Political Action Committees
Political Action Committees (PACs) are 527 organizations used for political campaigns.
Description
A PAC is defined differently across electoral systems. In federal elections, a PAC is any organization that receives or spends more than $1,000. They must register with the FEC. They must file disclosures of their financing with the IRS.
Any individual can create a PAC; it would then be labeled a non-connected PAC. A common subtype of this is a leadership PAC, which enables political parties and elected officials to avoid individual contribution limits on a campaign. A leadership PAC only needs to operate "independent expenditures" and not coordinate directly with the candidate themself.
Corporations and unions cannot contribute to a non-connected PAC. They can, however, operate a connected PAC and solicit donations from a restricted group, e.g. a union's connected PAC can exclusive solicit the union membership for donations. Furthermore, a connected PAC can contribute to a non-connected PAC.
A Super PAC is completely unregulated as long as they operate "independent expenditures". They do still have to file disclosures of their financing.
History
The Congress of Industrial Organizations - Political Action Committee (CIO-PAC) was established following the Smith-Connally Act.
The IRS registration for tax-exempt 527 organizations was created in 1975. This included restrictions on "express advocacy" for a candidate. The McCain-Feingold Act then regulated any political speech leading up to an election, regardless of whether it fell under the "express advocacy" legal definition. This was upheld in !McConnell v. Federal Election Commission.
Between EMILY's List v. Federal Election Commission (2009), Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission (2010), and Speechnow.org v. Federal Election Commission (2010), regulations on organizations that operate "independent expenditures" were thrown out.