35 Next, EMILY’s List argues that § 106.6(f) exceeds the FEC’s statutory authority. Recall that this provision requires covered non-profits to use hard money for all or part of their public communications that merely “refer” to federal candidates. See 11 C.F.R. 106.6(f). The FEC runs roughshod over the limits on its statutory authority when it presumes that any public communications that merely “refer” to a federal candidate necessarily seek to influence a federal election.19 For example, § 106.6(f) would compel a covered nonprofit to use some hard money to pay for an advertisement running only in California in which Senator Jones from Maine endorses Candidate Smith for Governor of California. The sole purpose of such an advertisement is to influence the state election in California – a matter entirely outside the FEC’s statutory authority. activities and communications “for the purpose of influencing” federal elections. See McConnell, 540 U.S. at 123 (“Although a literal reading of FECA’s definition of ‘contribution’ would have required such activities to be funded with hard money, the FEC ruled that political parties could fund mixed-purpose activities – including get-out-the-vote drives and generic party advertising – in part with soft money.”) (emphasis added). 19 The original FEC proposal was far narrower and would have covered only communications that promote, attack, support, or oppose federal candidates, similar to BCRA’s requirement for state and local parties. See 69 Fed. Reg. at 11,753, 11,757-11,758 (Mar. 11, 2004) (notice of proposed rulemaking). After initially considering that limited proposal, the FEC ultimately decided to regulate broadly and to saddle non-profits with even greater restrictions than Congress in BCRA chose to impose on state and local parties.