PAC Solicitation Rules: Restricted Classes and Permissible Contacts
Federal law sharply limits which individuals a political action committee may solicit for contributions, creating a framework built around the concept of a "restricted class." These rules, administered by the Federal Election Commission (FEC) under the Federal Election Campaign Act (FECA), determine not only who may be asked for money but also the manner and frequency of those requests. For anyone involved in PAC fundraising rules or compliance, understanding the boundary between permissible and prohibited solicitation contacts is foundational to lawful PAC operation.
Definition and scope
Under 52 U.S.C. § 30118, corporations and labor organizations are prohibited from using general treasury funds to make contributions or expenditures in connection with federal elections. The mechanism that permits corporate and labor PACs to operate is a statutory carve-out allowing them to solicit contributions from a defined restricted class — a specific population tied to the sponsoring organization.
The restricted class concept applies directly to connected PACs — also called separate segregated funds (SSFs). A connected PAC may solicit only its restricted class for voluntary contributions. The FEC defines these classes as follows:
- Corporate SSFs may solicit the corporation's executive and administrative personnel, stockholders, and the families of those individuals (FEC, 11 C.F.R. § 114.5).
- Labor union SSFs may solicit union members, executive and administrative personnel of the union, and the families of those individuals (FEC, 11 C.F.R. § 114.5).
- Trade association SSFs occupy a distinct position: they may solicit the restricted class of member corporations, but only with the prior written approval of each member corporation — and each member corporation may grant that approval to only one trade association per calendar year (FEC, 11 C.F.R. § 114.8).
Nonconnected PACs, by contrast, face no restricted class limitation and may solicit the general public — a structural distinction explored further at connected vs. nonconnected PACs.
How it works
The mechanics of a compliant solicitation involve three overlapping requirements: who is contacted, how they are contacted, and what disclosures accompany the request.
Twice-yearly general public solicitation. Corporate SSFs hold one specific exception to their restricted class limitation. Under 11 C.F.R. § 114.6, a corporate SSF may solicit all employees — beyond the restricted class — up to 2 times per calendar year, provided the solicitation is conducted by mail only, includes a clear notice that contributions are voluntary, states that refusal will not affect an employee's job or benefits, and offers a method of anonymous response. These are sometimes called "general solicitations" or "twice-yearly solicitations."
Voluntariness disclosure. Every solicitation directed at the restricted class must communicate that contributions are voluntary and that no one will be disadvantaged for declining. This requirement appears in 11 C.F.R. § 114.5(a)(2).
Payroll deduction systems. Employers and unions may facilitate contributions through payroll deduction, but the deduction must be genuinely voluntary and employees must have the ability to revoke authorization at any time.
Common scenarios
Several practical situations illustrate how solicitation rules operate:
- New employee onboarding. A corporation sends PAC enrollment materials to a newly hired vice president (executive personnel). This is permissible because the individual falls within the restricted class.
- Plant floor workers. A manufacturing corporation's SSF wants to solicit hourly production workers. Hourly workers generally do not qualify as "executive or administrative personnel," so they fall outside the restricted class for corporate SSFs. The corporation may reach them only through the twice-yearly mail solicitation under § 114.6.
- Trade association double-dipping. A member company that has already granted written solicitation approval to one trade association for the calendar year cannot grant that same approval to a second trade association until the following year.
- Subsidiary employees. A parent corporation's PAC may solicit employees of a subsidiary if the parent and subsidiary are treated as a single employer under FEC affiliation rules (11 C.F.R. § 114.5(g)).
- Former employees. Solicitation of retired or former employees is generally not permissible because they no longer belong to the active restricted class as defined by the FEC.
These scenarios illustrate why accurate classification of personnel categories matters before any solicitation campaign begins. The broader universe of PAC compliance obligations depends on getting that classification correct from the start.
Decision boundaries
The core decision framework for any SSF involves two questions answered in sequence:
Step 1 — Is the target individual within the restricted class?
Apply the applicable regulatory definition (§ 114.5 for corporations and unions; § 114.8 for trade associations). If yes, unlimited solicitations are permissible subject to voluntariness requirements.
Step 2 — If outside the restricted class, does an exception apply?
Only the twice-yearly mail solicitation exception under § 114.6 is available to corporate SSFs. Labor union SSFs have a parallel twice-yearly exception allowing them to solicit all employees of the employer where they have a collective bargaining agreement.
A critical contrast: nonconnected PACs, including most ideological committees and leadership PACs, are not subject to restricted class rules at all — they may solicit any individual in the United States, subject only to the individual contribution limit of $3,300 per election cycle (FEC contribution limits schedule). This asymmetry between SSFs and nonconnected PACs represents one of the most consequential structural divides in federal campaign finance law, and it is explored in depth across the PAC reference materials at pacauthority.com.
Violations of solicitation rules can result in civil penalties assessed by the FEC; penalty amounts are calculated under 52 U.S.C. § 30109 and vary based on whether the violation is knowing and willful.