<Table> <Tr> <Td> </Td> <Td> This article needs to be updated . Please update this article to reflect recent events or newly available information . (February 2016) </Td> </Tr> </Table> <Tr> <Td> </Td> <Td> This article needs to be updated . Please update this article to reflect recent events or newly available information . (February 2016) </Td> </Tr> <P> In the United States and Canada, a political action committee (PAC) is an organization that pools campaign contributions from members and donates those funds to campaign for or against candidates, ballot initiatives, or legislation . The legal term PAC has been created in pursuit of campaign finance reform in the United States . This term is quite specific to all activities of campaign finance in the United States . Democracies of other countries use different terms for the units of campaign spending or spending on political competition (see political finance). At the U.S. federal level, an organization becomes a PAC when it receives or spends more than $1,000 for the purpose of influencing a federal election, and registers with the Federal Election Commission, according to the Federal Election Campaign Act as amended by the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002 (also known as the McCain - Feingold Act). At the state level, an organization becomes a PAC according to the state's election laws . </P>

By 2012 there were approximately pacs in the united states