A political fundraising rule long reviled by trade groups could be set aside—at least temporarily—through a bill now under consideration by the U.S. House Committee on Appropriations.

A rider in the bill would prohibit the Federal Election Commission from using any appropriated funds to enforce certain rules for trade groups' political action committees. Trade groups must now receive permission from a representative at each member company before the group can solicit PAC contributions. In addition, a company may give this "prior authorization" to only one trade group per year, even if it belongs to multiple associations with PACs.

Unions, professional societies and other groups with individual members do not need prior authorization to solicit for their PACs.

The Financial Services and General Government Appropriations bill covers fiscal year 2018—Oct. 1 through Sept. 30, 2018. The measure passed a subcommittee markup June 29.

Law firm Covington & Burling notes that this easing of restrictions comes with major caveats:

"First, the bill does not eliminate the solicitation rule. Instead, it essentially prohibits enforcement of the rule for FY2018," lawyers Andrew Garrahan and Matthew Shapanka write in Covington's Inside Political Law blog. "If the FY2019 appropriations bill does not contain the same restriction as this FY2018 bill, then the FEC presumably could resume enforcement of violations, including violations that occurred in FY2018. Second, even if the FEC is barred from enforcing this prohibition, the Department of Justice might theoretically be able to, acting independently, bring criminal charges for knowing and willful violations." http://bit.ly/2tR7LQi

The appropriations bill would also prohibit the Securities and Exchange Commission from requiring companies to disclose their trade association dues or political contributions.

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