Say What? Some Federal Committees Have to File with the NC Elections Board.

ElectaFile Short Summary: Federal candidate committees are “born” at the Federal Elections Commission and they “live” merry lives in Washington unless they contribute to NC political committees and therefore must disclose those contributions to the NC State Board of Elections. AND…we have another 10-day clock!

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Federal candidate committees are federal creatures “born” under federal law. They report to the Federal Elections Commission. Unless certain things are true, federal committees do not file anything with the State of North Carolina.

Here’s the State Manual’s word on it:

This is not intuitive. You might think that a candidate running in North Carolina for federal office must report to North Carolina. In fact, if a candidate is seeking federal office, his or her committee is created and reports to the FEC. Federal Senate, United States Congress, President. You name it.

The NC reporting obligation arises in at least two common instances: instances where a federal committee is contributing to a NC political committee (i.e., a committee “born” at the NC State Board of Elections) and instances where a federal (non-candidate) committee is making independent expenditures. We’ll cover independent expenditures in another post.

As these things go, federal reporting to the State Board for contributions to NC committees is fairly straightforward. The library of forms is here (this may help you visualize what we’re talking about…).

Key Note: Federal committees (whether candidates or PACs) are treated largely the same. Their obligations to NC State Board of Elections turn on if and how they choose to spend money in North Carolina.

Essentially, federal committees have to “register to do business in NC” by filing a statement of organization (just like state committees…). They then report contributions to NC political committees in periodic disclosure reports.

Here’s the Manual’s word on the matter (we cannot say it better…):

Thus, in summary, these should be your key takeaways:

Federal committees are subject to contribution limits and reporting obligations. 

Federal committees must name at least an assistant treasurer in North Carolina. 

Federal committees’ reporting obligation starts within 10 calendar days of the first dollar being contributed to a NC Committee. There’s another 10-day clock!

All federal committee reports are filed with the State Board in Raleigh.

Federal committees can e-file or paper file according to the $5K/$10K split we talked about in an earlier post here.

Once you register with the State Board, the federal committee must keep filing the disclosure reports until it is closed, even if you haven’t contributed dollars to NC political committees.

See you Monday!

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What is ElectaFile.com? ElectaFile offers easy and affordable electronic "click to file" services with the NC State Board and County Boards. ElectaFile is web-based and accessible from Macs and PCs with an internet connection. You only pay a small fee if you file using ElectaFile. If you need a free consultation on your situation, please let us know. If ElectaFile can help, it will. We are not your treasurer or your lawyer. If you need a professional treasurer or an attorney, ElectaFile regularly refers folks to professionals on all sides of the aisle.