Political action committee

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Political Action Committees (PACs) are political committees established and administered by corporations, labor unions, membership organizations or trade associations. The general definition is a group that spends money on elections, but is not run by a party or individual candidate. However, PACs can donate money to parties or candidates they support.

There are two types of political action committees, separate segregated funds and nonconnected PACs. Separate segregated funds are either established or administered by corporations, labor unions, member organizations, or trade associations. They can only raise funds from individuals associated with the connected groups. Conversely, nonconnected PACs are not connected to any of those groups and may solicit funds from the public.^[1] Nonconnected PACs are financially independent and pay for themselves via the contributions they raise. Separate segregated funds are funded by the organization they are associated with.^[2]

In addition, PACs can be broken down into multi-candidate and non multi-candidate categories.

See also: PACs and Super PACS and Outside spending

Multi-candidate PACs

Multi-candidate PACs are those that have:^[3]

over 50 contributors
been registered with the FEC for at least 6 months
(excluding state party committees) donated to at least 5 federal office candidates.

Multi-candidate PACs can contribute:^[3]

$5,000 to each candidate or candidate committee per election
$15,000 to the national party committee per calendar year
$5,000 (combined limit) to state, district and local party committee per calendar year
$5,000 to any other political committee per calendar year

Non multi-candidate PACs

Non multi-candidate PACs can contribute:^[3]

$2,600 to each candidate or candidate committee per election (indexed for inflation)
$32,400 to national party committee per calendar year (indexed for inflation)
$10,000 (combined limit) to state, district and local party committee per calendar year
$5,000 to any other political committee per calendar year

Top PACs in 2013-2014

Open Secrets lists the PACs with the most contributions to candidates in the 2013-2014 election cycle. The top five were:^[4]

National Association of Realtors
National Beer Wholesalers Association
National Auto Dealers Association
Honeywell International
Lockheed Martin

External links

Internal Revenue Service Information for Political Organizations

Footnotes

v • e SuperPACs

Super PACs	American Bridge 21st Century • American Crossroads • American Unity PAC • Campaign for Primary Accountability • Carly for America • Club for Growth Action • Congressional Leadership Fund •Conservative Solutions PAC • Cooperative of American Physicians IE Committee • Crossroads Generation • Ending Spending Action Fund • Endorse Liberty • Fair Share Action • FreedomWorks for America • Government Integrity Fund • House Majority PAC • Independence USA Fund • Keep the Promise Super PACs • Liberty for All PAC • Make America Great Again PAC • Mayday PAC • National Association of Realtors • NEA Advocacy Fund • NextGen Climate Action • Now or Never PAC • Planned Parenthood Votes • Ready for Hillary • Ready for Warren • Republican Jewish Coalition Victory Fund • Restore America's Voice PAC • RickPAC • Right to Rise USA • Senate Majority PAC • SEIU Pea-Federal • The 2016 Committee • Unintimidated PAC • Women Vote! • Workers' Voice

Background	Election policy • Federal campaign finance laws and regulations • Express advocacy • Independent expenditure • Issue advocacy • PACs and super PACs • Political spending not controlled by candidates or their campaigns • Republican presidential election super PACs, 2016 • Super PAC