Week of September 18 – September 22, 2017

Commission meetings and hearings

• On September 19 and 20, the Commission held an executive session.
• On September 20, the Commission held an open meeting.

Advisory opinions

Advisory opinions issued

Advisory Opinion 2017-05 (Great America PAC and The Committee to Defend the President). 

Prior to the open meeting on September 20, the Commission approved an advisory opinion in response to a request from two non-connected political committees. The Commission concluded that Great America PAC may use its Twitter handle in lieu of its full name in disclaimers, and that The Committee to Defend the President may include its Twitter handle along with its full name as long as the disclaimer’s language makes clear that the committee is paying for the communication, but that neither committee may use Twitter handles as an alternative to their permanent street address, telephone number, or World Wide Web address. The Commission could not approve a response by the required four affirmative votes regarding whether the committees’ Twitter profile pages must include disclaimers.

Advisory Opinion 2017-10 (Citizens Against Plutocracy).

On September 20, the Commission approved an advisory opinion as modified at the table, concluding that the independent expenditure-only committee’s proposal to ask candidates to sign a “Contract for American Renewal” and to use the signed Contracts in emails from the requestor to supporters or to place them on the requestor’s website would not constitute a coordinated communication with candidates under Commission regulations. During the discussion, the Commission heard from the requestor.

Request received

Advisory Opinion Request 2017-11 (Gallegly for Congress)

On September 20, the Commission made public Advisory Opinion Request 2017-11 (Gallegly for Congress). The requestor, a former Member of Congress, asks whether he may use campaign funds to repair a home security system. The Commission will accept written comments on the request during the 10-day period following publication of the request (no later than October 2) and must issue a response no later than 60 days after receipt of the complete request, that is, by November 20.

Alternative dispute resolution

The Commission made public one campaign finance enforcement matter that was resolved through its Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) program, as follows. For more information, see the case documents in the Enforcement Query System.

ADR 824

• COMPLAINANT: FEC-Initiated
  
• RESPONDENTS: Int’l Union of Bricklayers and Allied Craftworkers PAC and Timothy J. Driscoll, in his official capacity as treasurer (the Committee)
  
• SUBJECT: The Committee failed to file two 48-hour reports totaling $30,140.42 to support twelve (12) independent expenditures.
  
• DISPOSITION: The respondent agreed to (1) certify that a representative of the Committee participated in an FEC conference, webinar, or other program developed in consultation with the FEC’s Information Division, and (2) pay a civil penalty of $1,500.
  

Litigation

• Level the Playing Field, et al. v. FEC (Case 1:15-cv-01397-TSC). On September 15, the Plaintiffs filed a Motion for Summary Judgment and Memorandum of Points and Authorities in Support of their Motion for Summary Judgment in the District Court for the District of Columbia.
  

Reports Analysis

Reports Analysis Division Web Portal. This week, the Commission launched a web portal that offers political committees a new way to contact their assigned Campaign Finance Analyst in the FEC’s Reports Analysis Division (RAD) for answers to reporting and filing questions. Using the new portal, committee representatives can look up their analyst’s contact information or electronically send questions about filing campaign finance reports. The analyst will email a response, usually within one to three business days.

Press releases

FEC Issues Two Advisory Opinions (issued September 20)

Upcoming Commission meetings and hearings

• October 11: The Commission is scheduled to hold an executive session.
• October 12: The Commission is scheduled to hold an open meeting and executive session.
• Meeting dates are subject to change. Please contact the Press Office the week of the scheduled meeting for confirmation.

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 at this time. The use of the agency’s logo, name, and likeness on other mediums has not been authorized by the FEC.

Upcoming educational programs

• October 4: October Quarterly Webinar for Candidates and their Committees. Additional information is available on the Educational Outreach page of the Commission website.
• October 4: FECFile Webinar for Candidates and their Committees. Additional information is available on the Educational Outreach page of the Commission website.
• November 14-15: Washington, DC Regional Conference for candidates, parties and separate segregated funds. Additional information is available on the Educational Outreach page of the Commission website.

Upcoming reporting due dates

• October 15: October Quarterly Reports are due. For information on quarterly reporting dates, refer to the 2017 Quarterly Reporting page of the Commission website.
  
• October 20: October Monthly Reports are due. For more information on monthly reporting dates, refer to the 2017 Monthly Reporting page of the Commission website.
  

Additional research materials

The Official 2016 Presidential General Election Results are available in the Library section of the website. This listing was compiled from the official vote totals published by state election offices.

Additional research materials about the agency, campaign finance information, and election results are available through the Library section of the Commission website.

The 2017 edition of the Combined Federal State Disclosure and Election Directory is available on the new Commission website. 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 FEC Record is available as a continuously-updated online news source.

The 2017 edition of Title 11 of the Code of Federal Regulations can be downloaded from the website. To order printed copies, call (800) 424-9530 (press 6) or send an email to info@fec.gov.