Last week the Federal Election Commission (FEC) held public hearings on its proposed regulations implementing the ban on broadcasts that refer to federal candidates within 60 days of an election or 30 days of a primary. The Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002 creates the new restriction on broadcasts by corporations, including nonprofits, and labor unions, but gives the FEC authority to create exemptions for broadcasts that are not related to elections. The hearing focused on how broad or narrow these exemptions should be. OMB Watch presented testimony to support our written comments asking for exemptions for public charities, exempt under Section 501(c)(3) of the tax code, since these groups are already prohibited from supporting or opposing candidates, and were not the source of the problematic soft money ads in the 2000 elections. Yet these FEC restrictions might limit lobbying activities during the election season. Other groups, including the Alliance for Justice, Independent Sector and the American Taxpayers Alliance, also testified about the need exemptions for grassroots lobbying and similar communications. Campaign finance reform groups like Common Cause agreed that such exemptions may be needed, but urged a much narrower definition of what could be allowed. They said no exemptions would be preferable to overly broad ones. The Ballot Initiative Strategy Center testified in support of an exemption for broadcasts relating to state or local referendums in which federal candidates, including Members of Congress, urge the public to support or oppose the measure. Several members of the Commission expressed interest in exemptions broad enough to avoid unintended consequences under the rule. Chairman David Mason gave the example of a regular broadcast of church services during which a candidate might be in attendance or be mentioned from the pulpit. Commissioner Karl Sandstrom noted that ads for a movie based on Sen. John McCain’s recent autobiography could be banned if he runs for President in 2004. The Commission is scheduled to publish final regulations in early October, but they will not become effective until the day after this year’s election. Comments filed in this rulemaking are published on the FEC’s website. More information on BCRA and new regulations is available on the OMB Watch website.