FEC Announces Coordinated Expenditure Limits and Bundling Disclosure Threshold for 2012

In February, the Federal Election Commission (FEC) announced the new coordinated expenditure limits and the lobbyist bundling disclosure threshold for 2012.  By law, the FEC must adjust these amounts annually for inflation based on the price index provided by the Department of Labor.

Coordinated Party Expenditures

Federal law allows national party committees to make coordinated expenditures up to certain limits for candidates for House, Senate and president.  State political party committees may make coordinated expenditures up to their own separate limits for House and Senate candidates in their state, but they do not have a separate limit for coordinated expenditures on behalf of presidential candidates.

Coordinated expenditure limits for Senate candidates are based on the price index as well as the voting age population in each state.  Coordinated expenditure limits for Senate candidates in 2012 vary from $91,200 to $2,593,100, depending on the state.

Coordinated expenditure limits for House candidates are based on the price index.  For 2012, the coordinated expenditure limit for House candidates in states with more than one congressional district is $45,600, while the limit for candidates in states with one congressional district is $91,200.  The coordinated expenditure limit for presidential candidates, which is based on the nationwide voting age population and the price index, is $21,684,200 in 2012. 

Bundling Disclosure

Federal campaign committees, federal leadership PACs and federal political party committees are required to file FEC Form 3L if they receive two or more contributions bundled by federally registered lobbyists, registrants under the federal lobbing laws or PACs controlled by either in excess of the indexed disclosure threshold within a reporting period.  The indexed disclosure threshold for 2012 is $16,700.

The Federal Register notice listing the 2012 coordinated expenditure limits and lobbyist bundling disclosure threshold is available here.