Week of March 4-8, 2024

Commission meetings and hearings

No open meetings or executive sessions were scheduled this week.

Advisory Opinions

Requests Received

Advisory Opinion Request 2024-04 (Independence Blue Cross LLC Political Action Committee) On March 4, the Commission made public an advisory opinion request from Independence Blue Cross LLC Political Action Committee. The requestor asks the Commission to find that it is not affiliated with the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association Political Action Committee, the separate segregated fund of the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association. The Commission will accept written comments on the request during the 10-day period following publication of the request (no later than March 14) and must issue a response no later than April 30, 2024, which is 60 days after the receipt of the complete request on March 1, 2024.

Advisory Opinion Request 2024-05 (Nevadans for Reproductive Freedom) On March 5, the Commission made public an advisory opinion request from Nevadans for Reproductive Freedom. The requestor, which maintains a state political committee and a 501(c)(4) organization, is collecting signatures to place a state constitutional initiative on the 2024 general election ballot. The requestor asks whether federal candidates may solicit funds for the state committee and the 501(c)(4) organization outside the amount limitations and source prohibitions of the Federal Election Campaign Act, and whether and how the requestor and a federal candidate may allocate between them the costs of communications that both advocate for the constitutional initiative and expressly advocate for the election or defeat of a federal candidate. The Commission will accept written comments on the request during the 10-day period following publication of the request (no later than March 15) and must issue a response no later than 60 days after the receipt of the complete request, that is, by April 29, 2024.

Enforcement

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

MUR 7537

COMPLAINANTS: Friends of Erik Paulsen; and Raymond Bozarth, Executive Director, Missouri Republican Party
RESPONDENTS: Unknown Respondents; and Care in Action, Inc.
SUBJECT: The complaints alleged that mailings advocating against the election of three 2018 candidates—Erik Paulsen, a candidate for Minnesota’s 3rd Congressional District, Ann Wagner, a candidate for Missouri’s 2nd Congressional District, and Josh Hawley, a candidate for Missouri’s U.S. Senate seat—and sent by unknown respondents in October 2018 contained express advocacy but did not include proper disclaimers. One of the complaints alleged further that digital ads criticizing Wagner and Paulson and a website criticizing Hawley also contained express advocacy but did not include proper disclaimers.
DISPOSITION: On September 30, 2021, the Commission found reason to believe that Unknown Respondents failed to include disclaimers and failed to disclose independent expenditures in connection with the mailers and digital ads involving Wagner and Paulsen. The Commission took no action at that time as to the mailers related to Hawley. On February 2, 2024, the Commission rescinded the reason to believe findings and closed the file. Chairman Sean J. Cooksey, Vice Chair Ellen L. Weintraub, and Commissioners Shana M. Broussard, Allen Dickerson, Dara Lindenbaum, and James E. “Trey” Trainor, III issued a Statement of Reasons.

MUR 8075

COMPLAINANT: Smiley for Washington, Inc.
RESPONDENTS: The Seattle Times; and People for Patty Murray and Jay Petterson, in his official capacity as treasurer (Murray Committee)
SUBJECT: The complaint alleged that The Seattle Times made and the Murray Committee received prohibited in-kind corporate contributions when the newspaper allowed the Murray Committee to use its corporate logo in campaign ads while denying the use of its logo in a campaign ad by the Smiley Committee. Smiley and Murray were 2022 candidates for Washington’s U.S. Senate seat.
DISPOSITION: The Commission exercised its prosecutorial discretion and dismissed the matter.

Litigation

Campaign Legal Center, et al. v. FEC (Case No. 22-3319) On March 1, the Commission filed a Reply in Support of its Second Motion to Dismiss in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.

National Republican Senatorial Committee, et al. v. FEC, et al. (Case No. 24-3051) On March 5, Plaintiff-Appellants filed a First Brief in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit.

Ready to Win v. FEC (Case No. 23-5161) On March 6, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit issued a Per Curiam Opinion and Mandate, ordering that the case be dismissed as moot and remanded to the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia with instructions to dismiss for lack of jurisdiction.

Outreach

On March 3-4, Vice Chair Weintraub participated in an event on Misinformation & Artificial Intelligence in the 2024 Election Cycle at Colby College in Maine.

On March 4, Associate General Counsel Neven Stipanovic and Assistant General Counsel Jessica Selinkoff met with a member of the European Parliament to discuss the Commission’s regulations on political advertising.

On March 5, Commissioner Broussard delivered remarks during the National Urban League’s 21st Annual Legislative Policy Conference Empowerment Luncheon.

Press Releases

Appeals Court issues order dismissing case in Ready to Win v. FEC (issued March 6)

FEC cites committee for failure to file 12-Day Pre-Primary Financial Report (issued March 8)

Upcoming Commission meetings and hearings

March 12, 2024: The Commission is scheduled to meet in executive session.

March 14, 2024: The Commission is scheduled to hold an open meeting.

March 26, 2024: The Commission is scheduled to meet in executive session.

March 27, 2024: The Commission is scheduled to hold an open meeting.

Upcoming educational opportunities

March 12-13, 2024: The Commission will host a webinar for political party committees.

April 3, 2024: The Commission will host FECFile webinars for PACs and party committees.

April 4, 2024: The Commission will host FECFile webinars for candidate committees.

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

Upcoming reporting due dates

March 20: March Monthly Reports are due. For more information, see the 2024 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.