Week of December 4 – 8, 2023

Commission meetings and hearings

No open meetings or executive sessions were scheduled this week.

Advisory Opinions

Draft Advisory Opinions

Advisory Opinion Request 2023-08 (Cowboy Analytics) On December 7, the Commission made public two draft advisory opinions (Draft A and Draft B).

Extensions of Time

Advisory Opinion Request 2023-09 (Senator Catherine Cortez Masto) On December 4, the Commission received an extension of time from the requestor.

Advisory Opinion Request 2023-11 (VoteDown PAC) On December 1, the Commission received an extension of time from the requestor.

Enforcement

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

MUR 7609R

COMPLAINANTS: Campaign Legal Center; and End Citizens United PAC and Tiffany Muller
RESPONDENTS: Donald J. Trump; and Donald J. Trump for President, Inc. and Bradley T. Crate in his official capacity as treasurer (Trump Committee)
SUBJECT: This matter came to the Commission on remand from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, following its decision in End Citizens United PAC v. FEC (Case No. 22-5176). The complaint in MUR 7609, which was filed on May 9, 2019, alleged that a public statement by the Trump Committee that warned against “scam groups” raising funds by “deceptively us[ing] the President’s name, likeness, trademarks, or branding” and stated that “there is one approved outside non-campaign group, America First Action” impermissibly solicited and directed contributions outside the limits and prohibitions of the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971, as amended (the Act). On April 22, 2021, the Commission closed the file. On June 9, 2023, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit issued a Per Curiam Judgment and Opinion, ordering that the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia’s judgment be reversed and the case be remanded to the District Court with instructions to return the case to the Commission for further action.
DISPOSITION: The Commission reconsidered the full scope of the available information and on November 21, 2023, it again closed the file. Vice Chairman Sean J. Cooksey and Commissioner Allen J. Dickerson, and Commissioner Ellen L. Weintraub issued Statements of Reasons.

Regulations and agency procedures

REG 2013-01 Draft Final Rules and Explanation and Justification on Technological Modernization On December 7, the Commission made public Draft Final Rules and Explanation and Justification on Technological Modernization.

REG 2021-01 Draft Final Rules and Explanation and Justification on Candidate Salaries On December 7, the Commission made public Draft Final Rules and Explanation and Justification on Candidate Salaries.

Outreach

On December 3-6, Commissioners Shana M. Broussard and Ellen L. Weintraub and several Commission staff members attended and spoke in Kansas City, MO, at the annual conference of the Council of Governmental Ethics Laws (COGEL), a professional organization for government agencies, organizations, and individuals with responsibilities in governmental ethics, elections, campaign finance, lobbying laws and freedom of information. Commissioner Broussard spoke on a panel entitled AI in Election Administration: Transformational or Terrifying?

Upcoming Commission meetings and hearings

December 12 and 14, 2023: The Commission is scheduled to meet in executive session.

December 14, 2023: The Commission is scheduled to hold an open meeting.

Upcoming educational opportunities

January 17, 2024: The Commission will host reporting and FECFile webinars for political action committees and party committees.

January 24, 2024: The Commission will host reporting and FECFile webinars for candidate committees.

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

Upcoming reporting due dates

December 20: December Monthly Reports are due. For more information, see the 2023 Monthly Reporting schedule.

Additional research materials

Election Dates: The Commission has posted Preliminary 2024 Presidential and Congressional Primary Dates, which are subject to change.

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.

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.