BCRA is an acronym for the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002 , which is also known as McCain-Feingold after its two primary sponsors in the U.S. Senate. BCRA amended existing law. Among its most important provisions were a ban on soft money in federal elections and new regulations for electioneering communications.

Candidate committees are the official political committees of federal candidates. Every federal candidate is required to register an authorized candidate committee with the Federal Election Commission. This committee serves as the official depository for the candidate's official campaign funds.

See Separate Segregated Funds .

A contribution is the giving of money or anything of value - subject to certain specific statutory exceptions - to a federal candidate or political committee for its use in influencing a federal election.

Federal law limits the amounts individuals and PACs can give to candidates, political parties, and political committees. These limits regulate both specific contributions and aggregate contributions by individuals.

Coordination is c onsulting, 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.

Certain contributions and expenditures to influence federal elections must be reported to a federal authority, usually the Federal Election Commission. The authority then makes these reports available to the public. The FEC, for example, posts the disclosure reports it receives online and makes them available at its office for public inspection.

Any broadcast, cable, or satellite communication clearly identifying a federal candidate that appears within 30 days before a primary or special election or 60 days before a general election, and is accessible by at least 50,000 members of the candidate's constituency is an electioneering communication. BCRA regulates the type of funding that can be used for these communications.

An expenditure is the disbursement of money or anything of value—subject to certain specific statutory exceptions—for the election or defeat of a federal candidate. Expenditures differ from contributions in that the spender or the spender's agent, not a different person or entity, maintains control over how the money will be ultimately used.

Expenditures come in two types. An expenditure made in cooperation with a candidate, the candidate's campaign committee, or a political party committee is a coordinated expenditure and is treated as a contribution. An expenditure made without such cooperation is an independent expenditure. Independent expenditures are not subject to limits on the amount that may be spent, unlike contributions.

According to FEC regulations, this type of communication is one (a) that uses particular "magic words" like "elect," "defeat," "vote for," or "vote against," or (b) when taken as a whole and with limited reference to external events, such as the proximity to the election, can only be interpreted by a "reasonable person" as advocating the election or defeat of one or more clearly identified candidate(s).

See Federal Election Commission.

FECA is an acronym for The Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971, the statute that serves as the basis for current federal campaign finance regulation. It has been amended extensively four times: in 1974 in response to Watergate, in 1976 in response to the Supreme Court's opinion in Buckley, in 1979 to allow parties to raise and spend additional funds for individual volunteer activities, and in 2002 by the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act (BCRA).

Under BCRA, "federal election activities" must be financed with hard money even when conducted by a state party. Federal election activities include voter registration activity within 120 days of the election; voter identification, get-out-the-vote activity, or generic campaign activity conducted for an election in which a candidate for federal office appears on the ballot; a public communication that refers to a clearly identified federal candidate and promotes or attacks that candidate; and services provided by an employee of a state, district or local political party committee who spends more than 25% of his or her compensated time during a single month on activities connected with the federal election.

Hard money is money or anything of value that a political committee receives that satisfies federal contribution limits, source restrictions, and disclosure requirements. Before BCRA, national political party committees could solicit and receive money for certain uses, most notably to finance generic party activities and issue advocacy advertisements, that was not subject to federal contribution limits and source prohibitions. After BCRA, national party committees are only allowed to use federally regulated funds to pay for their political activities.

Internal communications are partisan communications between a corporation and its shareholders and executive and administrative personnel, or between a labor union and its members. These communications can be on any subject, including an endorsement urging the election or defeat of a federal candidate.

Any communication that does not expressly advocate the election or defeat of clearly identified federal candidate is termed issue advocacy. It does not primarily have to relate to policy issues rather than candidates. Before BCRA, FECA did not regulate issue advocacy. BCRA now regulates issue advocacy that qualifies as an "electioneering communication" and issue advocacy by any federal political committee.

Leadership PACs, sometimes called personal PACs, are non-connected political action committees that serve the political interests of a member of Congress . The FEC has allowed federal officeholders to sponsor leadership PACs in addition to their official campaign committees. Leadership PACs may accept hard money contributions of up to $5,000 per year.

Levin funds are contributions to state, district or local political party committees that are permitted under federal law for specific purposes and are limited to $10,000 per year per donor, so long as allowed by state law. If state law allows, they can come from sources ordinarily impermissible under federal law, like corporations or labor unions. If state law sets a lower contribution limit for donations to party committees, then the lower contribution limit applies. Levin funds may only be spent in conjunction with federal funds and may not be used to pay for broadcast advertising. The percentage of federal and non-federal funds to be used for "Levin activities," which include generic party voter registration drives, voter identification programs, and get-out-the-vote efforts, is based on an allocation formula determined by the FEC.

The lowest unit rate for the same class and amount of broadcast time for the same period that a television or radio station offers to its best commercial advertisers. In some circumstances this rate must be offered to a legally qualified federal candidate.

A type of political action committee. To qualify for this status, a PAC must have been registered with the FEC for at least six months, have received contributions from at least 50 people, and have made contributions to at least five federal candidates. A multicandidate PAC may contribute up to $5,000 per year to a particular federal candidate, up to $15,000 per year to a national party committee, and up to $5,000 per year to another political committee.

Each national party has three separate committees that work to support their candidates—a national party committee, a senatorial committee, and a congressional committee. Respectively, these committees are: the National Republican Committee, the National Republican Senatorial Committee, the National Republican Congressional Committee; and the Democratic National Committee, the Democratic National Senatorial Committee, and the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee.

Non-connected PACs, also known as independent PACs, are political action committees not officially affiliated with another entity. Unlike connected PACs, they must pay their set-up, administration, and solicitation expenses out of the contributions they receive.

A type of political action committee that does not qualify for mulitcandidate PAC status. Non-multicandidate PACs may contribute up to $2,000 per year to a federal candidate, up to $25,000 per year to a national party committee, and up to $5,000 per year to another political committee.

Non-profit corporations are typically organized as tax exempt organizations under section 501(c) of the Internal Revenue Code and are subject to the same general rules as for-profit corporations: they may not use general treasury funds for contributions, expenditures, or electioneering communications, but, with the exception of 501(c)(3) charities, they may set up a connected PAC to raise money for these purposes. Tax law, however, does not allow 501(c) organizations to have the influencing of elections as their primary purpose.

Party committees are the political committees that represent political parties. They are part of the official party structure at the national, state, or local level and control the funds the party itself can spend on influencing federal elections.

Political action committees (PACs) are political committees officially independent of parties and candidates. They come in two types: connected PACs and non-connected PACs. Almost all PACs at the federal level are "multi-candidate committees" that have been registered with the FEC for more than 6 months, have received contributions from at least 50 people, and have made contributions to at least five federal candidates. These committees may contribute up to $5,000 per election to a federal candidate.

See Section 527 Organization.

Communications that are made publicly on broadcast television or radio, a digital broadcast system, a cable system or via e-mail or the web. Disclosure regulations may apply if a public communication is an electioneering communication or contains express advocacy.

Section 527 is the provision of the Internal Revenue Code that governs the tax treatment of "political organizations" which are organized and operate primarily for the purpose of influencing the selection of candidates to elected or appointed office. This section of the tax code provides that the contributions received and expenditures made by these committees will not be taxed.

All federal political committees-whether candidate committees, party committees, or PACs-are section 527 organizations, as are state and local political organizations, and a smaller number of organizations not registered and reporting with any election agency. It is this latter group that the media usually means when it refers to "527s" raising and spending soft money in federal elections.

Separate segregated funds are PACs whose set-up, administration, and solicitation costs are paid for by another entity, usually a union or business corporation. Connected PACs can only solicit contributions from certain individuals connected to the organization sponsoring them.

Soft money is money or anything of value that is given or spent for federal election purposes outside of federal contribution limits, source restrictions, and disclosure requirements. Prior to the adoption of BCRA, soft money was the term used to refer to the non-federal monies raised by party committees and used to pay a share of the costs of federal-election-related activities. National parties were banned from receiving or using soft money under BCRA. After BCRA, the most controversial form of soft money has been the monies donated to section 527 tax exempt political organizations not registered as federal political committees that engage in independent activity to influence federal elections.

Source prohibitions completely ban expenditures or contributions by particular types of entities, most notably business corporations, unions, and foreign nationals without green cards.