FEC Sets Coordinated Party Expenditure Limits for 2022
WASHINGTON — The Federal Elections Commission has established coordinated party expenditure limits for the 2022 election cycle.
By law, a national party committee and state party committees can make special expenditures in connection with the general election campaigns of federal candidates.
These coordinated party expenditures do not count against the contribution limits but are subject to a different set of limits, as set forth below.
Additionally, coordinated party expenditures must be made with federally permissible funds only.
When it comes to 2022, the expenditure limits will be as follows:
- For Senate nominees, the 2022 limits range from $109,900 to $3,348,500, depending on each state’s voting age population.
- For House nominees in states that have only one U.S. House Representative, the limit is $109,900.
- For House nominees in states that have more than one U.S. House Representative, and for the District of Columbia and territories that elect individuals to the office of Delegate or Resident Commissioner, the limit is $55,000.
A complete list of 2020 limits can be found here.
The page lists the state-by-state coordinated party expenditure limits for Senate nominees. It also includes information on which types of party committees have the authority to make coordinated party expenditures.
The FEC explained in a press release that the limits are calculated according to a statutory formula that accounts for the annual cost-of-living adjustment . At present, the applicable COLA for 2022 is 5.49563%.
On a related note, the agency also announced new thresholds for lobbyist bundling disclosures that will apply to the 2022 midterms.
The Federal Election Campaign Act and Commission regulations require certain political committees to disclose information about lobbyists/registrants and lobbyist/registrant PACs whose bundled contributions within a covered period exceed a specified threshold amount.
The commission adjusts the threshold amount at the beginning of each calendar year.
The threshold is calculated by multiplying the $15,000 statutory threshold by the difference between the preceding year’s consumer price index, as certified by the Secretary of Labor, and the price index for the base period (CY 2006).
The resulting amount is then rounded to the nearest multiple of $100. Based on this formula ($15,000 x 1.34410), the lobbyist bundling disclosure threshold for 2022 is $20,200.
Dan can be reached at [email protected] and at https://twitter.com/DanMcCue.