Week of November 28-December 2, 2022

Commission meetings and hearings

On November 29 and December 1, the Commission met in executive session.

On December 1, the Commission held an open meeting.

Advisory Opinions

Opinion Issued

Advisory Opinion 2022-24 (Allen Blue) On December 1, the Commission approved an advisory opinion in response to a request from Blue, who proposes to establish an irrevocable trust during his lifetime that would make contributions to candidates and political committees, among other recipients. The Commission concluded that the proposed trust may make contributions to federal candidates and political committees and indexed contribution limits in effect at the time that the trust makes a contribution to a candidate or political committee would apply. The Commission also concluded that contributions from the trust must be attributed both to the trust and to Blue if the trustees make contributions to “designated recipients” based on objective criteria set forth in the trust instrument. However, if the trustees have broad discretion to select recipients of contributions, the Commission concluded that the contributions need only be attributed to the trust and not to Blue or to the trustees. During the discussion, the Commission heard from Counsel for the requestor. The Commission received three comments on the draft advisory opinions.

Request Received

Advisory Opinion Request 2022-25 (Crapo) On November 28, the Commission made public an advisory opinion request from Senator Mike Crapo asking whether he may use campaign funds to install security features in his homes in Washington, D.C. and Idaho. The Commission will accept written comments on the request during the 10-day period following publication of the request (no later than December 8) and must issue a response no later than 60 days after receipt of the complete request, that is, by January 17, 2023.

Enforcement

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

MUR 7960

COMPLAINANT: Kerri Barber
RESPONDENT: Casten for Congress and Michelle M. Scheffki, in her official capacity as treasurer (Casten Committee); SunshinePAC and John Hennelly, in his official capacity as treasurer (Sunshine PAC); Tom Casten; and Michael Garton
SUBJECT: The complaint alleged that Sunshine PAC made, and the Casten Committee accepted and failed to report, excessive contributions in the form of coordinated communications in the 2017-18 election cycle. The complaint asserted that Garton, the campaign manager for the Casten Committee, lived at the same address as the candidate’s father, Tom Casten, and Tom Casten made significant contributions to SunshinePAC, indicating the expenditures by Sunshine PAC were coordinated due to the relationship between Tom Casten and Garton. Sean Casten was a 2018 candidate for Illinois’s 6th Congressional District.
DISPOSITION: The Commission found no reason to believe a violation occurred because the expenditures at issue failed to satisfy the Commission’s three-pronged test for coordinated communications.

MUR 8030

COMPLAINANT: FEC-Initiated
RESPONDENT: Dan Crenshaw for Congress and Paul Kilgore, in his official capacity as treasurer (the Committee)
SUBJECT: In the normal course of exercising its supervisory responsibilities, the Commission initiated proceedings to determine whether there was reason to believe the Committee knowingly accepted $223,460.26 in apparent excessive and prohibited contributions for the 2020 primary and general elections. Crenshaw was a 2020 candidate for Texas’s 2nd Congressional District.
DISPOSITION: The Commission entered into a conciliation agreement providing for the Committee to pay a civil penalty of $42,000.

MUR 8031

COMPLAINANT: FEC-Initiated
RESPONDENT: Hawaii Republican Party and Stephen C. Holck, in his official capacity as treasurer (the Committee)
SUBJECT: In the normal course of exercising its supervisory responsibilities, the Commission initiated proceedings to determine whether there was reason to believe the Committee failed to accurately disclose $3,159,637.98 in additional receipts and disbursements on its 2020 30-Day Post-General Report and an aggregate total of $232,980.30 in additional receipts and disbursements on its 2020 Year-End Report.
DISPOSITION: The Commission entered into a conciliation agreement providing for the Committee to pay a civil penalty of $60,000.

Administrative Fines

The Commission made public 16 closed cases this week, as follows. For more information, see the case documents in the Administrative Fine Search System.

AF 4290 Aja Smith for Congress 2022 and Aja Smith, in official capacity as treasurer. The Commission made a final determination and assessed a civil penalty of $748.

AF 4291 Committee to Elect Kyle Sinclair for Congressional District 20 and Robert Castaneda, in official capacity as treasurer. The Commission made a final determination and assessed a civil penalty of $1,346.

AF 4292 Committee to Elect Mauro Garza for US Congress and Iris Elizabeth Castillo, in official capacity as treasurer. The Commission made a final determination and assessed a civil penalty of $33,579.

AF 4293 Create Change Now and Ken Crow, in official capacity as treasurer. The Commission made a final determination and assessed a civil penalty of $748.

AF 4294 Darin Smith for Wyoming and Roxanne Ostlund, in official capacity as treasurer. The Commission made a final determination and assessed a civil penalty of $373.

AF 4295 Educate and Innovate PAC and Stacey Monahan, in official capacity as treasurer. The Commission made a final determination and assessed a civil penalty of $917.

AF 4296 Emily Robinson for Congress and Emily Robinson, in official capacity as treasurer. The Commission made a final determination and assessed a civil penalty of $23,250.

AF 4298 Friends of Jason Mariner and Jason Mariner, in official capacity as treasurer. The Commission made a final determination and assessed a civil penalty of $5,563.

AF 4300 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 $17,885.

AF 4301 Greg Lirette for Congress and Kevin Kitchen, in official capacity as treasurer. The Commission made a final determination and assessed a civil penalty of $12,519.

AF 4303 Jimmy Rodriguez and Jimmy Rodriguez, in official capacity as treasurer. The Commission made a final determination and assessed a civil penalty of $43,716.

AF 4305 Kathleen for Congress and Rebecca Ramirez, in official capacity as treasurer. The Commission made a final determination and assessed a civil penalty of $527.

AF 4307 League of Southeastern Credit Unions Federal PAC and Brad Green, in official capacity as treasurer. The Commission made a final determination and assessed a civil penalty of $1,798.

AF 4308 Louie Gohmert for Congress Committee and James D. Cowart, in official capacity as treasurer. The Commission made a final determination and assessed a civil penalty of $1,346.

AF 4309 Luis B Pozzolo for US Congress and Luis B. Pozzolo, in official capacity as treasurer. The Commission made a final determination and assessed a civil penalty of $3,358.

AF 4310 Markey Victory Fund and Stacey Monahan, in official capacity as treasurer. The Commission made a final determination and assessed a civil penalty of $917.

Regulations and agency procedures

REG 2011-02: Draft Final Rule and Explanation and Justification for Internet Communications Disclaimers On December 1, the Commission approved a Draft Final Rule and Explanation and Justification for Internet Communications Disclaimers to apply the Federal Election Campaign Act’s disclaimer requirements to general public political advertising on the internet. The Commission amended 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 also revises the Commission’s definition of “public communication.” Chairman Allen J. Dickerson and Commissioner James E. “Trey” Trainor, III issued an Interpretive Statement and Commissioner Sean J. Cooksey issued a Concurring Statement.

REG 2013-01: Supplemental Notice of Proposed Rulemaking on Technological Modernization On December 1, the Commission approved a Supplemental Notice of Proposed Rulemaking on Technological Modernization, seeking comments on whether its definition of “public communication” or “internet public communications” should also include internet communications that are “promoted for a fee” on another person’s website, digital device, application, or advertising platform. The Supplemental Notice will be published in the Federal Register at a future date.

REG 2021-01: Draft Notice of Proposed Rulemaking for Candidate Salaries On December 1, the Commission approved a Draft Notice of Proposed Rulemaking on Candidate Salaries, which seeks public comment on proposed changes to the Commission’s regulations regarding the use of campaign funds by a candidate’s principal campaign committee to pay compensation to the candidate. The NPRM will be published in the Federal Register at a future date.

Litigation

Campaign Legal Center v. FEC (Case Nos. 22-5140, 22-5167) On November 30, Plaintiff-Appellee Campaign Legal Center filed a Brief in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.

Outreach

From November 29 to December 1, Commissioner Shana M. Broussard participated in the XV Inter-American Meeting of Electoral Management Bodies (UNIORE) in Quito, Ecuador. The event was sponsored by the National Electoral Council, the Electoral Dispute Tribunal of Ecuador, and the Department of Electoral Cooperation and Observation (DECO) of the Secretariat for Strengthening Democracy (SST) of the Organization of American States (OAS).

On November 30, the Commission hosted a webinar on Winding Down the Campaign and Post-General Reporting.

On December 2, Commissioner Ellen L. Weintraub was the keynote speaker at Princeton University’s Symposium on Bringing Transparency to Digital Political Campaigns.

Public Disclosure

On November 30, the Office of the Inspector General released its Semiannual Report to Congress April 1, 2022-September 30, 2022.

Press releases

FEC approves Final Rule on Internet communication disclaimers, two Notices of Proposed Rulemaking, and advisory opinion (issued December 1)

Upcoming Commission meetings

December 13, 2022: The Commission is scheduled to meet in executive session.

December 15, 2022: 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

December 8: 30-Day Post-General Reports are due. For more information, see the Pre- and Post-General 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.

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.