[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