DATA DESCRIPTION BOOKLET This booklet was designed to facilitate usage of the Federal Election Commission's data file on party political committees taken from the final report of the 1993-94 FEC Reports on Financial Activity for Party and Non-Party Political Committees. The booklet consists of the following information: A. File Specifications B. Variable Descriptions The file includes one record for each party committee, with the records arranged first by party, with Democratic party committees appearing first, followed by Republican committees. Within each party, national level committees appear first, followed by state and local committees arranged alphabetically by state. It is important that the limitations of the information on these tapes be understood. They include financial activity reported as having taken place during the period from January 1, 1993 through December 31, 1994. Information appearing on reports covering this period which were received prior to August 30, 1995 has been included on the tape. While it is intended to give a complete picture of the financial activity which occurred during 1993-94, amendments to reports covering that period may have been filed after August 30, 1995. Available at the Commission for inspection are microfilmed copies of the original reports which show information as reported by the filers. The microfilmed public record is the official record of the Federal Election Commission. These tapes represent one of several tools which have been developed to summarize the vast quantity of data available on the microfilmed public record. FILE SPECIFICATIONS Record No. of Length Records 456 586 PARTY TAPE, SUMMARY FILE ATTRIBUTE DESCRIPTION LOCATION 1) Committee ID ID # assigned by Commission. The 1-9 first character is the letter "C" followed by eight numeric characters. 2) Committee Name of Committee 10-99 Name 3) Party This column contains a code to indi- 100 cate with which party the committee is affiliated. 1=Democratic, 2= Republican 4) State State in which committee is regis- 101-102 tered 5) End Cov Date Ending coverage date of the last Form 103-108 Last F3 3 document filed by the committee and included in the data. 6) Total Re- This column includes all receipts 109-118 ceipts reported by the committee. The value is found on Line 18 of each financial document filed by the committee. 7) Tot Trans-In This figure represents transfers in 119-128 Party Same from party comittees that are affi- Category/ liated with the reporting committee. State "Transfers" are exchanges of funds between affiliated political commit- tees. "Affiliated" committees are those committees which are esta- blished, financed, maintained, or controlled by the same category of party organization. For national party committees, this column con- tains the total amount of transfers from other committees of the same type (e.g., Congressional or Sena- torial). For state party commit- tees, this value indicates the total amount of transfers from other party committees in the same state. These figures are found on the schedule that supports Line 12. ATTRIBUTE DESCRIPTION LOCATION 8) Tot Trans- This figure represents contributions 129-138 In Party from party committees which are not Other in the same category (in the case of national committees) or state (in the case of state committees) as the re- porting committee. The source for this value is the schedule that sup- ports Line 12. 9) Non-Party This column contains the total amount 139-148 Contrib of all contributions received by the reporting committee from non-party com- mittees during 1993-94. This value is found on line 11c. 10) Tot Indiv This column represents total indivi- 149-158 Contrib dual contributions reported by the com- mittee. The value is found on line 11a. 11) $200-Up This figure represents the total of 159-168 Contrib itemized individual contributions in amounts greater than or equal to $200. These contributions can be either monies given directly to the committee or earmarked through another committee or they may be in-kind contributions of services, goods, or property. The source is the schedule that supports line 11a. 12) In-Kind This value represents the total 169-178 Contrib amount of in-kind contributions of services, goods, or property received by the committee from other political committees. The source is the sche- dule that supports Line 11c. This value represents a subset of the value reported in Attribute 9. 13) Total Dis- This column represents all outgoing 179-188 bursements funds reported by the political com- mittee on Line 28. 14) Tot Trans- This figure represents transfers from 189-198 Out Party the reporting committee to other affi- Same Cate- liated committees in the same cate- gory gory/state. "Transfers" are exchanges of funds between affiliated political committees. For national commit- tees, this column contains the total ATTRIBUTE DESCRIPTION LOCATION amount of transfers from committees in the same category (e.g., Congressional or Senatorial). For state committees, the value represents the total amount of transfers from other party commit- tees in the same state. The values are taken from the schedule that sup- ports Line 20. 15) Tot Trans- This value represents contributions 199-208 Out Pty by the reporting committee to party Other committees in other categories (for Category/ national committees) or other states State (for state committees). The source is the schedule that supports Line 20. 16) Tot Contri- This column represents contributions 209-218 butions by the reporting committee to non- to Non-Party party committees. The values are taken from the schedule that supports Line 21. 17) Indiv Con- This figure represents refunds of 219-228 trib Re- individual contributions made to fund the reporting committee. The source is the schedule that supports Line 26a. 18) Beginning This column represents the "cash on 229-238 Cash hand" of the reporting committee on January 1, 1993 (or its initial 1993 "cash on hand" if it registered after 1/1/93. The beginning cash balance is reported on Line 6. If the committee did not register until 1994, this value will be 0. 19) Ending Cash This value represents the most recent- 239-248 ly reported 1994 "cash on hand". It is taken from Line 8. 20) Debts Owed This value represents the outstanding 249-258 To debts and obligations owed TO the reporting committee. The figures are taken from Line 9 of the committee's latest report. ATTRIBUTE DESCRIPTION LOCATION 21) Debts Owed This figure represents the outstanding 259-268 By debts and obligations owed BY the com- mittee. The values are taken from Line 10 of the committee's latest re- port. 22) Total Contrib This figure represents the total con- 269-278 By tributions made by the committee to candidates for federal office during 1993-94. The value is taken from the schedules that support Line 21. 23) Total 24Z This column represents the total in- 279-288 Contrib kind contributions made by the re- porting committee to candidates. In- kind contributions are donations of services, goods, or property (e.g., the use of office space or equipment). They are valued at the ordinary market price and are reported on Line 21. This value represents a subset of the total reported in Attribute 22. 24) Total 1991 This column represents the total con- 289-298 Contrib tributions made by the reporting com- mittee to Presidential, Senatorial, or House campaign committees during the calendar year 1991. This value is taken from the schedules that support Line 21. 25) Contrib Pres This column represents total contri- 299-308 butions made by the committee to Pre- sidential candidates. Contributions are donations of money or in-kind con- tributions of services, goods, or pro- perty. The source is the schedule that supports Line 21. 26) Contrib This figure represents total contribu- 309-318 Senate tions made by the committee to Senate candidates. Contributions are dona- tions of money or in-kind contributions of services, goods, or property. The source is the schedule that supports Line 21. ATTRIBUTE DESCRIPTION LOCATION 27) Contrib This value represents total contribu- 319-328 House tions made by the committee to House candidates. Contributions are dona- tions of money or in-kind contributions of services, goods, or property. The source is the schedule that supports Line 21. 28) Total Expend This figure contains the total amount 329-338 For of coordinated expenditures made on behalf of federal candidates. These expenditures are permitted in 2 U.S.C. 441a(d), and are reported on Line 23 of Schedule F. 29) Sen Inc Cont This column represents total contribu- 339-348 tions made by the committee to Senate candidates who have been identified as incumbents. Incumbents are those who have held a Senate seat at any time during the 102nd Congress. The amounts are as reported on the schedules sup- porting Line 21. 30) Sen Chl Cont This figure represents total contribu- 349-358 tions made by the committee to Senate candidates who have been identified as challengers or other. (Other includes all candidates not identified as incum- bents, challengers, or open-seat can- didates, e.g., those who participated in an open seat contest in a previous cycle who are repaying debts for that campaign but did not run in 1993-94. The values come from the schedules that support Line 21. 31) Sen Opn Cont This column represents total contribu- 359-368 tions made by the committee to Senate candidates who have been identified as open seat candidates. Open seat can- didates are those who were seeking elec- tion in 1993 or 1994 to a seat where the incumbent was not seeking re-elec- tion. The amounts are reported on the schedules that support Line 21. ATTRIBUTE DESCRIPTION LOCATION 32) Hse Inc Cont This column represents total contribu- 369-378 tions made by the committee to House candidates who have been identified as incumbents. Incumbents are those who have held a House seat at any time dur- ing the 103rd Congress. The amounts are as reported on the schedules supporting Line 21. 33) Hse Chl Cont This figure represents total contribu- 379-388 tions made by the committee to House candidates who have been identified as challengers or other. (Other includes all candidates not identified as incum- bents, challengers, or open-seat can- didates.) The values come from the schedules that support Line 21. 34) Hse Opn Cont This column represents total contribu- 389-398 tions made by the committee to House candidates who have been identified as open seat candidates. Open seat can- didates are those who were seeking elec- tion in 1993 or 1994 to a seat where the incumbent was not seeking reelection. The amounts are reported on the sche- dules that support Line 21. 35) Pres Expend This figure represents the total amount 399-408 For of coordinated expenditures made to sup- port the candidacy of Presidential can- didates. These expenditures are per- mitted in 2 U.S.C. 441a(d) and are re- ported on Line 21 of Schedule F. 36) Senate Expend This figure represents the total amount 409-418 For of coordinated expenditures made by the committee in support of Senate candi- dates. The value is taken from the schedules that support Line 21. 37) House Expend This column contains the total amount 419-428 For of coordinated expenditures made by the reporting committee to support House candidates. The figure is taken from the schedules that support Line 21. ATTRIBUTE DESCRIPTION LOCATION 38) Non-Federal Transfers to the committee from non- 429-438 Transfers federal committees to pay for the non- federal component of shared federal/ non-federal activities, eg. administra- tive expenses. The non-federal share of joint activities by party committees is generally based on a fixed percentage for national committees and on ballot composition, i.e. the share of all offices appearing on the ballot which are non-federal, for state or local party committees. 39) Non-Federal The total expenditures made by the 439-448 Expenditures committee to pay for the non-federal components of joint federal/non-federal activities The non-federal component of joint activities by party committees is generally based on a fixed percentage for national committees and on ballot composition, i.e. the share of all offices appearing on the ballot which are non-federal, for state or local party committees. 40) Filler 449-456