[Federal Register Volume 69, Number 28 (Wednesday, February 11, 2004)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Pages 6525-6526]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 04-2845]



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Rules and Regulations
                                                Federal Register
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Federal Register / Vol. 69, No. 28 / Wednesday, February 11, 2004 / 
Rules and Regulations

[[Page 6525]]



FEDERAL ELECTION COMMISSION

11 CFR Part 111

[Notice 2004-5]


Extension of Administrative Fines Program

AGENCY: Federal Election Commission.

ACTION: Final rule and transmittal of regulations to Congress.

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SUMMARY: Section 639 of the Fiscal 2004 Omnibus Consolidated 
Appropriations Act (``2004 Appropriations Act'') amended the Treasury 
and General Government Appropriations Act, 2000, by extending the 
expiration date in which the Federal Election Commission 
(``Commission'') may assess civil monetary penalties for violations of 
the reporting requirements of section 434(a) of the Federal Election 
Campaign Act (``Act'' or ``FECA''). Accordingly, the Commission is 
extending the applicability of its rules and penalty schedules in 
implementing the administrative fines program (``AFP''). Further 
information is provided in the Supplementary Information that follows.

EFFECTIVE DATE: February 11, 2004.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:  Ms. Mai T. Dinh, Acting Assistant 
General Counsel, or Mr. Daniel E. Pollner, Attorney, 999 E Street, NW., 
Washington, DC 20463, (202) 694-1650 or (800) 424-9530.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Explanation and Justification for 11 CFR 111.30

    Section 640 of the Treasury and General Government Appropriations 
Act, 2000, Pub. L. No. 106-58, 106th Cong., 113 Stat. 430, 476-77 
(1999), amended 2 U.S.C. 437g(a)(4) to provide for a modified 
enforcement process for violations of certain reporting requirements. 
Under 2 U.S.C. 437g(a)(4)(C), the Commission may assess a civil 
monetary penalty for violations of the reporting requirements of 2 
U.S.C. 434(a). This authority, however, terminated on December 31, 
2003. See Pub. L. No. 107-67, 107th Cong., 640(c). Recently, section 
639 of the 2004 Appropriations Act amended the Treasury and General 
Government Appropriations Act, 2000, by extending the sunset date to 
include all reports that cover activity between July 14, 2000 and 
December 31, 2005. Accordingly, the Commission is issuing this final 
rule to amend section 11 CFR 111.30 to renew the applicability of the 
administrative fines regulations, 11 CFR part 111, subpart B, to 
include all violations relating to reports that cover the period 
between July 14, 2000 and December 31, 2003 and the period between the 
date that this final rule is published in the Federal Register and 
December 31, 2005.
    Until the 2004 Appropriations Act was enacted, the Commission did 
not have the authority to extend the AFP beyond December 31, 2003. 
Consequently, there is a gap in the applicability of the AFP from 
January 1, 2004 to February 10, 2004. All reports covering reporting 
periods that began and ended during this gap and that are due before 
February 11, 2004, the effective date of this final rule, are not 
subject to the AFP. This includes certain 48-hour reports and pre-
election reports. These reports are, however, subject to the 
Commission's enforcement procedures set forth at 11 CFR subpart A. See 
11 CFR 111.31(a).
    The Commission notes that Congress, in extending the Commission's 
AFP authority, provided for continuous applicability of the AFP through 
December 31, 2005. Moreover, the AFP is procedural; the underlying 
substantive reporting requirements have remained continuously in 
effect. Consequently, it is appropriate to apply the AFP to reports 
that are due after February 10, 2004 even though those reports may 
relate to reporting periods that include the gap.
    The Commission is promulgating this final rule without notice or an 
opportunity for comment because it falls under the ``good cause'' 
exemption of the Administrative Procedures Act, 5 U.S.C. 553(b)(3)(B). 
This exemption allows agencies to dispense with notice and comment if 
the procedures are ``impracticable, unnecessary, or contrary to public 
interest.'' Id. This final rule satisfies the ``good cause'' exemption 
because a notice and comment period is impracticable in that it would 
prevent this final rule from taking effect without an even larger gap 
in the applicability of the AFP. See Administrative Procedures Act: 
Legislative History, S. Doc. No. 248 200 (1946) (`` `Impracticable' 
means a situation in which the due and required execution of the agency 
functions would be unavoidably prevented by its undertaking public 
rule-making proceedings''). In addition, this final rule merely extends 
the applicability of the AFP and does not change the substantive 
regulations themselves. Those regulations were already subject to 
notice and comment when they were proposed in March 2000, 65 FR 16534, 
and adopted in May 2000, 65 FR 31787, and again when substantive 
revisions to the AFP were proposed in April 2002, 67 FR 20461, and 
adopted in March 2003, 68 FR 12572. Thus, it is appropriate and 
necessary for the Commission to publish this final rule without 
providing a notice and comment period.
    The Commission is making this final rule effective immediately upon 
publication in the Federal Register because it falls within the ``good 
cause'' exception to the thirty-day delayed effective date requirement 
set forth at section 553(d)(3) of the Administrative Procedures Act. 
See 5 U.S.C. 553(d)(3). The same reasons that justify the promulgation 
of this final rule without a notice and comment period, which are set 
forth above, also justify making this final rule effective without the 
thirty-day delay. Moreover, making this final rule effective 
immediately upon publication in the Federal Register is justified 
because a thirty-day delay of the effective date would increase the gap 
in the AFP.
    The Commission is submitting this final rule to the Speaker of the 
House of Representatives and the President of the Senate pursuant to 
the Congressional Review of Agency Regulations Act, 5 U.S.C. 
801(a)(1)(A), on February 6, 2004. Since this is a non-major rule, it 
is not subject to the delayed effective date provisions of 5 U.S.C. 
801(a)(3).

[[Page 6526]]

Certification of No Effect Pursuant to 5 U.S.C. 605(b) (Regulatory 
Flexibility Act)

    The attached final rule will not have a significant impact on a 
substantial number of small entities. The basis for this certification 
is that this final rule merely extends the applicability of existing 
regulations for two more years. The existing regulations have already 
been certified as not having a significant economic impact on a 
substantial number of small entities. 65 FR 31793 (2000). Therefore, 
the extension of these existing regulations will not have a significant 
economic impact on a substantial number of small entities.

List of Subjects in 11 CFR Part 111

    Administrative practice and procedures, Elections, Law enforcement.

0
For the reasons set out in the preamble, subchapter A, chapter I of 
title 11 of the Code of Federal Regulations is amended as follows:

PART 111--COMPLIANCE PROCEDURES (2 U.S.C. 437g, 437d(a))

0
1. The authority for part 111 continues to read as follows:

    Authority: 2 U.S.C. 437g, 437d(a), 438(a)(8); 28 U.S.C. 2461 nt.


0
2. 11 CFR 111.30 is revised to read as follows:


Sec. 111.30  When will subpart B apply?

    Subpart B applies to violations of the reporting requirements of 2 
U.S.C. 434(a) committed by political committees and their treasurers 
that relate to the reporting periods that begin on or after July 14, 
2000 and end on or before December 31, 2005. This subpart, however, 
does not apply to reports that are due between January 1, 2004 and 
February 10, 2004 and that relate to reporting periods that begin and 
end between January 1, 2004 and February 10, 2004.

    Dated: February 5, 2004.
Bradley A. Smith,
Chairman, Federal Election Commission.
[FR Doc. 04-2845 Filed 2-10-04; 8:45 am]
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