§ 114.3. Disbursements for communications to the restricted class in connection with a Federal election.

1,194 words·~5 min read·/us/cfr/t11/s§ 114.3·

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(a)General.

(1)Corporations and labor organizations may make communications on any subject, including communications containing express advocacy, to their restricted class or any part of that class. Corporations and labor organizations may also make the communications permitted under 11 CFR 114.4 to their restricted class or any part of that class. The activities permitted under this section may involve election-related coordination with candidates and political committees. See 11 CFR 100.16 and 114.2(c) regarding independent expenditures and coordination with candidates.

(2)Incorporated membership organizations, incorporated trade associations, incorporated cooperatives and corporations without capital stock may make communications to their restricted class, or any part of that class as permitted in paragraphs (a)(1) and

(c)of this section.

(b)Reporting communications containing express advocacy to the restricted class. Disbursements for communications expressly advocating the election or defeat of one or more clearly identified candidate(s) made by a corporation, including a corporation described in paragraph (a)(2) of this section, or labor organization to its restricted class shall be reported in accordance with 11 CFR 100.134(a) and 104.6.

(c)Communications containing express advocacy. Communications containing express advocacy which may be made to the restricted class include, but are not limited to, the examples set forth in paragraphs (c)(1) through (c)(4) of this section.

(1)Publications. Printed material expressly advocating the election or defeat of one or more clearly identified candidate(s) or candidates of a clearly identified political party may be distributed by a corporation or by a labor organization to its restricted class, provided that:

(i)The material is produced at the expense of the corporation or labor organization; and

(ii)The material constitutes a communication of the views of the corporation or the labor organization, and is not the republication or reproduction, in whole or in part, of any broadcast, transcript or tape or any written, graphic, or other form of campaign materials prepared by the candidate, his or her campaign committees, or their authorized agents. A corporation or labor organization may, under this section, use brief quotations from speeches or other materials of a candidate that demonstrate the candidate's position as part of the corporation's or labor organization's expression of its own views.

(2)Candidate and party appearances.

(i)A corporation may allow a candidate, candidate's representative or party representative to address its restricted class at a meeting, convention or other function of the corporation, but is not required to do so. A labor organization may allow a candidate or party representative to address its restricted class at a meeting, convention, or other function of the labor organization, but is not required to do so. A corporation or labor organization may bar other candidates for the same office or a different office and their representatives, and representatives of other parties addressing the restricted class. A corporation or labor organization may allow the presence of employees outside the restricted class of the corporation or labor organization who are necessary to administer the meeting, other guests of the corporation or labor organization who are being honored or speaking or participating in the event, and representatives of the news media.

(ii)The candidate, candidate's representative or party representative may ask for contributions to his or her campaign or party, or ask that contributions to the separate segregated fund of the corporation or labor organization be designated for his or her campaign or party. The incidental solicitation of persons outside the corporation's or labor organization's restricted class who may be present at the meeting as permitted by this section will not be a violation of 11 CFR part 114. The candidate's representative or party representative (other than an officer, director or other representative of a corporation or official, member or employee of a labor organization) or the candidate, may accept contributions before, during or after the appearance at the meeting, convention or other function of the corporation or labor organization.

(iii)The corporation or labor organization may suggest that members of its restricted class contribute to the candidate or party committee, but the collection of contributions by any officer, director or other representative of the corporation or labor organization before, during, or after the appearance while at the meeting, is an example of a prohibited facilitation of contributions under 11 CFR 114.2(f).

(iv)If the corporation or labor organization permits more than one candidate for the same office, or more than one candidate's representative or party representative, to address its restricted class, and permits the news media to cover or carry an appearance by one candidate or candidate's representative or party representative, the corporation or labor organization shall also permit the news media to cover or carry the appearances by the other candidate(s) for that office, or the other candidates' representatives or party representatives. If the corporation or labor organization permits a representative of the news media to cover or carry a candidate or candidate's representative or party representative appearance, the corporation or labor organization shall provide all other representatives of the news media with equal access for covering or carrying that appearance. Equal access is provided by---

(A)Providing advance information regarding the appearance to the representatives of the news media whom the corporation or labor organization customarily contacts and other representatives of the news media upon request; and

(B)Allowing all representatives of the news media to cover or carry the appearance, through the use of pooling arrangements if necessary.

(3)Phone banks. A corporation or a labor organization may establish and operate phone banks to communicate with its restricted class, urging them to register and/or vote for a particular candidate or candidates, or to register with a particular political party.

(4)Registration and get-out-the-vote drives.

(i)A corporation or labor organization may conduct voter registration and get-out-the-vote drives aimed at its restricted class, except as provided in paragraph (c)(4)(iii) of this section. Voter registration and get-out-the-vote drives include providing transportation to the place of registration and to the polls. Such drives may include communications containing express advocacy, such as urging individuals to register with a particular party or to vote for a particular candidate or candidates.

(ii)Disbursements for a voter registration or get-out-the-vote drive conducted under paragraph (c)(4)(i) of this section are not contributions or expenditures if the drive is nonpartisan. See 52 U.S.C. 30118(b)(2)(B). A drive is nonpartisan if it is conducted so that information and other assistance regarding registering or voting, including transportation and other services offered, is not withheld or refused on the basis of support for or opposition to particular candidates or a particular political party.

(iii)A corporation or labor organization may make disbursements to conduct voter registration and get-out-the-vote drives that are aimed at its restricted class and that do not qualify as nonpartisan under paragraph (c)(4)(ii) of this section, provided that the disbursements do not constitute coordinated expenditures as defined in 11 CFR 109.20, coordinated communications as defined in 11 CFR 109.21, or contributions as defined in 11 CFR part 100, subpart B. See also note to 11 CFR 114.2(b), 114.10(a). \[60 FR 64275, Dec. 14, 1995, as amended at 67 FR 78681, Dec. 26, 2002; 79 FR 77849, Dec. 29, 2014; 79 FR 62817, Oct. 21, 2014\]

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