Week of June 12-16, 2023

Commission meetings and hearings

No open meetings or executive sessions were scheduled this week.

Advisory Opinions

Request Received

Advisory Opinion Request 2023-04 (Guy for Congress) On June 12, the Commission made public Advisory Opinion Request 2023-04. Guy for Congress asks whether the candidate, who is a sitting member of Congress, may use campaign funds to pay for the installation of a security feature in his home. The Commission will accept written comments on the request during the 10-day period following publication of the request (no later than June 22) and shall issue a response no later than 60 days after receipt of the complete request, specifically by August 7, 2023.

Enforcement

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

MUR 7995

COMPLAINANT: Dr. Diana Cubbage
RESPONDENTS: Jamie McLeod-Skinner; and Jamie for Oregon and Sue Jackson, in her official capacity as treasurer (the Committee)
SUBJECT: The complaint alleged that Skinner and the Committee failed to include a required disclaimer on yard signs they distributed to supporters. Skinner was a 2022 candidate for Oregon’s 5th Congressional District.
DISPOSITION: The Commission exercised its prosecutorial discretion and dismissed the matter.

Administrative Fines

The Commission made public 33 closed cases, as follows. For more information, see the case documents in the Administrative Fine search system.

AF 4350 Fort for Congress and Deidre Brown, in official capacity as treasurer. The Commission made a final determination and assessed a civil penalty of $4,292.

AF 4351 Friends of Barbara Sharief for Congress and Suzette Spalding, in official capacity as treasurer. The Commission made a final determination and assessed a civil penalty of $466.

AF 4352 Friends of Cindy Banyai and Stephanie Hoffman, in official capacity as treasurer. The Commission made a final determination and assessed a civil penalty of $748.

AF 4353 Friends of Jahmal Cole and Jahmal Cole, in official capacity as treasurer. The Commission made a final determination and assessed a civil penalty of $232.

AF 4354 Friends of Jason Mariner and Jason Mariner, in official capacity as treasurer. The Commission made a final determination and assessed no civil penalty.

AF 4355 Friends of Mark Baker and O’Lillian Baker, in official capacity as treasurer. The Commission made a final determination and assessed a civil penalty of $647.

AF 4356 Friends of Paul Sanford and Paul Sanford, in official capacity as treasurer. The Commission made a final determination and assessed a civil penalty of $748.

AF 4358 Gary Miller for Congress and Cathleen Miller, in official capacity as treasurer. The Commission made a final determination and assessed a civil penalty of $373.

AF 4359 George Mitris for Congress and Office of Treasurer, in official capacity as treasurer. The Commission made a final determination and assessed a civil penalty of $19,673.

AF 4360 Greg Lirette for Congress and Kevin Kitchen, in official capacity as treasurer. The Commission made a final determination and assessed a civil penalty of $14,308.

AF 4361 Harbin for Georgia, Inc. and Blake Harbin, in official capacity as treasurer. The Commission made a final determination and assessed a civil penalty of $5,563.

AF 4362 Jessica Taylor for Senate Inc. and Jessica Taylor, in official capacity as treasurer. The Commission made a final determination and assessed a civil penalty of $748.

AF 4363 Jimmy Rodriguez for Congress and Jimmy Rodriguez, in official capacity as treasurer. The Commission made a final determination and assessed a civil penalty of $47,691.

AF 4364 John Porro Texans For and John Charles Porro, in official capacity as treasurer. The Commission made a final determination and assessed a civil penalty of $164.

AF 4365 Mark Pukita for US Senate 2022 and Mark Pukita, in official capacity as treasurer. The Commission made a final determination and assessed a civil penalty of $8,743.

AF 4366 Matt Richards for Congress and Matt Richards, in official capacity as treasurer. The Commission made a final determination and assessed no civil penalty.

AF 4367 Mechanical Contractors Association of America Political Action Committee (MCA-PAC) and John P. McNerney, in official capacity as treasurer. The Commission made a final determination and assessed a civil penalty of $232.

AF 4368 Michelle Beckley and Martin Mikes, in official capacity as treasurer. The Commission made a final determination and assessed a civil penalty of $5,563.

AF 4369 MunroeForCongress and Gwendolyn A. Lowe, in official capacity as treasurer. The Commission made a final determination and assessed a civil penalty of $748.

AF 4370 Murphy for WI and Penelope Formella, in official capacity as treasurer. The Commission made a final determination and assessed a civil penalty of $2,518.

AF 4371 National Pawnbrokers Association Inc Political Action Committee (NPA-PAC) and Douglas Braswell, in official capacity as treasurer. The Commission made a final determination and assessed a civil penalty of $188.

AF 4372 November Coalition and Colin Delia, in official capacity as treasurer. The Commission made a final determination and assessed a civil penalty of $6,667.

AF 4373 Our Black Party and Betty Crichlow-Eberhardt, in official capacity as treasurer. The Commission made a final determination and assessed a civil penalty of $3,926.

AF 4374 Patriots for American Leadership and Eddie Shivers, in official capacity as treasurer. The Commission made a final determination and assessed no civil penalty.

AF 4375 Pulliam’s Committee and Takari Green, in official capacity as treasurer. The Commission made a final determination and assessed a civil penalty of $286.

AF 4376 Reba for Congress and Bryon Fredrick McComb, in official capacity as treasurer. The Commission made a final determination and assessed a civil penalty of $39,341.

AF 4377 Sturm4Congress and William Sturm, in official capacity as treasurer. The Commission made a final determination and assessed no civil penalty.

AF 4378 Support American Leaders PAC and Matthew Nelson Tunstall, in official capacity as treasurer. The Commission made a final determination and assessed no civil penalty.

AF 4379 The Billy Prempeh for Congress Committee and Billy Prempeh, in official capacity as treasurer. The Commission made a final determination and assessed a civil penalty of $1,346.

AF 4380 The Seasonal Employer PAC and Peter Delany, Jr., in official capacity as treasurer. The Commission made a final determination and assessed a civil penalty of $996.

AF 4381 Together We Thrive and Christopher Zullo, in official capacity as treasurer. The Commission made a final determination and assessed a civil penalty of $16,096.

AF 4382 Wes Nofire for Congress and Michael Stopp, in official capacity as treasurer. The Commission made a final determination and assessed a civil penalty of $7,154.

AF 4383 Women Vote Smart and Amy S. Kremer, in official capacity as treasurer. The Commission made a final determination and assessed a civil penalty of $19,763.

Regulations and agency procedures

REG 2023-01 (Use of Artificial Intelligence in Campaign Ads) On June 15, the Commission made public a Draft Notification of Availability of Petition for Rulemaking submitted on May 16, 2023 by Public Citizen. The Petition asks the Commission to specify in regulations or guidance that its statutory provision regarding the fraudulent misrepresentation of campaign authority applies to deliberately deceptive Artificial Intelligence campaign ads.

Proposed Agency Procedure Regarding Litigation Brought Pursuant to 52 U.S.C.§ 30109(a)(8) On June 15, the Commission made public a draft agency procedure that would govern its actions in litigation brought pursuant to 52 U.S.C. § 30109(a)(8).

Litigation

End Citizens United PAC v. FEC (Case No. 22-5176) On June 9, 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.

FEC v. Rivera (Case No. 22-11437) On Jun 14, Appellant filed a Brief in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit.

Press releases

Appeals court issues opinion in End Citizens United PAC v. FEC (issued June 12)

Employment opportunities

The Commission is accepting applications for the position of General Counsel through July 14, 2023.

The Commission is accepting applications for the position of Contract Specialist through July 3, 2023.

The Commission is accepting applications for the position of Secretary (Typing) through July 5, 2023.

Upcoming Commission meetings and hearings

June 21, 2023: The Commission is scheduled to meet in executive session.

June 22, 2023: The Commission is scheduled to hold an open meeting.

July 11, 2023: The Commission is scheduled to meet in executive session.

July 13, 2023: The Commission is scheduled to hold an open meeting.

Upcoming educational programs

June 28, 2023: The Commission is scheduled to host a FECFile webinar for candidate committees.

July 12, 2023: The Commission is scheduled to host an FECConnect OnTopic discussion on PAC and Party Registration. Participation is free, but registration is required. To register, please email ontopic@fec.gov.

July 19, 2023: The Commission is scheduled to host a FECFile webinar for PACs and party committees.

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

Upcoming reporting due dates

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

The Commission has posted the reporting dates in connection with the Utah Second 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.

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.