California special election reporting: 36th district (2011)

The Special General Election to fill the U.S. House seat in California’s 36th Congressional District vacated by Representative Jane Harman will be held on May 17, 2011. Under California law, a majority winner in a special election is declared elected. Should no candidate achieve a majority vote, a Special Runoff Election will be held on July 12, 2011, among the top vote-getters.

Candidate committees involved in this election must follow the reporting schedule. Please note that the reporting period for the Post-General election report spans two election cycles. For this report only, authorized committees must use the Post-Election Detailed Summary Page rather than the normal Detailed Summary Page.

PACs and party committees that file on a semi-annual schedule and participate in this election must also follow the schedule above. PACs and party committees that file monthly must continue to file according to their regular filing schedule.

Filing electronically

Reports filed electronically must be received and validated by the Commission by 11:59 p.m. Eastern Time on the applicable filing deadline. Electronic filers who instead file on paper or submit an electronic report that does not pass the Commission’s validation program by the filing deadline will be considered nonfilers and may be subject to enforcement actions, including administrative fines. 11 CFR 104.18.

Timely filing for paper filers

Registered and certified mail. Reports sent by registered or certified mail must be postmarked on or before the mailing deadline to be considered timely filed. A committee sending its reports by registered or certified mail should keep its mailing receipt with the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) postmark as proof of filing because the USPS does not keep complete records of items sent by certified mail. 2 U.S.C. § 434(a)(5) and 11 CFR 104.5(e) and 111.35(b).

Overnight mail. Reports filed via overnight mail [FN1] will be considered timely filed if the report is received by the delivery service on or before the mailing deadline. A committee sending its reports by Express or Priority Mail, or by an overnight delivery service, should keep its proof of mailing or other means of transmittal of its reports. 2 U.S.C. § 434(a)(5) and 11 CFR 104.5(e) and 100.19.

Other means of filing. Reports sent by other means—including first class mail and courier—must be received by the FEC before the Commission’s close of business on the filing deadline. 11 CFR 100.19 and 104.5(e).

Forms are available for downloading and printing at the FEC’s website and from FEC Faxline, the agency’s automated fax system (202/501-3413).

48-Hour contribution notices

Note that 48-hour notices are required of the participating candidate’s principal campaign committee if it receives any contribution of $1,000 or more per source between April 28 and May 14, 2011, for the Special General Election, and between June 23 and July 9, 2011, for the Special Runoff Election.

24- and 48-Hour reports of independent expenditures

Political committees and other persons must file 24-hour reports of independent expenditures that aggregate at or above $1,000 between April 28 and May 15, 2011, for the Special General Election, and between June 23 and July 10, 2011, for the Special Runoff Election. This requirement is in addition to that of filing 48-hour reports of independent expenditures that aggregate $10,000 or more during a calendar year on or before April 27 for the Special General and up to June 22 for the Special Runoff.

Electioneering communications

The 60-day electioneering communications period in connection with the Special General Election runs from March 18 through May 17, 2011. The 60-day electioneering communications period in connection with the Special Runoff Election runs from May 13 through July 12, 2011.

Disclosure of lobbyist bundling activity

Campaign committees, party committees and leadership PACs that are otherwise required to file reports in connection with the special election must simultaneously file FEC Form 3L if they receive two or more bundled contributions from lobbyists/registrants or lobbyist/registrant PACs that aggregate in excess of $16,200 during the special election reporting period (see reporting schedule chart). 11 CFR 104.22(a)(5)(v). For more information on these requirements, see the March 2009 Record.

FOOTNOTE:

1 “Overnight mail” includes Priority or Express Mail having a delivery confirmation, or an overnight service with which the report is scheduled for next business day delivery and is recorded in the service’s online tracking system. 11 CFR 100.19(b)(3)(i).