Schedule Set for June 6 Public Hearing on Presidential Public Financing Proposed Rule

These regulations implement the provisions of the Presidential Election Campaign Fund Act, the Presidential Primary Matching Payment Account Act and the Presidential Nominating Conventions Act, which establish eligibility requirements for presidential candidates and party nominating conventions seeking public financing, and indicate how funds received under the public financing system may be spent.

The purpose of the proposed rule-revisions (available on FEC web site http://www.fec.gov/register.htm [expired link] ) is to more effectively administer the public financing program during the 2004 election cycle. In addition, the Commission is considering how the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002 (BCRA), along with the Commission’s implementing regulations related to BCRA, may affect the public funding rules.

Hearing schedule and panels for the June 6 hearing are:

The NPRM, approved by the Commission on April 3, 2003 would address many of the sections in the current regulations, including:

• Winding-down costs of publicly funded presidential campaigns,
• primary expenditure limitations and repayments,
• permissible uses of General Election Legal and Accounting Compliance (GELAC) funds consistent with BCRA,
• Quarterly and Monthly Reporting Requirements for presidential candidates,
• several specific issues related to expenditures by campaigns, including salaries to candidates, gifts and bonuses, and press reimbursement for travel costs,
• mitigating the effect of a potential shortfall in the presidential primary matching payment account,
• expenditures by a multi-candidate political committee for qualified campaign expenses of a presidential candidate.

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