Week of December 19-23, 2022

Commission meetings and hearings

No open meetings or executive sessions were scheduled this week.

Enforcement

The Commission made public one closed case, as follows. For more information, see the case documents in the Enforcement Query System.

MUR 7745

COMPLAINANT: Stanley Carter
RESPONDENT: Casey Askar for Congress and Rob Phillips III, in his official capacity as treasurer (the Committee)
SUBJECT: The complaint alleged that Northern Bank made, and the Committee accepted, prohibited corporate contributions when Askar collateralized a loan and line of credit received from Northern Bank with a property of insufficient worth. The complaint further alleged that the Committee failed to disclose certain information related to a line of credit it received from Northern Bank including the bank’s usual and customary interest rate. Askar was a 2020 candidate for Florida’s 19th Congressional District.
DISPOSITION: The Commission found reason to believe that the Committee failed to disclose complete and accurate information regarding the line of credit from Northern Bank in the Committee’s reports. The Commission then closed the file and sent a letter admonishing the Committee for failing to file complete and accurate reports regarding the line of credit.

Administrative Fines

The Commission made public three closed cases, as follows. For more information, see the case documents in the Administrative Fine Search System.

AF 4299 Galveston County Republican Party and William Cline Hoffman, in official capacity as treasurer. The Commission made a final determination and assessed a civil penalty of $448.

AF 4330 Wirth for Congress and Christopher Wirth, in official capacity as treasurer. The Commission made a final determination and assessed a civil penalty of $14,306.

AF 4397 Weber for Congress and Robert D. Nolen, in official capacity as treasurer. The Commission made a final determination and assessed a civil penalty of $8,470.

Regulations and agency procedures

REG 2011-02: Final Rule and Explanation and Justification for Internet Communications Disclaimers On December 19, the Commission published a Final Rule and Explanation and Justification for Internet Communications in the Federal Register. The Final Rule amends the Commission’s definition of “public communication” and its regulation at 11 CFR 110.11 to require that disclaimers appear on certain public communications made over the internet. The new rule requires a clear and conspicuous disclaimer to appear on certain public communications placed for a fee on another person’s website, digital device, application, or advertising platform. Under the amended rule, some communications will be permitted to include an “adapted disclaimer” when a full disclaimer cannot be provided or would occupy more than 25 percent of the communication due to space or character constraints. The adapted disclaimer permits a person or person who paid for the communication to be identified by a commonly understood abbreviation or acronym, provided that the full disclaimer is available through a mechanism such as hover-over text, pop-up screens, scrolling text, rotating panels, or hyperlinks to a landing page. The Final Rule is effective March 1, 2023.

REG 2022-06: Disgorgement On December 22, the Commission published a Notification of Availability in REG 2022-06 (Disgorgement) in the Federal Register. The Commission seeks comment on the Notification, which may be submitted electronically. Comments must be received by February 21.

Litigation

Campaign Legal Center v. FEC, et al. (Case No. 19-2236) On December 22, the Commission filed a Notice of Appeal and a Motion for Stay of Remand Order Pending Appeal in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.

Campaign Legal Center v. FEC (Case No. 22-1976) On December 21, Plaintiff filed a Notice of Appeal in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.

Campaign Legal Center v. FEC (Case Nos. 22-5140, 22-5167) On December 21, Movant-Appellant filed a Reply Brief in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.

Common Cause Georgia, et al. v. FEC (Case No. 22-3067) On December 16, the Commission filed an Answer in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.

CREW, et al. v. FEC (Case No. 19-5161) On December 20, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit issued a Mandate.

End Citizens United PAC v. FEC (Case No. 21-1665/22-5176) On December 16, the Court-appointed Amicus Curiae submitted a Brief to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit in support of a lower court’s judgment, which denied Plaintiff’s motion for default judgment.

Ready for Ron v. FEC (Case No. 22-3282) On December 21, Plaintiff filed a Motion for Preliminary Injunction and supporting Memorandum of Law in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.

Upcoming Commission meetings

January 10, 2023: The Commission is scheduled to meet in executive session.

January 12, 2023: The Commission is scheduled to hold an open meeting.

January 24, 2023: The Commission is scheduled to meet in executive session.

January 26, 2023: The Commission is scheduled to hold an open meeting.

Upcoming educational programs

January 24, 2023: The Commission is scheduled to host FECFile and reporting webinars for PACs and party committees.

January 25, 2023: The Commission is scheduled to host FECFile and reporting webinars for candidate committees.

For more information on upcoming training opportunities, see the Commission’s Trainings page.

Upcoming reporting due dates

January 31, 2023: Year-End Reports are due. For more information, see the 2022 Quarterly and Monthly Reporting schedules.

The Commission has posted the filing deadlines for the Virginia 4th District Special Election. For more information, see the Special Election Report Notice.

Additional research materials

Contribution Limits. In addition to the current limits, the Commission has posted an archive of contribution limits that were in effect going back to the 1975-1976 election cycles.

Federal Elections 2020: Election Results for the U.S. President, the U.S. Senate and the U.S. House of Representatives is now available. The data was compiled from the official vote totals published by state election offices.

FEC Notify: Want to be notified by email when campaign finance reports are received by the agency? Sign up here.

Additional research materials about the agency, campaign finance information, and election results are available through the Library section of the Commission website.

The Combined Federal State Disclosure and Election Directory is available. This publication identifies the federal and state agencies responsible for the disclosure of campaign finances, lobbying, personal finances, public financing, candidates on the ballot, election results, spending on state initiatives and other financial filings.

The Presidential Election Campaign Fund Tax Checkoff Chart provides information on balance of the Fund, monthly deposits into the Fund reported by the Department of the Treasury, payments from the Fund as certified by the FEC, and participation rates of taxpayers as reported by the Internal Revenue Service. For more information on the Presidential Public Funding Program, see the Public Funding of Presidential Elections page.

The FEC Record is available as a continuously updated online news source.

Other election-related resources

Videos on protecting U.S. elections. The FBI’s Protected Voices initiative provides videos designed to help political campaigns protect themselves from foreign influence. The 2019 videos offer guidance on ransomware, business email compromise, supply chain, social media literacy, and foreign influence operations. Other videos, released in 2018, include cyber hygiene topics such as social engineering, patching, router hardening, and app and browser safety.

Join the FEC on Twitter and YouTube

Follow @FEC on Twitter to receive the latest information on agency updates, news releases, and weekly activity. Subscribe to our YouTube channel, FECTube: FECConnect on Demand, to watch instructional videos that have been designed to help candidates and committees comply with federal campaign finance laws. Note that the FEC is not currently available through other social media platforms. The use of the agency’s logo, name, and likeness on other media has not been authorized by the FEC.