Proposed Rule2024-03045
Party Segregated Accounts
Primary source
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Published
February 14, 2024
Issuing agencies
Federal Election Commission
Abstract
The Commission is considering whether to initiate a rulemaking in response to two petitions that asked the Commission to issue new rules and to revise its existing rules regarding the segregated accounts of national party committees. To assist in its consideration, the Commission invites comments on the issues raised in the petitions and this document. The Commission particularly requests comments from national party committees with experience administering party segregated accounts. The Commission has made no final decisions regarding the issues discussed in this document and may ultimately decide not to initiate a rulemaking in response to either petition. Further information is provided in the SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION that follows.
Full Text
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<title>Federal Register, Volume 89 Issue 31 (Wednesday, February 14, 2024)</title>
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[Federal Register Volume 89, Number 31 (Wednesday, February 14, 2024)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 11227-11228]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[FR Doc No: 2024-03045]
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Proposed Rules
Federal Register
________________________________________________________________________
This section of the FEDERAL REGISTER contains notices to the public of
the proposed issuance of rules and regulations. The purpose of these
notices is to give interested persons an opportunity to participate in
the rule making prior to the adoption of the final rules.
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Federal Register / Vol. 89, No. 31 / Wednesday, February 14, 2024 /
Proposed Rules
[[Page 11227]]
FEDERAL ELECTION COMMISSION
11 CFR Parts 102, 104, 106, 109, 110, 9008, and 9012
[NOTICE 2024-05]
Party Segregated Accounts
AGENCY: Federal Election Commission.
ACTION: Inquiry notification.
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SUMMARY: The Commission is considering whether to initiate a rulemaking
in response to two petitions that asked the Commission to issue new
rules and to revise its existing rules regarding the segregated
accounts of national party committees. To assist in its consideration,
the Commission invites comments on the issues raised in the petitions
and this document. The Commission particularly requests comments from
national party committees with experience administering party
segregated accounts. The Commission has made no final decisions
regarding the issues discussed in this document and may ultimately
decide not to initiate a rulemaking in response to either petition.
Further information is provided in the SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION that
follows.
DATES: Comments must be submitted on or before March 15, 2024.
ADDRESSES: All comments should be addressed to Ms. Amy L. Rothstein,
Assistant General Counsel, and must be submitted in either written or
electronic form. Commenters are encouraged to submit comments
electronically via the Commission's website at <a href="http://sers.fec.gov/fosers">http://sers.fec.gov/fosers</a>, reference REG 2014-10 and REG 2019-04. Alternatively, comments
may be submitted in paper form addressed to the Federal Election
Commission, Attn.: Ms. Amy L. Rothstein, Assistant General Counsel,
1050 First Street NE, Washington, DC.
Each commenter must provide, at a minimum, the commenter's first
name, last name, city, and state. All properly submitted comments,
including attachments, will become part of the public record, and the
Commission will make comments available for public viewing on the
Commission's website and in the Commission's Public Records Office.
Accordingly, commenters should not provide in their comments any
information that they do not wish to make public, such as a home street
address, personal email address, date of birth, phone number, social
security number, or driver's license number, or any information that is
restricted from disclosure, such as trade secrets or commercial or
financial information that is privileged or confidential.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Amy L. Rothstein, Assistant General
Counsel; Tony Buckley, Attorney; or Scarlett Rufener, Attorney; 1050
First Street NE, Washington, DC, (202) 694-1650 or (800) 424-9530.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The Consolidated and Further Continuing
Appropriations Act of 2015 (the ``Appropriations Act'') \1\ amended the
Federal Election Campaign Act, 52 U.S.C. 30101-45 (``FECA''), by
authorizing separate limits on contributions to three types of
segregated accounts established by national party committees
(collectively, ``party segregated accounts''). Under the Appropriations
Act, national party committees may receive up to three times the usual
amount of contributions into segregated accounts to defray expenses
incurred with respect to (1) presidential nominating conventions; \2\
(2) party headquarters buildings; \3\ and (3) election recounts or
contests and other legal proceedings.\4\ These party segregated
accounts are in addition to any other Federal accounts that the
committees may lawfully maintain.\5\
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\1\ 2015, Public Law 113-235, 128 Stat. 2130, 2772 (2014).
\2\ Under the Appropriations Act, a national party committee may
use its presidential nominating convention account ``solely to
defray expenses incurred with respect to a presidential nominating
convention (including the payment of deposits) or to repay loans the
proceeds of which were used to defray such expenses, except that the
aggregate amount of expenditures the national committee of a
political party may make from such account may not exceed
$20,000,000 with respect to any single convention.'' 52 U.S.C.
30116(a)(9)(A).
\3\ A national party committee may use its party headquarters
building account ``solely to defray expenses incurred with respect
to the construction, purchase, renovation, operation, and furnishing
of one or more headquarters buildings of the party or to repay loans
the proceeds of which were used to defray such expenses, or
otherwise to restore funds used to defray such expenses.'' Id.
30116(a)(9)(B).
\4\ A national party committee may use its election recounts or
contests and other legal proceedings account to ``defray expenses
incurred with respect to the preparation for and the conduct of
election recounts and contests and other legal proceedings.'' Id.
30116(a)(9)(C).
\5\ Id. 30116(a)(9).
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REG 2014-10 (Party Contribution Limits)
On January 8, 2016, the Commission received a Petition for
Rulemaking from the Perkins Coie LLP Political Law Group (``Perkins
Coie Petition'').\6\ The Perkins Coie Petition asked the Commission to
adopt new regulations and to revise its existing regulations to
implement the Appropriations Act's amendments to FECA. The Perkins Coie
Petition asked the Commission to adopt a ``new regulatory framework''
for each type of party segregated account and to amend current
regulations or adopt new regulations for all such accounts.
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\6\ See Petition for Rulemaking (Nov. 8, 2016) (``Perkins Coie
Petition''), REG 2014-10 (Party Contribution Limits).
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The Perkins Coie Petition also addressed convention committees. In
2014, Congress had passed legislation to terminate the public funding
of presidential nominating conventions.\7\ Previously, national party
committees could receive public funds to defray the costs of their
presidential nominating conventions,\8\ and Commission regulations had
established convention committees ``as a necessary requirement in order
to enable the Commission to know who has initial responsibility for
handling public funds and incurring expenditures.'' \9\ The Perkins
Coie Petition asked the Commission, in part, to remove regulations that
had been rendered obsolete by the termination of public funds.
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\7\ See Gabriella Miller Kids First Research Act, Public Law
113-94, 128 Stat. 1085 (2014).
\8\ See 26 U.S.C. 9001-9013 (2012); 11 CFR part 9008.
\9\ Presidential Election Campaign Fund and Federal Financing of
Presidential Nominating Conventions, 44 FR 63036, 63038 (Nov. 1,
1979).
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The Commission published a Notice of Availability for the Perkins
Coie Petition on October 27, 2016.\10\ The Commission received four
timely, substantive comments in response: two comments from national
party committees opposed initiating a rulemaking with respect to party
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segregated accounts, while supporting the removal of regulations
rendered obsolete by Congress's termination of public funding for
national party committees' presidential nominating conventions; \11\
and two comments from advocacy organizations supported initiating a
rulemaking on party segregated accounts, without separately addressing
the termination of public funds for presidential nominating
conventions.\12\
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\10\ Implementing the Consolidated and Further Continuing
Appropriations Act, 2015, 81 FR 69722 (Oct. 7, 2016).
\11\ Comment by Republican National Committee; Comment by NRSC
and NRCC.
\12\ Comment by Center for Competitive Politics; Comment by
Campaign Legal Center and Democracy 21.
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REG 2019-04 (Reporting Party Segregated Accounts)
On August 5, 2019, the Commission received a Petition for
Rulemaking from Campaign Legal Center and Center for Responsive
Politics (``CLC/CRP Petition'').\13\ The CLC/CRP Petition asked the
Commission to ``promulgate rules and forms requiring national party
committees to delineate within their reports the individual and
aggregate transactions involving'' the accounts created by the
Appropriations Act.\14\
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\13\ See Petition to Promulgate Rules on Reporting of
``Cromnibus'' Accounts (Aug. 5, 2019), (``CLC/CRP Petition''), REG
2019-04 (Reporting Party Segregated Accounts), <a href="https://sers.fec.gov/fosers/showpdf.htm?docid=408347">https://sers.fec.gov/fosers/showpdf.htm?docid=408347</a>.
\14\ Id. at 6.
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FECA and Commission regulations require a political committee to
report its receipts and disbursements.\15\ On February 13, 2015, the
Commission issued interim guidance on how national party committees
should report the activities of their party segregated accounts.\16\
The Commission noted that ``[a]lthough party committees normally
disclose their contributions on Form 3X, Line 11(a), the Commission['s]
forms currently do not provide a clear way to distinguish between
contributions deposited into the committees' separate accounts.'' The
Commission instructed committees to report contributions to their party
segregated accounts on Line 17 of Form 3X titled ``Other Federal
Receipts.'' When itemizing contributions in excess of $200 on Schedule
A, the committees were instructed to enter ``Convention Account,''
``Headquarters Account,'' or ``Recount Account,'' as appropriate, in
the description field. The Commission instructed committees to report
administrative or operating expenses paid from the accounts on Line
21(b) of Form 3X titled ``Other Federal Operating Expenditures'' (for
expenses paid from a convention or headquarters account) and Line 29 of
Form 3X titled ``Other Disbursements'' (for expenses paid from a
recount account). When itemizing disbursements on Schedule B, the
committees were instructed to enter ``Convention Account,''
``Headquarters Account,'' or ``Recount Account,'' as appropriate, in
the Purpose of Disbursement field along with the required purpose of
the disbursement.
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\15\ 52 U.S.C. 30104(a); 11 CFR 104.3(a) (reporting of
receipts), (b) (reporting of disbursements).
\16\ See <a href="https://www.fec.gov/updates/fec-issues-interim-reporting-guidance-for-national-party-committee-accounts/">https://www.fec.gov/updates/fec-issues-interim-reporting-guidance-for-national-party-committee-accounts/</a>.
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Notwithstanding this guidance, the CLC/CRP Petition asserted that
``there is no consistent location or terminology that committees use to
denote transactions involving'' party segregated accounts.\17\ The CLC/
CRP Petition claimed that ``it is effectively impossible for the public
to track the large quantities of funds flowing into and out of the
[party segregated] accounts'' under current Commission regulations.\18\
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\17\ CLC/CRP Petition at 2-3.
\18\ Id. at 2.
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On August 28, 2019, the Commission published a Notice of
Availability for the CLC/CRP Petition.\19\ The Commission received six
timely, substantive comments in response. One comment opposed the
petition; \20\ three comments, including one from the petitioners,
supported the petition; \21\ and one comment, from the petitioner in
REG 2014-10 (Party Contribution Limits), urged the Commission to engage
in a comprehensive rulemaking and not to address the CLC/CRP Petition
before acting on the Perkins Coie Petition.\22\ No national party
committees commented on the CLC/CRP Petition.
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\19\ Requiring Reporting of Party Segregated Accounts, 84 FR
45117 (Aug. 28, 2019).
\20\ Comment from David Himes.
\21\ Comment from Campaign Legal Center and Center for
Responsive Politics; Comment from Democracy 21; Comment from Public
Citizen.
\22\ Comment from Perkins Coie LLP Political Law Group.
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Request for Comments
The Commission is continuing to consider whether to initiate a
rulemaking on the issues raised in the Perkins Coie Petition and the
CLC/CRP Petition (collectively, the ``Petitions''). Given the
relatively small number of comments received and the party committees'
and the public's additional experience in administering and
interpreting the information about party segregated accounts, the
Commission invites comments on the Petitions and any other issues
pertaining to party segregated accounts. Have commenters' or
petitioners' additional experiences with party segregated accounts
resulted in further development of their positions? Have the national
party committees or the public encountered any further challenges
during election cycles that a rulemaking on party segregated accounts
could help to resolve?
If the Commission decides to initiate a rulemaking, are there any
issues not reflected in the Petitions that the Commission should
nonetheless address? Should the Commission consider prioritizing
certain issues over others and, if so, which ones? The Commission
welcomes comments on any other matter that could affect its
consideration of whether to engage in a rulemaking.
Dated: February 8, 2024.
On behalf of the Commission,
Sean J. Cooksey,
Chairman, Federal Election Commission.
[FR Doc. 2024-03045 Filed 2-13-24; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6715-01-P
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</html>Indexed from Federal Register on February 14, 2024.
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