of the affected regulations by the end of February. The FEC has scheduled two additional open meetings before the end of this year to move the rulemaking process forward as quickly as possible.

Chairman Thomas noted:  “We in fact already have accomplished a good deal of the work needed on the 15 regulation topics at issue.  The Commission has held hearings on proposals for modifying 12 of the regulations, which has moved us to the final stage of the process for those rulemakings. We appreciate the numerous written comments and oral testimony, all of which we are carefully evaluating in reaching decisions on final rules and developing the detailed written explanations required by law. We also have a hearing set on two more rulemakings before Thanksgiving.”

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