Advisory Opinion Search Help
The FEC Searchable Advisory Opinion System (SAOS) enables the public to search all documents related to Advisory Opinions (AOs) issued by the Federal Election Commission. The Basic Search page provides options for searching the Final Opinions, while the Advanced Search Page allows for searches of both Final Opinions and other documents, such as Advisory Opinion Requests, draft documents, Commissioner Statements, and vote certifications.
Session
Cookies Must Be Enabled
Search Term(s) / Boolean functionalities
Sort by: Relevance, Chronological, Reverse
Chronological
Document Display (Split Screen)
Session Cookies Must Be Enabled
The AO searchable database uses "session" cookies, which are small temporary files that are erased when the user closes the Web browser. In order to use the AO searchable database, you must ensure that you have enabled "session" cookies (if you do not, your searches will return a blank search page).
Session cookies do not collect information from the user's computer. The session cookies used for this database will store information in the form of a session identification that does not personally identify the user. For example, Internet Explorer users may set their "privacy settings" to accept all cookies from this particular website, or may set the privacy security level equal to, or less than, "Medium High". Please note that it may take a few minutes for a change in your privacy settings to take effect. For additional information about your cookie settings, visit http://www.ncsacademy.com/faq/iecookies.cfm.
In order for the AO searchable database to function properly, please do not use your browser's Back and Forward buttons. Instead, please use the appropriate on-screen buttons for new searches, additional search results, etc.
Search Term(s)
Basic search page: searches for a word or phrase appearing only in Final AOs. Results are displayed with at least the first occurrence of the search term highlighted in context. Please note that you can only conduct one type of search (Term or AO number or Requestor or AO name) at a time.
Advanced search page: searches for word or phrase appearing in any of
the user-selected categories of documents.
Enter a word or phrase to find documents containing that word or phrase. Searches are not case sensitive and can use one or more of the Boolean operators listed below. The default operator is AND. Therefore, the search John Dick Harry is actually JOHN and DICK and HARRY. To search for a phrase simply use quotes, for example, "John Dick Harry ". Quoted terms and phrases will always return exact matches. If you type in a word the default search will retrieve only exact matches for that search term. You must use a wildcard to search for words containing your search term. For example, if you type in cat you will retrieve only documents containing the word cat. However if you type in *cat* you will retrieve documents containing cat, wildcat, and catch.
Once your search results are displayed, you can may click on a link to a specific document or choose one of the following options:
Refine Search: Returns to the search page with your original search term populated in the appropriate field. You may use the Boolean operators to narrow your search. For example, if the original search was for contribution, you could add AND book to find all of the AOs containing the word contribution and the word book.
New Search: Returns to the search page without any fields populated.
Boolean Functionalities
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OPERATOR |
RULE |
SAMPLE |
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and |
both words |
inquiry and representative |
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or |
either word |
inquiry or representative |
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not |
one word not the other |
inquiry not representative |
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" " |
exact word or phrase |
"representative inquiry" |
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* |
wildcard (replaces unlimited |
*present* (returns representative, |
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amount of text at the beginning or end of a word, or within a word) |
present, presenting, etc.) |
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/s |
within sentence |
washington /s DC |
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/p |
within paragraph |
washington /p DC |
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/n |
within 10 (default) words |
opinion /n dated |
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/n5 |
within 5 number of words |
opinion /n5 dated |
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? |
universal character (replaces a single character) |
mu?e (returns mule, muse, etc.) |
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Go to AO number (Basic Search) / AO Number search (Advanced)
Enter the number of a specific AO to go directly to the Final Opinion for an AO, or the response to an AOR if the Commission did not issue a Final Opinion. The AO number must be formatted with the year followed by a hyphen and a number that is at least 2 characters, for example, AO 2004-19 or AO 2004-09, but not 2004-9. Pending Advisory Opinion Requests (AORs) are assigned an AOR number, and if the Commission does issue an Advisory Opinion (AO) in response to that request, then the AO will receive the same number as the AOR.
Please note that for advanced searches where more than one field is populated, the AO number search will operate in conjunction with the other search fields. For example, an AO Number search for 2006-03 combined with an entity name search of *Center* will not produce any hits because AO 2006-03 does not contain *Center* in the entity name. However, an AO Number search for 2006-03 will produce documents for that AO if no other search fields are populated.
Requestor or AO name
Enter the AO name or the name of the person or entity that requested an AO to retrieve AOs requested by that person or entity (the search is conducted against a database of requestor and AO names, so the name may or may not appear as text in the final document). You may enter the full name of the requestor for an exact match, or enter an * before and/or after your requestor name to retrieve variations of the name you entered. Both the Boolean wildcard (*) and universal character (?) are supported in the requestor name search.
Example: *Center* returns all Requestors or AOs with Center anywhere in their name (e.g. Center for Competitive Politics, Campaign Legal Center, Centerville, Joseph McCenter)
Example: Center returns all Requestors whose last name or first name or full organization name = Center, or all AO names containing the word Center
Example: *S?an* returns all Requestors or AOs with Sean, Stan, Swan, etc. anywhere in the name, but not names with multiple letters between the "S" and "an" (e.g., not Susan)
Example: *Ce*r* returns all Requestors or AOs with Center anywhere in their name, or any other word that starts with "ce" and ends with "r" (e.g. cellular), anywhere in the name
Presentation Format (advanced search only)
For Advanced Searches, there are two options for retrieving your results.
List AOs and Summary (Default): The search will return only the Final AO and a brief summary of the AO if there are search "hits" in any of the documents associated with that AO. If you select categories of documents other than "Final Opinion", the search will return the Final AO document even if the search term is not contained in the Final AO, so long as it is contained in one of the selected categories of documents associated with that AO.
If you select any additional document categories (see below) the presentation format will automatically change to List AOs and Documents. However, if you later deselect one or more of those document categories, the presentation format will NOT automatically revert to List AOs and Summary.
List AOs and Documents: For "Search term(s)" (Search A) queries, the searches will return only those documents containing search "hits". The documents will be grouped by AO number and will provide a hyperlink to each document along with the name, date, and file size of each document. Whenever an AO document is returned, there is also a hyperlink to the final opinion issued for that AO, as well as "tags" noting whether the AO has been superseded or withdrawn or relates to the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002 (BCRA).
Search A and Search B (advanced search only)
On the Advanced Search page, you must choose one of two types of search. These two types cannot be combined or searched at the same time.
Search A searches for your search term(s) within the text of all documents in the selected document categories. Search A can utilize any of the Boolean functionalities described above. Search A does not search AO Number, AO Name, AO Request Date, AO Issued Date, Entity, or Entity Name. If using Search A, please leave these spaces blank.
Search B searches the data associated with AOs: AO Number, AO Name, AO Request Date, AO Issued Date, Entity, or Entity Name. These fields contain information input by the FEC, based on information associated with the AO. Search B does not search the text of the documents themselves, so although information from the data fields may appear in document text, it will not always necessarily appear there. If using Search B, please leave the Search Term(s) space blank.
Document Categories (advanced search only)
For "Search Term(s)" (Search A) searches on the Advanced Search page, you may select the categories of documents you wish to search by placing a check mark in the box next to a category. For "Search term(s)" searches, you must select at least one category. However, if you do not populate the "Search term(s)" field, the document category boxes will not restrict or otherwise affect your results. The Final Opinion box is checked by default.
Final Opinion (default): The opinion issued by the Commission to the requestor. This category also includes closeout letters issued by the Commission to the requestor. Closeout letters indicate that the Commission is not providing a response to the Advisory Opinion request, generally because the request became moot, was incomplete, or for other reasons.
If you select any additional document categories (see below) the presentation format will automatically change to List AOs and Documents. However, if you later deselect one or more of those document categories, the presentation format will NOT automatically revert to List AOs and Summary.
AO Request, Supplemental Material and Extensions of Time: This category includes the Advisory Opinion Request (AOR), any supplemental material provided by the requestor, and any documentation of extensions of time. For most Advisory Opinions, the Commission must issue an opinion within 60 days of the request, so extensions of time enable the Commission to issue an opinion at a later date.
Draft Documents: Draft AOs, and amendments to those drafts, prepared by the Office of General Counsel or one or more Commissioners. This category also includes all other agenda documents, such as pre-vote statements or other information that Commissioners wish to discuss at open meetings.
Votes: This category includes all certifications of each Commissioner's vote on AOs. There is sometimes more than one vote on each AO, and these different votes may be recorded jointly in one certification document or separately in multiple certification documents.
Withdrawal of Request: The requestor may choose to withdraw the request at any point in the Advisory Opinion process prior to the Commission's issuing its Final Opinion. This category only includes documents relating to the requestor's decision to terminate an Advisory Opinion request.
Comments and ex parte Communications: All communications from the public, with the exception of the Advisory Opinion Request (AOR) itself and supplemental material provided by the requestor. Comments may be submitted on the AOR, or on draft documents, by requestors or the general public.
Commissioner Statements: Statements by Commissioners, generally framed as a dissenting or concurring opinion, issued separately or jointly by individual Commissioners. These statements are sometimes called "Statements of Reasons" because they often set forth the Commissioner's rationale for his or her vote.
Sort by: Relevance, Chronological, Reverse Chronological
You can order your search results in one of three ways:
Relevance (default): the documents with the greatest number of "hits" are displayed first
Chronological: the documents relating to the lowest number AO (older) are displayed first
Reverse Chronological: the documents relating to the highest number AO (newer) are displayed first
You can re-order your results by selecting a different option at the top of your search results page.
Entity Roles and Entity Types (advanced search only)
An "entity" is any person or entity, other than Commissioners or FEC staff, that falls into one of the following roles with respect to an AO:
Entity Roles
- Requestor: the entity requesting an AO from the Commission.
- Counsel/Representative: the person(s) or law firm representing a requestor organization. For the purposes of the entity database, when the requestor is represented by a law firm, both the law firm and the individual attorneys involved are listed as counsel.
- Commenter: any entity submitting a comment or ex-parte communication with respect to an AO. For the purposes of the entity database, when an organization submits a comment, both the organization and its representative(s) (including counsel) are considered commenters.
Entity Types
For purposes of this database only, each entity has been categorized as one of the following:
- Federal candidate/candidate committee/officeholder
- Publicly funded candidates/committees
- Party committees, national
- Party committees, state or local
- Nonconnected political committee
- Separate segregated fund
- Labor Organization
- Trade Organization
- Membership Organization, Cooperative, Corporation W/O Capital Stock
- Corporation (including LLCs electing corporate status)
- Partnership (including LLCs electing corporate status)
- Governmental entity
- Individual
- Research/Public Interest/Educational Institution [for commenters only]
- Law firm [for commenters or counsel/representative only]
- Other
These entity types are selected for general research purposes only and do not convey any formal determinations as to the actual classification or activities of an organization. The entity types were selected in recognition that some provisions of the FECA apply only to, or differently amongst, certain types of entities, and each entity is therefore categorized with an emphasis on the most useful research purposes. For example, many 501(c)(3) and (c)(4) groups that have requested advisory opinions have asked questions about whether their activities are restricted in light of their corporate status, so the entity is categorized as a "corporation" because the area of law applied is specific to corporations. An entity that is an incorporated trade organization is categorized as three types: a trade association, a membership organization, and a corporation. This multiple listing ensures that AOs involving these entities will show up in search results for any of those three categories.
Entity Name Search (advanced search only)
As with the Requestor Name search, the Entity Name search (Search B) does not support full Boolean capabilities. Instead, you must enter the full entity name, or use the wildcard functions to return variations on your search term: You may enter the full name of the requestor for an exact match, or enter an * before and/or after your requestor name to retrieve variations of the name you entered. Both the Boolean wildcard (*) and universal character (?) are supported in the requestor name search.
Example: *Center* returns all Requestors with Center anywhere in their name (e.g. Center for Competitive Politics, Campaign Legal Center, Centerville, Joseph McCenter)
Example: Center returns all Requestors whose last name or first name or full organization name = Center, or all AO names containing the word Center
Example: *S?an* returns all Requestors with Sean, Stan, Swan, etc. anywhere in the name, but not names with multiple letters between the "S" and "an" (e.g., not Susan)
Example: *Ce*r* returns all Requestors with Center, or any other word that starts with "ce" and ends with "r" (e.g., cellular), anywhere in the name
The entity name search operates from a database of entity names associated with particular AOs and does not search the text of documents. If you enter an entity name and populate any of the other search fields ("AO number," "AO issued date," "AO Name," etc.) you will only retrieve those documents that match the criteria entered in all of the search fields. For example, if you enter 01/01/2008 in the AO Issued Date - After field, and *Center* in the entity name field as a "Commenter," you will only retrieve AOs that were issued after January 1, 2008, and in which one or more comments were submitted by an entity with center in its name.
Please note that if you do not populate the "Search term(s)" field, the document category boxes will not restrict or otherwise affect your results. For example, if you enter *Center* as an entity name, "Commenter" as an entity role, and do not populate the "Search term(s)" field, you will retrieve all documents for each AO in which one or more comments were submitted by an entity with center in its name, regardless of which document types you have selected, if any.
AO Name (advanced search only)
The AO Name is a short form or abbreviation, often of the requestor's name, that appears for identification purposes when an AO is listed. The abbreviation is generally the shorthand name used in discussions about the AO.
Date searches (advanced search only)
Request date: The date on which the Commission receives a complete AO Request. You can search for a specific date or a range of dates.
Issued date: The day on which the Commission mails the Final Opinion or closeout document to the Requestor. You can search for a specific date or a range of dates.
Document Display (Split Screen)
The PDF file for each AO document can be viewed on a specially designed split screen in a pop-up window. On the right side of the screen is the document, and on the left side of the screen is information about the AO and links to all of the other documents associated with that AO. You may move the center separator to the left or to the right to expand either side. To return to the search result, just close the pop-up window. You may copy text from the right side of the document using the text tool, or select the binoculars to search for text within that document (see the next section). To collapse the left side and display only the document, click "Collapse" at the top of the left side. To view the left side again, click "Expand" at the same location.
Adobe® Word Find Feature
Once you've selected a document name and opened a PDF image of that document, the Adobe "Find" and "Find Again" commands in Adobe Acrobat Reader allow you to search the entire PDF document for a key word or term.
Limited wild card searching is supported in some Adobe PDF documents. For example, typing the term "contribut" will search for contribute, contribution, contributed, and contributing. Boolean searches using 'AND' and 'OR' type operators are not supported in Adobe Acrobat Reader. The accuracy of PDF text searches may vary based on the quality of the scanned documents, and therefore a message that the requested search found no results does not necessarily mean that the term does not exist occur within the document.