[Federal Register Volume 84, Number 167 (Wednesday, August 28, 2019)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 45117-45118]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2019-18505]


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FEDERAL ELECTION COMMISSION

11 CFR Part 104

[Notice 2019-14]


Rulemaking Petition: Requiring Reporting of Segregated Party 
Accounts

AGENCY: Federal Election Commission.

ACTION: Rulemaking Petition: Notification of Availability.

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SUMMARY: On August 5, 2019, the Federal Election Commission received a 
Petition for Rulemaking asking the Commission to promulgate rules to 
specifically require reporting of receipts and disbursements of the 
accounts created by the Consolidated and Further Continuing 
Appropriations Act of 2015. The Commission seeks comments on the 
petition.

DATES: Comments must be submitted on or before October 28, 2019.

ADDRESSES: All comments must be in writing. Commenters are encouraged 
to submit comments electronically via the Commission's website at 
http://sers.fec.gov/fosers/, reference REG 2019-04. Alternatively, 
commenters may submit comments in paper form, addressed to the Federal 
Election Commission, Attn.: Esther Gyory, Acting Assistant General 
Counsel, 1050 First Street NE, Washington, DC 20463.
    Each commenter must provide, at a minimum, his or her first name, 
last name, city, and state. All properly submitted comments, including 
attachments, will become part of the public record, and the Commission 
will

[[Page 45118]]

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: Ms. Esther Gyory, Acting Assistant 
General Counsel, or Mr. Tony Buckley, Attorney, Office of the General 
Counsel, 1050 First Street NE, Washington, DC 20463, (202) 694-1650 or 
(800) 424-9530.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: On August 5, 2019, the Commission received a 
Petition for Rulemaking from the Campaign Legal Center and the Center 
for Responsive Politics (``Petition''). The Petition asks 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 
Consolidated and Further Continuing Appropriations Act, 2015, Public 
Law 113-235, 128 Stat. 2130, 2772 (2014) (``Appropriations Act''). 
Petition at 6.
    The Appropriations Act amended the Federal Election Campaign Act, 
52 U.S.C. 30101-45 (``FECA''), by establishing separate limits on 
contributions to three types of segregated accounts of national party 
committees (collectively ``segregated party accounts''). The segregated 
party accounts are for expenses incurred with respect to (1) 
presidential nominating conventions; (2) party headquarters buildings; 
and (3) election recounts or contests and other legal proceedings. 52 
U.S.C. 30116(a)(9). The segregated party accounts are in addition to 
any other federal accounts that the committee may lawfully maintain.
    FECA and Commission regulations require a political committee to 
report its receipts and disbursements. 52 U.S.C. 30104(a); 11 CFR 
104.3(a) (reporting of receipts), (b) (reporting of disbursements). On 
February 13, 2015, the Commission issued interim guidance regarding the 
reporting of the activities of the segregated party accounts. See 
https://www.fec.gov/updates/fec-issues-interim-reporting-guidance-for-national-party-committee-accounts/.
    In that guidance 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 guidance instructed committees to report 
contributions to the three accounts on Line 17 of Form 3X titled 
``Other Federal Receipts.'' When itemizing contributions of $200 or 
more on Schedule A, the committees were instructed to enter 
``Convention Account'' ``Headquarters Account,'' or ``Recount 
Account,'' as appropriate, in the description field. The guidance 
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.\1\
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    \1\ Examples provided by the Commission included: ``Convention 
Account--Bookkeeping and Compliance,'' ``Headquarters Account--
Carpeting,'' and ``Recount Account--Legal Services.''
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    The Petition asserts that ``each national party committee reports 
its receipts to and disbursements from the [segregated party] accounts 
in inconsistent and insufficient ways. As a result, it is effectively 
impossible for the public to track the large quantities of funds 
flowing into and out of the accounts.'' Petition at 2. Further, 
``[e]very political committee is required to file periodic reports that 
include the committee's total receipts, total disbursements, and cash-
on-hand for the reporting period and election cycle to-date. The 
national party committees, however, report none of these figures for 
their [segregated party] accounts.'' Id. The Petition also asserts that 
``there is no consistent location or terminology that committees use to 
denote transactions involving the'' segregated party accounts. Id. at 
2-3. As a result, the Petition claims, ``there is no simple way for any 
member of the public--even the most sophisticated users of FEC data--to 
determine the amounts of money being received into and disbursed from 
the [segregated party] accounts.'' Petition at 5. The Petition requests 
that the Commission ``promulgate rules and forms requiring national 
party committees to delineate within their reports the individual and 
aggregate transactions involving their [segregated party] accounts.'' 
Petition at 6.
    The Commission seeks comments on the Petition. The public may 
inspect the Petition on the Commission's website at http://sers.fec.gov/fosers/, or in the Commission's Public Records Office, 
1050 First Street NE, 12th Floor, Washington, DC 20463, Monday through 
Friday, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
    The Commission will not consider the Petition's merits until after 
the comment period closes. If the Commission decides that the Petition 
has merit, it may begin a rulemaking proceeding. The Commission will 
announce any action that it takes in the Federal Register.

    Dated: August 22, 2019.

    On behalf of the Commission.
Ellen L. Weintraub,
Chair, Federal Election Commission.
[FR Doc. 2019-18505 Filed 8-27-19; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6515-01-P