Rule2024-27395
Requirement To File FEC Form 3-Z
Primary source
Metadata and text below are from the Federal Register, a public-domain U.S. government work. Always verify the official published version before relying on it for any legal matter.
Published
November 26, 2024
Effective
February 1, 2025
Issuing agencies
Federal Election Commission
Abstract
This final rule amends Federal Election Commission regulations by removing the requirement that the principal campaign committee of a candidate with multiple authorized committees must report information on FEC Form 3-Z.
Full Text
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<title>Federal Register, Volume 89 Issue 228 (Tuesday, November 26, 2024)</title>
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[Federal Register Volume 89, Number 228 (Tuesday, November 26, 2024)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Pages 93151-93152]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[FR Doc No: 2024-27395]
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FEDERAL ELECTION COMMISSION
11 CFR Part 104
[Notice 2024-26]
Requirement To File FEC Form 3-Z
AGENCY: Federal Election Commission.
ACTION: Final rule.
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SUMMARY: This final rule amends Federal Election Commission regulations
by removing the requirement that the principal campaign committee of a
candidate with multiple authorized committees must report information
on FEC Form 3-Z.
DATES: The effective date is February 1, 2025.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Amy Rothstein, Assistant General
Counsel for Policy, or Jennifer Waldman, Attorney, 1050 First Street
NE, Washington, DC, (202) 694-1650 or (800) 424-9530.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The Commission is amending its regulations
to remove the requirement that the principal campaign committee of a
candidate with multiple authorized committees must report information
on FEC Form 3-Z.
Transmitting Final Rules to Congress
Before promulgating rules or regulations to carry out the
provisions of the Federal Election Campaign Act, the Commission
transmits the rules or regulations to the Speaker of the House of
Representatives and the President of the Senate for a thirty-
legislative-day review period. 52 U.S.C. 30111(d). These final rules
were transmitted to Congress on November 19, 2024.
Explanation and Justification
I. Background
A. Act and Commission Regulations
The Federal Election Campaign Act (the ``Act'') \1\ and Commission
regulations require each candidate to register a principal campaign
committee within 15 days of becoming a candidate.\2\ A candidate may
also authorize other political committees to receive contributions or
make expenditures on the candidate's behalf by designating the
committees in writing and filing the designations with the candidate's
principal campaign committee.\3\
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\1\ 52 U.S.C. 30101-45.
\2\ Id. 30102(e)(1); 11 CFR 101.1(a); see also 52 U.S.C.
30101(5) (``The term `principal campaign committee' means a
political committee designated and authorized by a candidate under
section 30102(e)(1) of this title.''); 11 CFR 100.5(e)(1).
\3\ 52 U.S.C. 30102(e)(1); 11 CFR 101.1(b); see also 52 U.S.C.
30101(6) (``The term `authorized committee' means the principal
campaign committee or any other political committee authorized by a
candidate under section 30102(e)(1) of this title to receive
contributions or make expenditures on behalf of such candidate.'');
11 CFR 100.5(f)(1).
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The Act requires ``each designation, statement or report of
receipts or disbursements made by an authorized committee'' to be filed
with the candidate's principal campaign committee.\4\ The Act further
requires each principal campaign committee, in turn, to ``receive''
these designations, statements and reports and to ``compile and file''
them pursuant to the Act.\5\
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\4\ 52 U.S.C. 30102(f)(1).
\5\ Id. 30102(f)(2).
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In 1980, the Commission promulgated a regulation (11 CFR 104.3(f))
to implement these requirements: Section 104.3(f) requires each
candidate's principal campaign committee to file reports submitted to
it by the candidate's other authorized committees, along with its own
report.\6\ In addition, Sec. 104.3(f) requires the principal campaign
committee to file FEC Form 3-Z to report specific consolidated
information gleaned from the authorized committees' reports when it
submits those reports to the Commission.\7\ It is this FEC Form 3-Z
that the Commission is now removing.
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\6\ 11 CFR 104.3(f).
\7\ Id.
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When the Commission first started requiring FEC Form 3-Z, political
committees filed their reports only in paper form and the Commission
made the reports publicly available on paper and microfiche in the
Commission's Public Records room. By requiring a candidate's principal
campaign committee to consolidate information about the financial
activity of all of the candidate's authorized committees on FEC Form 3-
Z, the Commission made it easier for the public to obtain a
comprehensive picture of the candidate's receipts and disbursements
during the reporting period.
B. Electronic Filing
Public access to political committees' reports has expanded
dramatically since 1980, however, due in large part to statutory
revisions and technological developments. In 1999, Congress amended the
Act to provide for electronic filing; \8\ as a result, all political
committees that have or reasonably expect to have contributions or
expenditures exceeding $50,000 in a calendar year must electronically
file their reports directly with the Commission, and other persons may
do so if they choose.\9\ Further, Congress amended the Act to require
the Commission to make all reports filed electronically with the
Commission publicly available on the internet within 24 hours of
receipt and within 48 hours of receipt for reports not filed
electronically.\10\
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\8\ Appropriations, 2000, Public Law 106-58, sec. 639(a), 113
Stat. 430, 476 (1999); 52 U.S.C. 30104(a)(11)(A).
\9\ 11 CFR. 104.18(a) (requiring electronic filing for certain
political committee); id. Sec. 104.18(b) (authorizing other
committees to file electronically if they choose to do so);
Electronic Filing of Reports by Political Committees, 65 FR 38415
(June 21, 2000), <a href="https://sers.fec.gov/fosers/showpdf.htm?docid=382">https://sers.fec.gov/fosers/showpdf.htm?docid=382</a>.
\10\ 52 U.S.C. 30104(a)(11)(B), (d)(2).
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More recently, Congress amended the Act to require the Commission
to maintain a central website ``to make accessible to the public all
publicly available election-related reports and information'' required
to be filed under
[[Page 93152]]
the Act.\11\ The posted reports and related information can be
searched, sorted, and downloaded.\12\
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\11\ Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002, Public Law 107-155,
sec. 502, 116 Stat. 115 (2002); 52 U.S.C. 30112(a).
\12\ See, e.g., 52 U.S.C. 30104(i)(4) (requiring Commission to
ensure, ``to the greatest extent practicable,'' that certain
information is publicly available on its website ``in a manner that
is searchable, sortable, and downloadable'').
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C. Notice of Proposed Rulemaking
On August 1, 2024, the Commission published in the Federal Register
a notice of proposed rulemaking (``NPRM'') soliciting comments on
whether it should remove the requirement that principal campaign
committees file Form 3-Z in light of statutory changes and
technological advances.\13\ The NPRM comment period ended on September
3, 2024. The Commission received two substantive comments in response
to the NPRM, both in favor of the Commission's proposal.
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\13\ Requirement to File FEC Form 3-Z, 89 FR 62672 (Aug. 1,
2024), <a href="https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/FR-2024-08-01/pdf/2024-16843.pdf">https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/FR-2024-08-01/pdf/2024-16843.pdf</a>.
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II. Revised Changes to 11 CFR 104.3
After reviewing the public comments received in response to the
NPRM, the Commission is amending Sec. 104.3(f) by eliminating the
requirement that principal campaign committees file FEC Form 3-Z.
Although FEC Form 3-Z served a useful purpose when it was introduced
more than 40 years ago, the information that it provides essentially
duplicates information that is now filed directly with the Commission
and readily available to the public in a searchable, sortable, and
downloadable format. Accordingly, FEC Form 3-Z has been rendered
obsolete.
Certification of No Effect Pursuant to 5 U.S.C. 605(b) (Regulatory
Flexibility Act)
The Commission certifies that the amendment will not have a
significant economic impact on a substantial number of small entities.
The amendment will simplify the reporting requirements for a principal
campaign committee of a candidate with multiple authorized committees.
The change will not impose new recordkeeping, reporting, or financial
obligations on any political committees. The Commission therefore
certifies that the amendment will not have a significant economic
impact on a substantial number of small entities.
List of Subjects in 11 CFR Part 104
Campaign funds, Political committees and parties, Reporting and
recordkeeping requirements.
For the reasons set out in the preamble, the Federal Election
Commission amends 11 CFR part 104 as follows:
PART 104--REPORTS BY POLITICAL COMMITTEES AND OTHER PERSONS (52
U.S.C. 30104)
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1. The authority citation for part 104 is revised to read as follows:
Authority: 52 U.S.C. 30101(1), 30101(8), 30101(9), 30102(f),
(g), and (i), 30104, 30111(a)(8) and (b), 30114, and 30116 and 36
U.S.C. 510.
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2. Amend Sec. 104.3 by revising paragraph (f) to read as follows:
Sec. 104.3 Contents of reports (52 U.S.C. 30104(b), 30114).
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(f) Consolidated reports. Each principal campaign committee shall
consolidate in each report those reports required to be filed with it.
Such consolidated reports shall include:
(1) Reports submitted to it by any authorized committees; and
(2) The principal campaign committee's own reports.
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Dated: November 19, 2024.
On behalf of the Commission.
Sean J. Cooksey,
Chairman, Federal Election Commission.
[FR Doc. 2024-27395 Filed 11-25-24; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6715-01-P
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</html>Indexed from Federal Register on November 26, 2024.
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