Stop Super PAC-Candidate Coordination Act

The Stop Super PAC-Candidate Coordination Act would reclassify certain coordinated spending as contributions to candidates under the Federal Election Campaign Act (FECA). Specifically, it adds a new category where payments for coordinated expenditures made by any person (not a candidate, not an authorized committee, and not a political party committee) are treated as contributions to the candidate unless they are already governed by existing contribution rules. The bill also creates a new definitional framework for coordinating expenditures (and who counts as a “coordinated spender”), sets criteria for what counts as a coordinated expenditure, and establishes a penalty regime for knowingly improper payments. In addition, it tightens the ban on fundraising for federal candidates and officeholders by outside political committees, clarifying that fundraising for committees or entities that accept noncompliant donations (or for 527 groups) is prohibited. The act includes transitional rules for repealing and replacing existing FEC coordination regulations and provides an effectiveness schedule that pushes the practical impact to 2026 for fundraising prohibitions and to a 120-day clock for the coordinated-expenditure changes. In short, the bill aims to close what it characterizes as a coordination loophole by treating certain coordinated expenditures as campaign contributions (thus subject to contribution limits), while strengthening fundraising restrictions on candidates’ involvement with outside political groups. It would also require the FEC to rewrite coordination regulations and delay some provisions in effect until 2026.