The law, commonly known as the McCain-Feingold Act, or BCRA, restricted so-called “soft money” donations — unlimited contributions to party organizations, often by labor unions and corporations, used for nebulous, unregulated “party building” activities — and tried to separate issue advocacy from candidate advocacy. The Act regulated issue advocacy by creating a new term in federal election law, “electioneering communications”— political advertisements that “refer” to a clearly identified federal candidate and are broadcast within 30 days of a primary or 60 days of a general election. Generally, the act prohibited unions and certain corporations from spending treasury funds for such “electioneering communications.”