Urges Strengthening of Federal Lobby Laws

RESOLVED, That the American Bar Association urges Congress to:

(1) Amend the Lobbying Disclosure Act (LDA) by:

(a) eliminating narrowing the current threshold language under which a lobbying firm or organization need not register under the LDA unless it employs a person whose lobbying activities constitute twenty percent or more of the time that he or she spends in working for a particular client during a quarterly period, provided that Congress should establish reasonable threshold limitations on the obligation to list any particular individual as a federally registered lobbyist, including measures designed to avoid imposing undue financial burdens on small entities;

(b) requiring LDA registrants and their clients to disclose in quarterly reports the lobbying support activities in which they have engaged, as well as the lobbying support activities performed by firms that they have retained, including strategy, polling, coalition building, and public relations activities;

(c) requiring on quarterly reports the identification of (i) individuals principally involved in planning, directing, or coordinating lobbying support activities, as well as (ii) individuals with any level of involvement in such activities who have recently served as high-ranking federal officials; and

(d) requiring LDA registrants to disclose on quarterly reports all congressional offices, congressional committees, and federal agencies and offices contacted by lobbyists employed by those registrants.

(2) Provide that a federally registered lobbyist may not:

(a) lobby a member of Congress for whom he or she has engaged in campaign fundraising during the past two years;

(b) engage in campaign fundraising for a member of Congress whom he or she has lobbied during the past two years;

(c) make or solicit financial contributions to the reelection campaign of a member of Congress whom the lobbyist has been retained to lobby for an earmark or other narrow financial benefit; or

(d) enter into a contingent fee contract with a client to lobby for an earmark or other narrow financial benefit for that client.

(3) Transfer authority to enforce the LDA to a suitable administrative authority and empower that agency to utilize appropriate tools such as rulemaking, investigation, and imposition of civil or administrative penalties.