Week of June 20 - 24, 2022

Commission meetings and hearings

On June 22 and 23, the Commission met in executive session.

On June 23, the Commission held an open meeting.

Advisory Opinions

Opinions Issued

Advisory Opinion 2022-05 (DSCC) On June 23, the Commission approved an advisory opinion in response to a request from the DSCC, a national political party committee that plans to hire a consultant to write a research book regarding a sitting U.S. senator and to use the book both to inform its own strategy in that senator’s state and to provide the book to two candidates for the Democratic nomination for U.S. Senate in that state. The Commission concluded that, based on the specific facts presented, the value paid by DSCC for the research book may be allocated equally to DSCC and each authorized committee if that allocation reasonably reflects the benefit derived. During the discussion, the Commission heard from counsel for the requestor. The Commission received public comments on the draft advisory opinions.

Advisory Opinion Request 2022-08 (National Republican Congressional Committee) On June 23, the Commission unanimously approved Advisory Opinion 2022-08 in response to a request from the National Republican Congressional Committee or NRCC. The Commission concluded that the NRCC’s members may raise contributions subject to a separate contribution limit for the New York congressional primary election on August 23, 2022. On June 17, the Commission received Supplemental Material to the advisory opinion request from the requestor.

Opinion Considered

Advisory Opinion 2022-03 (Democracy Engine, LLC) On June 23, the Commission voted on two draft advisory opinions in response to a request from Democracy Engine, LLC, but did not approve either by the requisite four affirmative votes. The Commission directed the Office of General Counsel to prepare a draft reflecting the areas of consensus among Commissioners. Democracy Engine, LLC asked whether (1) corporations may use Democracy Engine’s web platform to solicit and track contributions from members of a corporation’s restricted class to federal candidates and political committees and (2) corporations and their separate segregated funds may use Democracy Engine’s web platform to solicit and track contributions from the general public to federal candidates and political committees.

Supplemental Information Received

Advisory Opinion Request 2022-06 (Hispanic Leadership Trust) On June 21, the Commission received Supplemental Material to the advisory opinion request. On June 23, the Commission held over consideration of the request to a future meeting. The requestor, a non-connected committee, asks several questions relating to whether HLT would be a leadership PAC if its chair and vice chair were members of Congress, or whether HLT would be affiliated with the chair or vice chair’s leadership PACs.

Alternative Dispute Resolution

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

ADR 1071

COMPLAINANT: FEC-Initiated
RESPONDENT: American Federation of State County and Municipal Employees AFL-CIO
SUBJECT: In the normal course of exercising its supervisory responsibilities, the Commission initiated proceedings to determine whether there was reason to believe that the respondent failed to file or timely file three 24-Hour Reports to support 43 independent expenditures totaling $27,162.89 disclosed on its 2020 Year-End Report.
DISPOSITION: The respondent agreed to attend an FEC training and pay a civil penalty of $2,050.

Administrative Fines

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

AF 4242 Puerto Rico Mejor Futuro and Edwin Quinones, in official capacity as treasurer. The Commission made a final determination and assessed no civil penalty.

Audits

Final Audit Report on Mike Braun for Indiana. On June 24, the Commission issued the Final Audit Report of the Commission on Mike Braun for Indiana, covering campaign finance activity between August 7, 2017 and December 31, 2018. The Commission approved findings concerning misstatement of financial activity, failure to file 48-Hour Notices, disclosure of occupation and/or name of employer, receipt of apparent prohibited contributions-loans, and disclosure of memo entries and candidate loans. The Commission included receipt of contributions in excess of the limit and prohibited candidate personal loan repayments in the Additional Issues section.

Litigation

45Committee v. FEC (Case No. 22-1749) On June 17, Plaintiff filed a Complaint for Declaratory and Injunctive Relief in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.

Campaign Legal Center v. FEC (Case Nos. 22-5140, 22-5167) On June 23, Appellant Heritage Action for America filed an Opposed Motion to Hold Appeals in Abeyance in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.

Federal Election Commission v. Ted Cruz for Senate, et al. (Case No. 19-908). On June 17, the U.S. Supreme Court issued a certified copy of its Judgment.

Outreach

On June 22, the Commission held reporting and FECFile webinars for candidate committees.

On June 23, Commissioner Shana M. Broussard appeared on the Wiley Rein Political Law Podcast to discuss her background in public service and her work on the Commission.

Press releases

FEC approves two advisory opinions (issued June 23)

Upcoming Commission meetings

July 12, 2022: The Commission is scheduled to meet in executive session.

July 14, 2022: The Commission is scheduled to hold an open meeting.

July 26, 2022: The Commission is scheduled to meet in executive session.

July 28, 2022: The Commission is scheduled to hold an open meeting.

Upcoming educational programs

June 29, 2022: The Commission will host a FECFile webinar for party committees and political action committees.

July 27, 2022: The Commission will host an FECConnect OnTopic session on when to file 24- and 48-Hour Reports for Independent Expenditures.

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

Upcoming reporting due dates

July 15: July Quarterly Reports are due. For more information, see the 2022 Quarterly Reporting schedule.

July 20: July Monthly Reports are due. For more information, see the 2022 Monthly Reporting schedule.

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.

2020 Presidential General Election Results and Federal Elections 2018: Election Results for the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives are 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.