Glossary Definition :

Coordination/Coordinated Expenditures: Consulting, cooperating, or working in concert with or at the request or suggestion of a candidate or party committee. Expenditures made in coordination with a candidate or party committee are treated as in-kind contributions to that candidate or party committee. They are subject to all the limits and disclosure requirements that apply to such contributions. BCRA overturned the FEC's existing regulations on coordinated spending on communications and ordered it to adopt new regulations on the subject. The FEC has since established a three-part test to determine whether a communication is coordinated. That test looks to (i) the source of the payment, (ii) the communication's content, and (iii) the interactions between the spender and the candidate or party committee or vendors used by them. The regulation is currently under judicial review.

Statutes and/or Regulations:

Definition of coordinated: 11C.F.R. § 109.20

Coordinated communication
- agent for: 11C.F.R. § 109.3
- agreement of formal collaboration not required for: 11C.F.R. § 109.21(e)
- conduct standards 11C.F.R. § 109.21(d)
- content standards: 11C.F.R. § 109.21(c)
- definition: 11C.F.R. § 109.21
- definition of a party coordinated communication: 11C.F.R. § 109.37
- prohibitions: 11C.F.R. § 109.22; § 109.35; and § 109.36
- safe harbor for response to inquiries about legislative or policy issues: 11C.F.R. § 109.21(f)
- treatment as in-kind contribution: 11C.F.R. § 109.21(b)

Coordinated party expenditures
- assignment of authority by party committees: 11C.F.R. § 109.33
- candidate authorization not required for solicitation of funds for: 11C.F.R. § 102.13(b)
- limits: 11C.F.R. § 109.32
- notices required for: 11C.F.R. § 110.11(d)(1)
- restrictions on also making independent expenditures: 11C.F.R. § 109.35
- timing: 11C.F.R. § 109.34
- treatment of political party committees: 11C.F.R. § 109.30
- use of campaign materials does not result in contribution to candidate: 11C.F.R. § 109.23(b)(5)