The Federal Election Commission indicated in a Federal Register notice published this morning that it has updated federal contribution limits for the 2015-2016 election cycle. Limits that apply to contributions from individuals to federal candidates (now $2,700/election) and national party committees (now $33,400/year) are indexed for inflation. They are updated at the beginning of each odd-numbered year. Caplin & Drysdale has composed the chart below and attached that explains these new limits. Download this chart by clicking here.
2015-2016 Federal Contribution Limits
| Donors | Candidate Committee | Traditional PAC | Super PAC1 | State Party Fed. Account2 |
National Party National
Committee (RNC / DNC) |
National Party Congressional
Committee (NRSC / DSCC / NRCC / DCCC) |
| Individual | $2,700/election | $5,000/year | Unlimited | $10,000/year | $33,400/year (main account) $101,200/year (convention) $101,200/year (bldg. account) $101,200/year (legal account) |
$33,400/year (main account) $101,200/year (bldg. account) $101,200/year (legal account) |
| National Party Committee | $5,000/election3 | $5,000/year | Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited |
| PAC Multicandidate |
$5,000/election | $5,000/year | Unlimited | $5,000/year | $15,000/year (main account) $45,000/year (convention) $45,000/year (bldg. account) $45,000/year (legal account) |
$15,000/year (main account) $45,000/year (bldg. account) $45,000/year (legal account) |
| PAC Non-Multicandidate |
$2,700/election | $5,000/year | Unlimited | $10,000/year | $33,400/year (main account) $101,200/year (convention) $101,200/year (bldg. account) $101,200/year (legal account) |
$33,400/year (main account) $101,200/year (bldg. account) $101,200/year (legal account) |
| Corporation | Prohibited | Prohibited | Unlimited | Prohibited | Prohibited | Prohibited |
Footnotes
1. A "super PAC" may make only independent expenditures with respect to federal elections and may not make contributions to federal candidates, parties, and traditional PACs.
2. These are combined limits, shared with federal accounts of all other state & local committees of same party in same state.
3. National Party Committees may contribute up to $46,800 to each U.S. Senate candidate. The $5,000-per-election limit cited above applies to National Party Committees' contributions to other federal candidates.
This article is designed to give general information on the developments covered, not to serve as legal advice related to specific situations or as a legal opinion. Counsel should be consulted for legal advice.
