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[Federal Register Volume 89, Number 228 (Tuesday, November 26, 2024)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Pages 93151-93152]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2024-27395]

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FEDERAL ELECTION COMMISSION

11 CFR Part 104

[Notice 2024-26]

Requirement To File FEC Form 3-Z

AGENCY: Federal Election Commission.

ACTION: Final rule.

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SUMMARY: This final rule amends Federal Election Commission regulations 
by removing the requirement that the principal campaign committee of a 
candidate with multiple authorized committees must report information 
on FEC Form 3-Z.

DATES: The effective date is February 1, 2025.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Amy Rothstein, Assistant General 
Counsel for Policy, or Jennifer Waldman, Attorney, 1050 First Street 
NE, Washington, DC, (202) 694-1650 or (800) 424-9530.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The Commission is amending its regulations 
to remove the requirement that the principal campaign committee of a 
candidate with multiple authorized committees must report information 
on FEC Form 3-Z.

Transmitting Final Rules to Congress

    Before promulgating rules or regulations to carry out the 
provisions of the Federal Election Campaign Act, the Commission 
transmits the rules or regulations to the Speaker of the House of 
Representatives and the President of the Senate for a thirty-
legislative-day review period. 52 U.S.C. 30111(d). These final rules 
were transmitted to Congress on November 19, 2024.

Explanation and Justification

I. Background

A. Act and Commission Regulations
    The Federal Election Campaign Act (the ``Act'') \1\ and Commission 
regulations require each candidate to register a principal campaign 
committee within 15 days of becoming a candidate.\2\ A candidate may 
also authorize other political committees to receive contributions or 
make expenditures on the candidate's behalf by designating the 
committees in writing and filing the designations with the candidate's 
principal campaign committee.\3\
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    \1\ 52 U.S.C. 30101-45.
    \2\ Id. 30102(e)(1); 11 CFR 101.1(a); see also 52 U.S.C. 
30101(5) (``The term `principal campaign committee' means a 
political committee designated and authorized by a candidate under 
section 30102(e)(1) of this title.''); 11 CFR 100.5(e)(1).
    \3\ 52 U.S.C. 30102(e)(1); 11 CFR 101.1(b); see also 52 U.S.C. 
30101(6) (``The term `authorized committee' means the principal 
campaign committee or any other political committee authorized by a 
candidate under section 30102(e)(1) of this title to receive 
contributions or make expenditures on behalf of such candidate.''); 
11 CFR 100.5(f)(1).
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    The Act requires ``each designation, statement or report of 
receipts or disbursements made by an authorized committee'' to be filed 
with the candidate's principal campaign committee.\4\ The Act further 
requires each principal campaign committee, in turn, to ``receive'' 
these designations, statements and reports and to ``compile and file'' 
them pursuant to the Act.\5\
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    \4\ 52 U.S.C. 30102(f)(1).
    \5\ Id. 30102(f)(2).
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    In 1980, the Commission promulgated a regulation (11 CFR 104.3(f)) 
to implement these requirements: Section 104.3(f) requires each 
candidate's principal campaign committee to file reports submitted to 
it by the candidate's other authorized committees, along with its own 
report.\6\ In addition, Sec.  104.3(f) requires the principal campaign 
committee to file FEC Form 3-Z to report specific consolidated 
information gleaned from the authorized committees' reports when it 
submits those reports to the Commission.\7\ It is this FEC Form 3-Z 
that the Commission is now removing.
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    \6\ 11 CFR 104.3(f).
    \7\ Id.
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    When the Commission first started requiring FEC Form 3-Z, political 
committees filed their reports only in paper form and the Commission 
made the reports publicly available on paper and microfiche in the 
Commission's Public Records room. By requiring a candidate's principal 
campaign committee to consolidate information about the financial 
activity of all of the candidate's authorized committees on FEC Form 3-
Z, the Commission made it easier for the public to obtain a 
comprehensive picture of the candidate's receipts and disbursements 
during the reporting period.
B. Electronic Filing
    Public access to political committees' reports has expanded 
dramatically since 1980, however, due in large part to statutory 
revisions and technological developments. In 1999, Congress amended the 
Act to provide for electronic filing; \8\ as a result, all political 
committees that have or reasonably expect to have contributions or 
expenditures exceeding $50,000 in a calendar year must electronically 
file their reports directly with the Commission, and other persons may 
do so if they choose.\9\ Further, Congress amended the Act to require 
the Commission to make all reports filed electronically with the 
Commission publicly available on the internet within 24 hours of 
receipt and within 48 hours of receipt for reports not filed 
electronically.\10\
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    \8\ Appropriations, 2000, Public Law 106-58, sec. 639(a), 113 
Stat. 430, 476 (1999); 52 U.S.C. 30104(a)(11)(A).
    \9\ 11 CFR. 104.18(a) (requiring electronic filing for certain 
political committee); id. Sec.  104.18(b) (authorizing other 
committees to file electronically if they choose to do so); 
Electronic Filing of Reports by Political Committees, 65 FR 38415 
(June 21, 2000), https://sers.fec.gov/fosers/showpdf.htm?docid=382.
    \10\ 52 U.S.C. 30104(a)(11)(B), (d)(2).
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    More recently, Congress amended the Act to require the Commission 
to maintain a central website ``to make accessible to the public all 
publicly available election-related reports and information'' required 
to be filed under

[[Page 93152]]

the Act.\11\ The posted reports and related information can be 
searched, sorted, and downloaded.\12\
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    \11\ Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002, Public Law 107-155, 
sec. 502, 116 Stat. 115 (2002); 52 U.S.C. 30112(a).
    \12\ See, e.g., 52 U.S.C. 30104(i)(4) (requiring Commission to 
ensure, ``to the greatest extent practicable,'' that certain 
information is publicly available on its website ``in a manner that 
is searchable, sortable, and downloadable'').
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C. Notice of Proposed Rulemaking
    On August 1, 2024, the Commission published in the Federal Register 
a notice of proposed rulemaking (``NPRM'') soliciting comments on 
whether it should remove the requirement that principal campaign 
committees file Form 3-Z in light of statutory changes and 
technological advances.\13\ The NPRM comment period ended on September 
3, 2024. The Commission received two substantive comments in response 
to the NPRM, both in favor of the Commission's proposal.
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    \13\ Requirement to File FEC Form 3-Z, 89 FR 62672 (Aug. 1, 
2024), https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/FR-2024-08-01/pdf/2024-16843.pdf.
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II. Revised Changes to 11 CFR 104.3

    After reviewing the public comments received in response to the 
NPRM, the Commission is amending Sec.  104.3(f) by eliminating the 
requirement that principal campaign committees file FEC Form 3-Z. 
Although FEC Form 3-Z served a useful purpose when it was introduced 
more than 40 years ago, the information that it provides essentially 
duplicates information that is now filed directly with the Commission 
and readily available to the public in a searchable, sortable, and 
downloadable format. Accordingly, FEC Form 3-Z has been rendered 
obsolete.

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

    The Commission certifies that the amendment will not have a 
significant economic impact on a substantial number of small entities. 
The amendment will simplify the reporting requirements for a principal 
campaign committee of a candidate with multiple authorized committees. 
The change will not impose new recordkeeping, reporting, or financial 
obligations on any political committees. The Commission therefore 
certifies that the amendment will not have a significant economic 
impact on a substantial number of small entities.

List of Subjects in 11 CFR Part 104

    Campaign funds, Political committees and parties, Reporting and 
recordkeeping requirements.

    For the reasons set out in the preamble, the Federal Election 
Commission amends 11 CFR part 104 as follows:

PART 104--REPORTS BY POLITICAL COMMITTEES AND OTHER PERSONS (52 
U.S.C. 30104)

0
1. The authority citation for part 104 is revised to read as follows:

    Authority: 52 U.S.C. 30101(1), 30101(8), 30101(9), 30102(f), 
(g), and (i), 30104, 30111(a)(8) and (b), 30114, and 30116 and 36 
U.S.C. 510.

0
2. Amend Sec.  104.3 by revising paragraph (f) to read as follows:

Sec.  104.3  Contents of reports (52 U.S.C. 30104(b), 30114).

* * * * *
    (f) Consolidated reports. Each principal campaign committee shall 
consolidate in each report those reports required to be filed with it. 
Such consolidated reports shall include:
    (1) Reports submitted to it by any authorized committees; and
    (2) The principal campaign committee's own reports.
* * * * *

    Dated: November 19, 2024.

    On behalf of the Commission.
Sean J. Cooksey,
Chairman, Federal Election Commission.
[FR Doc. 2024-27395 Filed 11-25-24; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6715-01-P
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