FEC

A New Orleans magician recently made headlines for using artificial intelligence (AI) to emulate President Biden’s voice without his consent in a misleading robocall to New Hampshire voters. This was not a magic trick, but rather a demonstration of the risks AI-generated “deepfakes” pose to election integrity.  As rapidly evolving AI capabilities collide with the…

The Federal Election Commission (FEC) officially dipped its toes into the ongoing national debate around artificial intelligence (AI) regulation, publishing a Federal Register notice seeking comment on a petition submitted by Public Citizen to initiate a rulemaking to clarify that the Federal Election Campaign Act (FECA) prohibits deceptive AI-generated campaign advertisements.  The Commission unanimously approved…

Political committees, advertisers, and advertising platforms have operated under a cloud of uncertainty regarding which disclaimers, if any, must appear on internet-based advertisements. Existing Federal Election Commission (“FEC”) regulations and guidance left many unanswered questions about the disclaimers required for these increasingly important internet ads. The FEC has finally offered some clarity in this area…

The Federal Election Commission has announced contribution limits for 2023-2024.  The new “per election” limits are effective for the 2023-2024 election cycle (November 9, 2022 – November 5, 2024), and the calendar year limits are effective January 1, 2023. The new limits represent the largest election cycle increase since the limits started being indexed for…

The Federal Election Commission (“FEC”) recently answered a common question for those involved in operating a federal PAC:  When is the treasurer personally liable for violations of the rules on recordkeeping and reporting?  In doing so, the FEC highlighted the importance of external oversight of PAC operations, and the value of periodic audits of the…

Perhaps no citation has been more favored in Federal Election Commission (“FEC”) decisions over the past decade than Heckler v. Chaney, 470 U.S. 821 (1985), a Supreme Court decision that gives an agency broad discretion over which enforcement cases to pursue.  But there is a category of cases where the FEC is not employing…

Trade associations, 501(c)(4) social welfare organizations, other outside groups that pay for political advertisements, and their donors now have more answers to long-running questions regarding when donations to these groups are publicly reportable.  After postponing consideration of the issue during its previous meeting, the Federal Election Commission (“FEC”) approved Wednesday an interim final rule on…

As we previewed in the fall, the Supreme Court today struck down the longstanding statutory prohibition on the use of funds raised after Election Day to repay a candidate loan in Federal Election Commission v. Cruz.  Although the outcome of the case—which was brought by Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) following his re-election in 2018—was…

There are few things as seductive in politics today as good data, and few things as challenging for commercial firms as the statutory bar on the use of FEC data for commercial purposes.  That came to a head yesterday, when the FEC was unable to reach a decision on an advisory opinion request on use of the FEC’s donor data to, among other things, confirm the identity and score potential donors in a client’s existing database.  The case highlights the gap between the regulated community and where a majority of FEC Commissioners may soon take the law.
Continue Reading Use of FEC Data – The Vice Chair Says the FEC Has Taken “A Wrong Turn”

The Federal Election Commission (“FEC”) is offering a 90-minute online training session on Wednesday, April 7th, for campaign committees that use FECFile to file their disclosure reports.  The purpose of this training is to address common filing problems and to provide answers to questions committees may have prior to their quarterly FEC filing.  FEC staff…