Are Political Parties Entitled to the Lowest Unit Charge?

As we approach the Lowest Unit Charge (LUC) window for the upcoming general elections (the LUC window opens on September 4, 60 days before the November 3 general election), there’s was a recent Supreme Court decision that will likely have a significant impact on the amount of political advertising that is now eligible for the LUC.

The Supreme Court decision, National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) v. the Federal Election Commission (FEC), rejected existing limits on how much political parties can coordinate party spending with their federal candidates (House, Senate, President) in the general election. Accordingly, there are no longer any so-called political-party coordinated-expenditure limits, and party committees such as the RNC and the DNC can now coordinate their spending with their nominees without restrictions.

But, you may ask, how does this relate to the LUC? Well … back in March, the FCC released a public notice purportedly “to remind broadcasters and the public about” the LUC. But, tucked into that public notice, the FCC articulated for the first time (in writing, at least) that LUC rates also apply to ads paid for by political parties so long as the ads are “authorized” by a candidate.

So, putting the two pieces together – (1) the Supreme Court says that political parties can now coordinate their spending with candidates without any restrictions and (2) the FCC says that ads paid for by political parties, but “authorized” by candidates, are entitled to the LUC – what you get is that that ads paid for by the political parties (but “authorized” by their candidates) are now eligible for the LUC.

Although there is a judicial appeal pending of the FCC’s Public Notice (oral argument in the Federal 4th Circuit is set for August 7), for now, the FCC’s interpretation that candidate-authorized political party ads are entitled to the LUC could very well soon cause stations to see an influx of political ads from the political parties insisting that they are eligible for the LUC.