2 U.S.C. § 438 : US Code - Section 438: Administrative provisions

Search 2 U.S.C. § 438 : US Code - Section 438: Administrative provisions

(a) Duties of Commission
The Commission shall - 
(1) prescribe forms necessary to implement this Act;
(2) prepare, publish, and furnish to all persons required to
file reports and statements under this Act a manual recommending
uniform methods of bookkeeping and reporting;
(3) develop a filing, coding, and cross-indexing system
consistent with the purposes of this Act;
(4) within 48 hours after the time of the receipt by the
Commission of reports and statements filed with it, make them
available for public inspection, and copying, at the expense of
the person requesting such copying, except that any information
copied from such reports or statements may not be sold or used by
any person for the purpose of soliciting contributions or for
commercial purposes, other than using the name and address of any
political committee to solicit contributions from such committee.
A political committee may submit 10 pseudonyms on each report
filed in order to protect against the illegal use of names and
addresses of contributors, provided such committee attaches a
list of such pseudonyms to the appropriate report. The Secretary
or the Commission shall exclude these lists from the public
record;
(5) keep such designations, reports, and statements for a
period of 10 years from the date of receipt, except that
designations, reports, and statements that relate solely to
candidates for the House of Representatives shall be kept for 5
years from the date of their receipt;
(6)(A) compile and maintain a cumulative index of designations,
reports, and statements filed under this Act, which index shall
be published at regular intervals and made available for purchase
directly or by mail;
(B) compile, maintain, and revise a separate cumulative index
of reports and statements filed by multi-candidate committees,
including in such index a list of multi-candidate committees; and
(C) compile and maintain a list of multi-candidate committees,
which shall be revised and made available monthly;
(7) prepare and publish periodically lists of authorized
committees which fail to file reports as required by this Act;
(8) prescribe rules, regulations, and forms to carry out the
provisions of this Act, in accordance with the provisions of
subsection (d) of this section; and
(9) transmit to the President and to each House of the Congress
no later than June 1 of each year, a report which states in
detail the activities of the Commission in carrying out its
duties under this Act, and any recommendations for any
legislative or other action the Commission considers appropriate.
(b) Audits and field investigations
The Commission may conduct audits and field investigations of any
political committee required to file a report under section 434 of
this title. All audits and field investigations concerning the
verification for, and receipt and use of, any payments received by
a candidate or committee under chapter 95 or chapter 96 of title 26
shall be given priority. Prior to conducting any audit under this
subsection, the Commission shall perform an internal review of
reports filed by selected committees to determine if the reports
filed by a particular committee meet the threshold requirements for
substantial compliance with the Act. Such thresholds for compliance
shall be established by the Commission. The Commission may, upon an
affirmative vote of 4 of its members, conduct an audit and field
investigation of any committee which does meet the threshold
requirements established by the Commission. Such audit shall be
commenced within 30 days of such vote, except that any audit of an
authorized committee of a candidate, under the provisions of this
subsection, shall be commenced within 6 months of the election for
which such committee is authorized.
(c) Statutory provisions applicable to forms and information-
gathering activities
Any forms prescribed by the Commission under subsection (a)(1) of
this section, and any information-gathering activities of the
Commission under this Act, shall not be subject to the provisions
of section 3512 (!1) of title 44.
(d) Rules, regulations, or forms; issuance, procedures applicable,
etc.
(1) Before prescribing any rule, regulation, or form under this
section or any other provision of this Act, the Commission shall
transmit a statement with respect to such rule, regulation, or form
to the Senate and the House of Representatives, in accordance with
this subsection. Such statement shall set forth the proposed rule,
regulation, or form, and shall contain a detailed explanation and
justification of it.
(2) If either House of the Congress does not disapprove by
resolution any proposed rule or regulation submitted by the
Commission under this section within 30 legislative days after the
date of the receipt of such proposed rule or regulation or within
10 legislative days after the date of receipt of such proposed
form, the Commission may prescribe such rule, regulation, or form.
(3) For purposes of this subsection, the term "legislative day"
means, with respect to statements transmitted to the Senate, any
calendar day on which the Senate is in session, and with respect to
statements transmitted to the House of Representatives, any
calendar day on which the House of Representatives is in session.
(4) For purposes of this subsection, the terms "rule" and
"regulation" mean a provision or series of interrelated provisions
stating a single, separable rule of law.
(5)(A) A motion to discharge a committee of the Senate from the
consideration of a resolution relating to any such rule,
regulation, or form or a motion to proceed to the consideration of
such a resolution, is highly privileged and shall be decided
without debate.
(B) Whenever a committee of the House of Representatives reports
any resolution relating to any such form, rule or regulation, it is
at any time thereafter in order (even though a previous motion to
the same effect has been disagreed to) to move to proceed to the
consideration of the resolution. The motion is highly privileged
and is not debatable. An amendment to the motion is not in order,
and is not in order to move to reconsider the vote by which the
motion is agreed to or disagreed with.
(e) Scope of protection for good faith reliance upon rules or
regulations
Notwithstanding any other provision of law, any person who relies
upon any rule or regulation prescribed by the Commission in
accordance with the provisions of this section and who acts in good
faith in accordance with such rule or regulation shall not, as a
result of such act, be subject to any sanction provided by this Act
or by chapter 95 or chapter 96 of title 26.
(f) Promulgation of rules, regulations, and forms by Commission and
Internal Revenue Service; report to Congress on cooperative
efforts
In prescribing such rules, regulations, and forms under this
section, the Commission and the Internal Revenue Service shall
consult and work together to promulgate rules, regulations, and
forms which are mutually consistent. The Commission shall report to
the Congress annually on the steps it has taken to comply with this
subsection.