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increaseLast week the Federal Election Commission increased the reporting threshold for contributions bundled by lobbyists to $17,300 (up from $17,100). Candidates, leadership PACs, and federal party committee must file lobbyist bundling reports if during a six-month reporting period they receive two or more bundled contributions exceeding the $17,300 threshold. We have written here about the…

A final ruling on the constitutionality of the long-standing ban on contributions by federal government contractors met a significant setback last week when the D.C. Circuit remanded the case to the trial court. In an opinion issued on May 31, 2013, about two weeks after oral arguments, a three judge panel of the D.C. Circuit …

What happens when a donor sets up a corporation and uses it to contribute to a Super PAC, intending to hide his or her identity by having the corporation make the contribution? What about when a nonprofit social welfare organization, commonly called a 501(c)(4) organization, appears to spend millions on political ads but then reports …

A federal court last week ruled that a small nonprofit, formed under Wyoming law to advocate positions on various political issues, may have to include certain federally-mandated disclosures on its ads and fundraising appeals, and may even have to register and report as a federal political committee.

The ruling is an important reminder that advocacy…

While the landmark Citizens United case concerned only the federal ban on the financing of election ads by corporations, the Supreme Court’s ruling implicitly struck down a host of similar state laws. That’s because the Court decided that a ban on political expenditures that are not coordinated with candidates or parties violates the U.S. Constitution.…

The Federal Election Commission not only limits how much an individual can give to a particular candidate, PAC, or party committee, it also limits the aggregate amount an individual can give to all federal political committees during a two-year period (the aggregate biennial limit).

Earlier this week, the Supreme Court accepted a case challenging…

In the wake of the 2012 elections, questions linger about what kinds of relationships are permissible between a candidate and an independent-expenditure only group (i.e., a Super PAC). In planning their activities, Super PACs may consider using a photo of the candidate from a campaign ad or website, or even approaching candidates and…

Last week the FEC increased the reporting threshold for contributions bundled by lobbyists to $17,100 (up from $16,700).

These bundling reports are required of authorized federal candidate committees, leadership PACs, and political party committees if the “reporting committee” receives two or more bundled contributions that exceed the $17,100 threshold.

A bundled contribution is any contribution…

This week the Federal Election Commission (FEC) announced long-awaited increases to some individual contribution limits for 2013-14. Here’s what has changed—an individual may now give $2,600 per election (up from $2,500) to a candidate for federal office and $32,400 (up from $30,800) per year to a national party committee. Contribution limits to Federal PACs (including…

Outside groups have become a potent political force in the 2012 election campaign. Unleashed by the Supreme Court ruling in the Citizens United case and subsequent lower court rulings, such groups can raise unlimited sums from individuals and corporations for ads and other spending that is not “coordinated” with a candidate. The most dramatic example:…