Number of federal PACs increases slightly

The number of federally registered political action committees (PACs) increased slightly during the first six months of 2008, with the number of PACs rising from 4,234 to 4,292, a 1.3 percent increase.

PACs are neither party committees nor candidate committees. Some PACs are sponsored by corporations and unions—trade, industry and labor PACs. Other PACs, often ideological, do not have a corporate or labor sponsor and are therefore called nonconnected PACs. For more than 20 years the number of active PACs has remained in a range from approximately 3,800 to about 4,300. While the overall total has remained steady, new committees continue to register in numbers roughly equal to those who terminate their activity in each cycle. Since January 1, 2007, for example, 550 new PACs registered with the FEC, while 600 ended their federal activity and terminated.

Corporate PACs remain the largest category, with 1,578 committees, followed by nonconnected (1,377), trade/membership/health (928), labor (272), corporations without stock (96) and cooperatives (41).

PACs sponsored by corporations and labor organizations are technically referred to as “separate segregated funds" and must register within 10 days of being established. Nonconnected PACs (those which are not connected to or sponsored by a corporation or labor organization, and which are not related to a candidate’s campaign or to a political party organization) must register within 10 days after certain financial activity exceeds $1,000 during a calendar year.

Registration does not necessarily imply financial activity. Many PACs report making no contributions to candidates or independent expenditures on behalf of or against candidates. The chart below details the number of federal PACs in each category, dating back to January 2000.