FEDERAL ELECTION COMMISSION WASHINGTON, D.C.

 

January 11, 2024 

ADVISORY OPINION 2023-09 

Jacquelyn Lopez, Esq. 

Jonathan Peterson, Esq. 

Kaveri Sharma, Esq. 

Elias Law Group

250 Massachusetts Ave NW, Suite 400 

Washington, DC 20001 

Dear Counsel: 

We are responding to your advisory opinion request on behalf of Senator Catherine 

Cortez Masto (“Requestor”) concerning the application of the Federal Election Campaign Act, 

52 U.S.C. §§ 30101–45 (the “Act”), and Commission regulations to the Requestor’s proposal to 

establish a nonfederal committee to be active exclusively in connection with nonfederal elections 

and that will not share a contribution limit with Requestor’s existing federal leadership PAC. 

The Commission concludes that Requestor may establish the nonfederal committee as proposed 

and that it would not share a contribution limit with her federal leadership PAC. 

Background 

 

The facts presented in this advisory opinion are based on your letter received October 31, 

2023, and reports filed with the Commission.

Requestor is the senior United States Senator from Nevada.1

 She maintains a federal 

leadership PAC, All For Our Country Leadership PAC, that accepts contributions and makes 

expenditures in support of candidates for federal office.2

 

1

 Advisory Opinion Request (“AOR”) at AOR001. 

2

 Id. In addition to her leadership PAC, Requestor also maintains or controls two affiliated Joint Fundraising 

Committees, Chief Among Us and Cortez Masto Victory Fund. See Statement of Organization (Form 1) 5–6, 

All For Our Country Leadership PAC (Nov. 1, 2023).
AO 2023-09 (Cortez Masto)

Page 2 

 Requestor proposes to establish a nonfederal committee in Nevada that will engage 

exclusively in activity in connection with state and local elections.3 The proposed nonfederal 

committee will provide funds to candidates for state and local office and spend funds supporting 

or opposing state and local ballot measures.4

 The proposed nonfederal committee will not raise 

or spend funds for the purpose of influencing any election for federal office, nor will it engage in 

any other activity that would “require[] it to register as a political committee under the Act.”5 

Requestor states that her proposed nonfederal committee will not raise or spend funds in excess 

of applicable federal contribution limits or from federally prohibited sources.6

Question Presented

May Requestor establish a nonfederal committee, which will exclusively raise and spend 

funds in connection with nonfederal elections, that does not share a contribution limit with 

Requestor’s federal leadership PAC? 

Legal Analysis 

Yes, Requestor may establish a nonfederal committee, which will exclusively raise and 

spend funds in connection with nonfederal elections, and such funds would not be aggregated 

with contributions made by the same source to Requestor’s federal leadership PAC under a 

shared contribution limit. Under the Act and Commission regulations, Requestor may solicit, 

receive, direct, transfer, or spend funds through her proposed nonfederal committee up to the 

Act’s contribution limits and consistent with the Act’s source prohibitions without taking into 

account contributions made by the same source to Requestor’s federal leadership PAC.

Under the Act, federal candidates; officeholders; and the entities they establish, finance, 

maintain, or control may solicit, receive, direct, transfer, or spend funds in connection with a 

federal election only if those funds are “subject to the [Act’s] limitations, prohibitions, and 

reporting requirements[.]”7

 For “any election other than an election for Federal office[,]” federal 

candidates; officeholders; and the entities they establish, finance, maintain, or control may 

solicit, receive, direct, transfer, or spend only funds that are subject to federal amount limitations 

and source prohibitions.8 

3

 AOR001. Requestor represents that the proposed nonfederal committee will operate consistent with 

Nevada state law governing state political committees. 

4

 Id.

5

 Id.

6

 Id. See generally Nevada Revised Statutes Chapter 294A (allowing contributions in amounts and from 

sources prohibited by the Act). 

7

 52 U.S.C. § 30125(e)(1)(A).

8

 52 U.S.C. § 30125(e)(1)(B)(i) (requiring funds to be raised “not in excess of the amounts permitted” by the 

Act), (ii) (requiring that funds “not [come] from sources prohibited by this Act[.]”).
AO 2023-09 (Cortez Masto)

Page 3 

To fall within the Act’s definition of “contribution,” funds must be given “for the purpose 

of influencing any election for Federal office[.]”9

 For the purposes of the Act’s contribution limitations, all contributions made or received 

by more than one affiliated committee, regardless of whether they are political committees under 

11 C.F.R. § 100.5, are treated as if they were made to a single committee.

10 Affiliated 

committees include committees established, financed, maintained, or controlled by the same 

person or group of persons.11 Thus, affiliated committees share a common contribution limit, 

and contributions made to multiple such committees by the same contributor are aggregated for 

purposes of disclosures and amount limitations. 

Requestor proposes to establish a committee that will engage only in activity that is not 

for the purpose of influencing any election for federal office and for which she will raise and 

spend solely funds that comply with the Act’s amount limitations and source prohibitions. This

proposal accords with the plain language of the Act. Because Requestor is a federal officeholder 

who will establish the proposed nonfederal committee, she must solicit, receive, direct, transfer, 

or spend funds only from those sources not prohibited by the Act and in amounts not exceeding 

the limits the Act sets forth.12 

Further, the committees would be treated as affiliated for the purposes of the Act’s 

contribution limitations because Requestor will have established them both.13 However, because 

Requestor’s proposed nonfederal committee will not raise funds for the purpose of influencing 

any election for federal office, whatever funds Requestor does raise for her proposed nonfederal 

committee would not be considered “contributions” under the Act and would not have to be 

aggregated with contributions made to Requestor’s federal leadership PAC from the same 

source. The Commission’s regulation setting forth an aggregate limit for affiliated committees

applies only to “contributions made or received by more than one affiliated committee” — not to

all funds affiliated committees receive.

14 Therefore, while section 30125(e)(1)(B) limits 

Requestor to raising funds in amounts not exceeding those set by the Act, which is $5,000 for the 

proposed nonfederal committee, those funds would not be counted against the $5,000 in 

contributions Requestor’s federal leadership PAC may raise from the same source. 

This conclusion accords with the Commission’s past advisory opinions. In Advisory 

Opinion 2005-02 (Corzine II), the Commission concluded that a federal officeholder soliciting

funds for a federally registered party committee’s nonfederal account “does not need to consider 

9

 52 U.S.C. § 30101(8)(A)(i); 11 C.F.R. § 100.52(a).

10 11 C.F.R. § 110.3(a). See also Affiliated Committees, Transfers, Prohibited Contributions, Annual 

Contribution Limitations and Earmarked Contributions, 54 FED. REG. 34,098 (Aug. 17, 1989). 

11 11 C.F.R. § 110.3(a)(1)(ii).

12 See 52 U.S.C. § 30125(e)(1)(B).

13 See 11 C.F.R. § 110.3(a)(1)(ii).

14 11 C.F.R. § 110.3(a)(1) (emphasis added). 
AO 2023-09 (Cortez Masto)

Page 4 

a prospective donor’s previous contributions to a Federally registered party committee’s Federal 

account, or any amounts [the officeholder] may have previously solicited from the donor for that 

account, in determining the amount he may now solicit from that donor for the party committee’s 

non-Federal account.”15

This response constitutes an advisory opinion concerning the application of the Act and 

Commission regulations to the specific transactions or activities set forth in the instant advisory 

opinion request.16 The Commission emphasizes that, if there is a change in any of the facts or 

assumptions presented, and such facts or assumptions are material to a conclusion presented in 

this advisory opinion, then the requestor may not rely on that conclusion as support for its 

proposed transactions or activity. Any person involved in any specific transaction or activity 

which is indistinguishable in all its material aspects from the transaction or activity with respect 

to which this advisory opinion is rendered may rely on this advisory opinion.17 Please note that 

the analysis or conclusions in this advisory opinion may be affected by subsequent developments 

in the law including, but not limited to, statutes, regulations, advisory opinions, and case law. 

Any advisory opinions cited herein are available on the Commission’s website.

On behalf of the Commission,

Sean J. Cooksey, 

Chairman

15 AO 2005-02 (Corzine II) at 6.

16 See 52 U.S.C. § 30108.

17 See id. § 30108(c)(1)(B).