Federal Candidate Committee

Candidates for federal offices such as President or Congress (United States House of Representatives or United States Senate) file their regular disclosure reports with the Federal Election Commission.

A federal candidate is not required to register with the State Board of Elections unless he or she wish to use committee funds to contribute to North Carolina state or local committees.  In that event, the federal candidate committee must register with the State Board of Elections within 10 calendar days of making the first contribution to a North Carolina state or local committee.

Federal candidate committees that register with North Carolina must select a resident of North Carolina to serve as either treasurer or assistant treasurer.

Once registered with the state, federal committees will file additional disclosure reports with the North Carolina State Board of Elections on a regular schedule using forms provided by the North Carolina State Board of Elections.  These reports disclose only the contributions made to committees registered in North Carolina.

To register, a federal candidate committee shall submit a Federal Committee Statement of Organization (CRO-4000), a Federal Committee North Carolina Disclosure Report Cover (CRO-4100) and a Federal Committee Report of Contributions to North Carolina Political Committees (CRO-4200).  Federal committees shall use these forms for reporting, except that to certify inactive status, federal committees may use CRO-3200.

State-registered federal candidate committees must continue to report on the reporting schedule provided, even if no contributions are made during the relevant reporting period. 

If no contributions are made during the relevant reporting period, a report is submitted to reflect the fact that there has been no activity during that period.  Such a report would consist simply of the signed Federal Committee NC Disclosure Report Cover form (CRO-4100) with a "0" in field 5. 

When a federal committee wishes to make contributions to a county or municipal committee, there is a specific process for registration that is also required to occur within ten days of making such a contribution.  The treasurer for the federal candidate committee should:

1.   Register the committee with the State Board of Elections (if the committee is not already registered);

2.   Notify the relevant county board of elections that the PAC will be making a contribution to a committee registered with that county.

3.   Expect to file disclosure reports according the state schedule and according to the schedule that applies to the affected election at the county or municipal level.

The second step is required so that the county board is alerted to send notices to the federal committee for the appropriate reporting schedule for the affected election.   The committee will file reports with the county on that schedule until the committee treasurer notifies the county that the committee is no longer making contributions affecting that election.   The treasurer should provide such notification by submitting a signed letter to that effect to the county board of elections.

The reporting requirement remains until the committee closes or certifies inactive status.[1]