LobbyComply Blog

On October 3, Federal Election Commission (FEC) Commissioner James E. “Trey” Trainor III plans to officially resign from his position.

The FEC will then have only two commissioners, Shana M. Broussard and Dara Lindenbaum, both members of the Democratic Party. The FEC requires at least four commissioners to agree on any official action. No more than three commissioners can be from the same party. As it stands, because all decisions must have four commissioners’ vote, no official action can be made by the FEC until the president nominates and the Senate confirms another two commissioners.

According to the Washington Examiner, Trainor is considering a run for the U.S. House of Representatives seat being vacated by Rep. Chip Roy, who has entered the Texas republican party primary to run for attorney general.

While Commissioner Broussard will continue to serve as Chair of the Commission for the remainder of 2025, Trainor’s resignation also means the position as Vice-Chairman will be vacant unless filled by the remaining commissioner, Lindenbaum.

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On September 2, the Federal Election Commission (FEC) will release version 8.5 of its FECFile electronic filing software.

This update applies whether a committee uses FECFile or a third-party commercial product. Both will require an update to the software for filings on or after September 2.

Changes of electronic filing specifications required with the software update include the following: filers will be required to provide the FEC with the committee name, committee identification, and committee type when listing joint fundraising participants on form 1 or form 1-S; when filing a form 99 , committees will be required to categorize their submission; if a committee selects filing frequency change notice or form 3-L filing frequency change notice on a form 99, they will be required to denote whether their new filing frequency is monthly or quarterly; and when filing a loan agreement/loan forgiveness on a form 99, committees will now have the option to attach a pdf file of up to 150 pages.

The Federal Election Commission (FEC) announced a new sample donor response form for contributions made by limited liability companies (LLCs).

Committees are required to report certain attribution information for contributions from LLCs. To assist committees and encourage compliance the FEC adopted the new sample donor response form, which was announced on April 16.

The form will help satisfy a committee requirement to show its “best efforts” to obtain, maintain, and submit information mandated by law. By requesting completion of the sample form by the donor following the receipt of the contribution, a committee is in a stronger position to be in compliance.

Current regulations require LLCs provide accurate and complete attribution information to the recipient committee at the time that a contribution is made. The LLC must also affirm to the recipient committee that the LLC is eligible to make the contribution.

On January 3, 2025, the U.S. Federal Register is scheduled to publish the Federal Election Commission’s announcement of its civil monetary penalty amounts, adjusted for inflation, for 2025.

The potential fines for civil violations of federal campaign finance laws will increase to range from $ 7,445 to $87,056, from the previous range of $ 7,256 to $ 84,852.

The amounts are calculated through a statutory formula applying the most recent “cost-of-living adjustment multiplier,” issued by the Office of Management and Budget, to the current amounts.

The amended civil monetary penalties are expected to take effect as of January 3, 2025, the publication date in the Federal Register.

On December 19, the Federal Election Commission (FEC) published a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking in the Federal Register seeking public comment on proposed regulations giving political contributors more privacy from public scrutiny.

The proposals would establish procedures for contributors or their agents to request the FEC to modify or redact, in whole or in part, certain contributor information from disclosure reports or statements filed with the agency.

Examples of information to be removed include mailing addresses, donors’ occupation and names of employment.

The procedures would apply only in certain limited circumstances when there is a reasonable probability the contributor may face threats, harassment, or reprisal.

Comments must be received on or before February 18, 2025. All comments will be made available to the public. Comments sent using the FEC’s online form or through e-mail will be posted to the FEC’s website. Comments sent via paper will be converted to PDF and then posted on the FEC’s website.

On December 12, the Federal Election Commission (FEC) elected Vice Chair Ellen L. Weintraub as chair for 2025.

Weintraub will replace current Chairman Sean J. Cooksey. The chair is a rotating, one-year position.

Also, Commissioner James E. “Trey” Trainor, III was elected to the position of vice chair.

Vice Chair Weintraub has served on the FEC since 2002.

On November 25, the Federal Election Commission (FEC) Office of the Inspector General (OIG) released its Semiannual Report to Congress.

The report summarizes the activity of the FEC OIG from April 1, 2024, through September 30, 2024.

In the report, the OIG discussed the audit of FEC’s Equal Employment Opportunity & Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility programs; its audit of the FEC’s Security Patches and Vulnerability Management program, and the postponement of an evaluation of the FEC’s Internal Control and Enterprise Risk Management programs.

Additionally, the OIG evaluated the 18 open recommendations stemming from inspections, investigations, special reviews, and previous or other audits.

On September 8,  the Federal Election Commission (FEC) announced it was seeking public input on ways to improve its report filing processes and public website.

The FEC is interested in recommendations and comments regarding potential opportunities for improving the process for filing required disclosure reports and for improving the organization, substance, and how to best provide the public with easily accessible information on its website.

Comments must be in writing and submitted by email to publiccomment2023-14@fec.gov. The comment window will close 60 days after publication of the Notification of Request for Public Comment in the Federal Register.

On May 2, U.S. Rep. Yvette D. Clarke introduced legislation into the U.S. House of Representatives to require disclosure of political campaign content created by artificial intelligence.

House Bill 3044 amends the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 (FECA) to provide transparency and accountability for the use of content generated by artificial intelligence (generative AI) in political advertisements.  It requires such advertisements to include a statement within the contents of the advertisements if generative AI was used to generate any image or video footage in the advertisements. The bill also expands FECA’s definitions of online platform.

If passed, the Federal Election Commission (FEC) would be required to make regulations within 120 days of the day of the enactment of the bill. Additionally, the bill explicitly states the legislation would come into effect on or after January 1, 2024, even if the FEC has not yet promulgated regulations to carry out the new law.

The bill, entitled the Require the Exposure of AI–Led Political Advertisements Act (REAL Political Advertisements Act) has been referred to the House Committee on House Administration.

On March 1, the Federal Election Commission’s (FEC) Final Rule concerning internet communications disclaimers took effect. With it, the definition of public communication was revised in 11 CFR  §110.11 in an attempt to clarify how it applies to general public political advertising over the internet.

The amendments to the rules for internet-specific disclaimer requirements endeavor to be analogous to those for print and broadcast media, while also accounting for the unique characteristics of internet public communications, according to the FEC. The new internet disclaimer provisions do not impose the stand-by-your-ad requirements applicable to radio and television advertisements.

The FEC stated it adopted these updates to the regulatory rules “in light of technological advances since the Commission last revised its rules governing internet disclaimers in 2006, and to address questions from the public about the application of those rules to internet communications,” according to the memorandum submitted earlier with a draft of the rule.

The Federal Election Commission (FEC) published the 2023-2024 election cycle contribution limits, which have been indexed for inflation.

As required by the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002, the FEC must adjust certain contribution limits every two years.

The individual and nonmulticandidate PAC contribution limit to federal candidates has increased from $2,900 to $3,300 for both primary and general elections, allowing for a total of $6,600 for a federal candidate.

The limits on contributions by individuals to national party committees has increased from $36,500 to $41,300 per calendar year.

Individuals may now contribute $123,900 per calendar year to committees of a national political party for presidential nominating conventions, to committees of a national political party for preparation for and the conduct of election recounts and contests and other legal proceedings, and to committees of a national political party for the construction, purchase, renovation, operation, and furnishing of one or more buildings for party headquarters.

The Federal Election Commission (FEC) published its price index adjustments for expenditure limitations and the federal lobbyist bundling disclosure threshold.

The lobbyist bundling disclosure threshold has increased for 2023 from $20,200 to $21,800.

This threshold amount is adjusted annually.

Federal law requires authorized committees of federal candidates, leadership political action committees (PACs), and political party committees to disclose contributions bundled by lobbyists and lobbyists’ PACs.

The Federal Election Commission has announced its civil monetary penalty amounts, adjusted for inflation, for 2023.

The potential fines for civil violations of federal campaign finance laws have increased to range from $7,028 to $82,188, from the previous range of $6,523 to $76,280.

The amounts are calculated through a statutory formula applying the most recent “cost-of-living adjustment multiplier,” issued by the Office of Management and Budget, to the current amounts. The amended civil monetary penalties took effect as of December 29, 2022, the publication date in the Federal Register.

On December 1, the Federal Election Commission (FEC) formally approved a Final Rule and Explanation and Justification revising its disclaimer requirements for certain public communications placed for a fee on the internet. The FEC stated it is adopting these updates to the regulatory rules “in light of technological advances since the Commission last revised its rules governing internet disclaimers in 2006, and to address questions from the public about the application of those rules to internet communications,” according to the memorandum submitted with the approved draft.

By amending 11 CFR  §110.11, the regulations will require that disclaimers appear on certain public communications made over the internet. 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 final rule also revises the definition of “public communication.” The term now includes  “communications placed for a fee on another person’s website, digital device, application, or advertising platform.”

The FEC also approved another measure 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. The goal of these proposals is to apply the Federal Election Campaign Act’s disclaimer requirements to general public political advertising on the internet and to revise the definition of “public communication” to clarify how it applies to such advertising.

The FEC must now transmit the approved regulations to the Speaker of the House of Representatives and the President of the Senate for a thirty-legislative-day review period.