Federal Election Commission Announces New Contribution Limits for 2021-2022 Cycle
Latest from Political Law Briefing
Biden Requires Ethics Pledge from Executive Branch Appointees, While Trump Appointees Are Released from Theirs
The ethics rules that apply to presidential appointees have undergone significant changes this month, with wide-ranging implications for incoming Biden appointees and their former employers, as well as for outgoing Trump officials and their prospective employers.
President Biden issued an executive order just hours after being sworn in as president, requiring certain members of his administration to sign an ethics pledge outlining incoming and outgoing employment, gift, and lobbying restrictions. The pledge requires presidential appointees…
DC Pay-to-Play Law on Pause
In 2018, the District of Columbia Council adopted a “pay-to-play” law banning political contributions from contractors and their senior officers that was scheduled to take effect on November 4, 2020. But like many other things in 2020, the rollout of the law did not go as planned. Because of funding shortfalls, the effective date of the new law has been postponed indefinitely, and contractors and their officers may continue making political contributions to District officials.…
Interacting with the Biden-Harris Transition Team and Inaugural Committee
As states across the country finalize and certify the results of the 2020 general election, President-elect Joseph R. Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala D. Harris have begun preparing to assume control of the executive branch on January 20. The Biden-Harris Transition Team has already assembled and dispatched agency review teams to survey and report on the current organization and priorities of the various executive branch agencies. And while it remains unclear how traditional Inauguration Day…
Political Digital Ads: Disclosure, Free Speech, and Legislation
On September 1, Ron Jacobs participated in a webinar, “Political Digital Ads: Disclosure, Free Speech and Legislation,” hosted by the National Conference of State Legislatures. Along with fellow panelists David Voorman from Americans for Prosperity and Jared de Marinis from the Maryland State Board of Elections, Ron discussed the current state of digital campaign ads, including how online platforms and social media networks are working to find ways to comply with the many different states’…
Foreign Agent Registration Act Advisory Opinion Update
The Foreign Agent Registration Act (FARA) continues to get attention as the Department of Justice (DOJ) issues more advisory opinions. FARA is the U.S. statute that requires a person to register with the Department of Justice when engaged on behalf of a foreign principal in certain registrable activities aimed at influencing U.S. public opinion, policy, and laws.
Perhaps as a consequence of the current political environment, the DOJ has been taking an increasingly aggressive interpretation…
Is There an Excise Tax on Compensation for PAC Management? How the IRS Has Solved a Potential Problem for Connected PACs
When the 2017 tax reform bill passed, it included a provision that imposed an excise tax on compensation above $1 million for certain kinds of entities—including political action committees (PACs)—even if paid by the connected organization and not the PAC itself. Some companies feared that having senior executives provide services to the PAC could trigger this excise tax based on how the statute was worded. Fortunately, on June 5, 2020, the Internal Revenue Service issued…
Federal Election Commission to Lose Quorum Again as Commissioner Resigns
“It’s déjà vu all over again”
With the announcement last week that Commissioner Caroline Hunter (R) plans to resign her seat on the Federal Election Commission (FEC), effective July 3, 2020, the agency finds itself yet again without the minimum four Commissioners necessary to open investigations, defend new lawsuits, and issue advisory opinions. As we blogged recently, the Commission went nearly nine months without a quorum until the confirmation last month of Commissioner James E.…
IRS Issues Final Regulations on Nonprofit Donor Disclosure; States Likely to Take Action
After a great deal of whipsawing as the rules flipped back and forth, politically-active nonprofits now have certainty from the IRS: section 501(c)(4) and 501(c)(6) organizations will not have to disclose the identity of their donors on their annual Form 990 filing with the IRS. However, some states are already beginning to require this information separately, and others may soon follow suit.
On May 26, 2020, the IRS issued final regulations on donor disclosure providing…
Federal Election Commission is Back in Business
The Senate today confirmed James E. “Trey” Trainor III as a member of the Federal Election Commission, reestablishing a quorum just months ahead of the 2020 general election. Since August 2019, when one of the commissioners resigned, the Commission has lacked a quorum, and as a result has been unable to investigate complaints, collect fines, issue advisory opinions, or promulgate new rules.
With Trainor’s appointment, the FEC will have four commissioners—the minimum number required to…