FEC retires legacy Searchable Electronic Rulemaking System (SERS)

WASHINGTON—The Federal Election Commission has retired the Searchable Electronic Rulemaking System (SERS), a legacy tool on the FEC website designed to search and locate documents related to completed and ongoing Commission rulemakings. As a replacement for SERS, the Commission recently launched a new Rulemaking Search System on the FEC’s website.

The new system provides fast, comprehensive access to FEC rulemaking documents and is easily accessible via mobile devices. Users can search rulemaking documents by regulation number, document type, date, and more. Advanced search capabilities include keyword and Boolean options and proximity filters that allow users to search for terms or phrases that appear within a set distance from one another. Members of the public will also be able to submit comments in response to ongoing rulemakings directly via the new search system. More information about the FEC’s legal search system capabilities is available in the FEC’s Legal Research Guide.

Today’s retirement of SERS is part of the FEC’s long-term program to modernize IT systems and applications. Over the past decade, the Commission has undertaken significant efforts to update FEC.gov and to develop secure and cost-effective online tools that allow users convenient and comprehensive access to the FEC’s legal resources and campaign finance data. The Commission has recently made significant updates to the search systems for Advisory Opinions and Matters Under Review (MURs) while retiring outdated platforms. Transitioning from SERS to a new rulemaking search system represents another substantial step forward in this ongoing effort.