PUBLIC LAW 110–81—SEPT. 14, 2007 121 STAT. 735 

Public Law 110–81 

110th Congress 

An Act 

To provide greater transparency in the legislative process. 

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of 

the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE AND TABLE OF CONTENTS. 

(a) SHORT TITLE.—This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Honest Leadership and Open Government Act of 2007’’. 

(b) TABLE OF CONTENTS.—The table of contents for this Act 

is as follows: 

Sec. 1. Short title and table of contents. 

TITLE I—CLOSING THE REVOLVING DOOR 

Sec. 101. Amendments to restrictions on former officers, employees, and elected officials of the executive and legislative branches. 

Sec. 102. Wrongfully influencing a private entity’s employment decisions or practices. 

Sec. 103. Notification of post-employment restrictions. 

Sec. 104. Exception to restrictions on former officers, employees, and elected officials of the executive and legislative branch. 

Sec. 105. Effective date. 

TITLE II—FULL PUBLIC DISCLOSURE OF LOBBYING 

Sec. 201. Quarterly filing of lobbying disclosure reports. 

Sec. 202. Additional disclosure. 

Sec. 203. Semiannual reports on certain contributions. 

Sec. 204. Disclosure of bundled contributions. 

Sec. 205. Electronic filing of lobbying disclosure reports. 

Sec. 206. Prohibition on provision of gifts or travel by registered lobbyists to Members of Congress and to congressional employees. 

Sec. 207. Disclosure of lobbying activities by certain coalitions and associations. 

Sec. 208. Disclosure by registered lobbyists of past executive branch and congressional employment. 

Sec. 209. Public availability of lobbying disclosure information; maintenance of information. 

Sec. 210. Disclosure of enforcement for noncompliance. 

Sec. 211. Increased civil and criminal penalties for failure to comply with lobbying 

disclosure requirements. 

Sec. 212. Electronic filing and public database for lobbyists for foreign governments. 

Sec. 213. Comptroller General audit and annual report. 

Sec. 214. Sense of Congress. 

Sec. 215. Effective date. 

TITLE III—MATTERS RELATING TO THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

Sec. 301. Disclosure by Members and staff of employment negotiations. 

Sec. 302. Prohibition on lobbying contacts with spouse of Member who is a registered lobbyist. 

Sec. 303. Treatment of firms and other businesses whose members serve as House 

committee consultants. 

Sec. 304. Posting of travel and financial disclosure reports on public website of 

Clerk of the House of Representatives. 

Honest 

Leadership 

and Open 

Government 

Act of 2007. 

2 USC 1601 note. 

Sept. 14, 2007 

[S. 1] 


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121 STAT. 736 PUBLIC LAW 110–81—SEPT. 14, 2007 

Sec. 305. Prohibiting participation in lobbyist-sponsored events during political conventions. 

Sec. 306. Exercise of rulemaking Authority. 

TITLE IV—CONGRESSIONAL PENSION ACCOUNTABILITY 

Sec. 401. Loss of pensions accrued during service as a Member of Congress for 

abusing the public trust. 

TITLE V—SENATE LEGISLATIVE TRANSPARENCY AND ACCOUNTABILITY 

Subtitle A—Procedural Reform 

Sec. 511. Amendments to rule XXVIII. 

Sec. 512. Notice of objecting to proceeding. 

Sec. 513. Public availability of Senate committee and subcommittee meetings. 

Sec. 514. Amendments and motions to recommit. 

Sec. 515. Sense of the Senate on conference committee protocols. 

Subtitle B—Earmark Reform 

Sec. 521. Congressionally directed spending. 

Subtitle C—Revolving Door Reform 

Sec. 531. Post-employment restrictions. 

Sec. 532. Disclosure by Members of Congress and staff of employment negotiations. 

Sec. 533. Elimination of floor privileges for former Members, Senate officers, and 

Speakers of the House who are registered lobbyists or seek financial 

gain. 

Sec. 534. Influencing hiring decisions. 

Sec. 535. Notification of post-employment restrictions. 

Subtitle D—Gift and Travel Reform 

Sec. 541. Ban on gifts from registered lobbyists and entities that hire registered 

lobbyists. 

Sec. 542. National party conventions. 

Sec. 543. Proper valuation of tickets to entertainment and sporting events. 

Sec. 544. Restrictions on registered lobbyist participation in travel and disclosure. 

Sec. 545. Free attendance at a constituent event. 

Sec. 546. Senate privately paid travel public website. 

Subtitle E—Other Reforms 

Sec. 551. Compliance with lobbying disclosure. 

Sec. 552. Prohibit official contact with spouse or immediate family member of Member who is a registered lobbyist. 

Sec. 553. Mandatory Senate ethics training for Members and staff. 

Sec. 554. Annual report by Select Committee on Ethics. 

Sec. 555. Exercise of rulemaking powers. 

Sec. 556. Effective date and general provisions. 

TITLE VI—PROHIBITED USE OF PRIVATE AIRCRAFT 

Sec. 601. Restrictions on Use of Campaign Funds for Flights on Noncommercial 

Aircraft. 

TITLE VII—MISCELLANEOUS PROVISIONS 

Sec. 701. Sense of the Congress that any applicable restrictions on congressional officials and employees should apply to the executive and judicial 

branches. 

Sec. 702. Knowing and willful falsification or failure to report. 

Sec. 703. Rule of construction. 

TITLE I—CLOSING THE REVOLVING 

DOOR 

SEC. 101. AMENDMENTS TO RESTRICTIONS ON FORMER OFFICERS, 

EMPLOYEES, AND ELECTED OFFICIALS OF THE EXECUTIVE AND LEGISLATIVE BRANCHES. 

(a) VERY SENIOR EXECUTIVE PERSONNEL.—The matter after 

subparagraph (C) in section 207(d)(1) of title 18, United States 


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PUBLIC LAW 110–81—SEPT. 14, 2007 121 STAT. 737 

Code, is amended by striking ‘‘within 1 year’’ and inserting ‘‘within 

2 years’’. 

(b) RESTRICTIONS ON LOBBYING BY MEMBERS OF CONGRESS AND

EMPLOYEES OF CONGRESS.—Subsection (e) of section 207 of title 

18, United States Code, is amended— 

(1) by redesignating paragraph (7) as paragraph (9); 

(2) by redesignating paragraphs (2) through (6) as paragraphs (3) through (7), respectively; 

(3) by striking paragraph (1) and inserting the following: 

‘‘(1) MEMBERS OF CONGRESS AND ELECTED OFFICERS OF

THE HOUSE.— 

‘‘(A) SENATORS.—Any person who is a Senator and 

who, within 2 years after that person leaves office, knowingly makes, with the intent to influence, any communication to or appearance before any Member, officer, or 

employee of either House of Congress or any employee 

of any other legislative office of the Congress, on behalf 

of any other person (except the United States) in connection 

with any matter on which such former Senator seeks action 

by a Member, officer, or employee of either House of Congress, in his or her official capacity, shall be punished 

as provided in section 216 of this title. 

‘‘(B) MEMBERS AND OFFICERS OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES.—(i) Any person who is a Member of the 

House of Representatives or an elected officer of the House 

of Representatives and who, within 1 year after that person 

leaves office, knowingly makes, with the intent to influence, 

any communication to or appearance before any of the 

persons described in clause (ii) or (iii), on behalf of any 

other person (except the United States) in connection with 

any matter on which such former Member of Congress 

or elected officer seeks action by a Member, officer, or 

employee of either House of Congress, in his or her official 

capacity, shall be punished as provided in section 216 of 

this title. 

‘‘(ii) The persons referred to in clause (i) with respect 

to appearances or communications by a former Member 

of the House of Representatives are any Member, officer, 

or employee of either House of Congress and any employee 

of any other legislative office of the Congress. 

‘‘(iii) The persons referred to in clause (i) with respect 

to appearances or communications by a former elected 

officer are any Member, officer, or employee of the House 

of Representatives. 

‘‘(2) OFFICERS AND STAFF OF THE SENATE.—Any person who 

is an elected officer of the Senate, or an employee of the 

Senate to whom paragraph (7)(A) applies, and who, within 

1 year after that person leaves office or employment, knowingly 

makes, with the intent to influence, any communication to 

or appearance before any Senator or any officer or employee 

of the Senate, on behalf of any other person (except the United 

States) in connection with any matter on which such former 

elected officer or former employee seeks action by a Senator 

or an officer or employee of the Senate, in his or her official 

capacity, shall be punished as provided in section 216 of this 

title.’’; 


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121 STAT. 738 PUBLIC LAW 110–81—SEPT. 14, 2007 

(4) in paragraph (3) (as redesignated by paragraph (2) 

of this subsection)— 

(A) in subparagraph (A), by striking ‘‘of a Senator 

or an employee of a Member of the House of Representatives’’ and inserting ‘‘of a Member of the House of Representatives to whom paragraph (7)(A) applies’’; and 

(B) in subparagraph (B)— 

(i) in clause (i), by striking ‘‘Senator or’’; and 

(ii) in clause (ii), by striking ‘‘Senator or’’; 

(5) in paragraph (4) (as redesignated by paragraph (2) 

of this subsection)— 

(A) by striking ‘‘committee of Congress’’ and inserting 

‘‘committee of the House of Representatives, or an employee 

of a joint committee of the Congress whose pay is disbursed 

by the Clerk of the House of Representatives, to whom 

paragraph (7)(A) applies’’; and 

(B) by inserting ‘‘or joint committee (as the case may 

be)’’ after ‘‘committee’’ each subsequent place that term 

appears; 

(6) in paragraph (5) (as redesignated by paragraph (2) 

of this subsection)— 

(A) in subparagraph (A), by striking ‘‘or an employee 

on the leadership staff of the Senate’’ and inserting ‘‘to 

whom paragraph (7)(A) applies’’; and 

(B) in subparagraph (B), by striking ‘‘the following:’’ 

and all that follows through the end of clause (ii) and 

inserting ‘‘any Member of the leadership of the House 

of Representatives and any employee on the leadership 

staff of the House of Representatives.’’; 

(7) in paragraph (6)(A) (as redesignated by paragraph (2) 

of this subsection), by inserting ‘‘to whom paragraph (7)(B) 

applies’’ after ‘‘office of the Congress’’; 

(8) in paragraph (7) (as redesignated by paragraph (2) 

of this subsection)— 

(A) in subparagraph (A), by striking ‘‘and (4)’’ and 

inserting ‘‘(4), and (5)’’; and 

(B) in subparagraph (B)— 

(i) by striking ‘‘(5)’’ and inserting ‘‘(6)’’; 

(ii) in subparagraph (B), by striking ‘‘(or any comparable adjustment pursuant to interim authority of 

the President)’’; and 

(iii) by striking ‘‘level 5 of the Senior Executive 

Service’’ and inserting ‘‘level IV of the Executive 

Schedule’’; 

(9) by inserting after paragraph (7) (as redesignated by 

paragraph (2) of this subsection) the following: 

‘‘(8) EXCEPTION.—This subsection shall not apply to contacts with the staff of the Secretary of the Senate or the 

Clerk of the House of Representatives regarding compliance 

with lobbying disclosure requirements under the Lobbying 

Disclosure Act of 1995.’’; and 

(10) in paragraph (9)(G) (as redesignated by paragraph 

(1) of this subsection)— 

(A) by striking ‘‘the Copyright Royalty Tribunal,’’; and 

(B) by striking ‘‘or (4)’’ and inserting ‘‘(4), or (5)’’. 


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PUBLIC LAW 110–81—SEPT. 14, 2007 121 STAT. 739 

SEC. 102. WRONGFULLY INFLUENCING A PRIVATE ENTITY’S EMPLOYMENT DECISIONS OR PRACTICES. 

(a) IN GENERAL.—Chapter 11 of title 18, United States Code, 

is amended by adding at the end the following: 

‘‘§ 227. Wrongfully influencing a private entity’s employment 

decisions by a Member of Congress 

‘‘Whoever, being a Senator or Representative in, or a Delegate 

or Resident Commissioner to, the Congress or an employee of either 

House of Congress, with the intent to influence, solely on the 

basis of partisan political affiliation, an employment decision or 

employment practice of any private entity— 

‘‘(1) takes or withholds, or offers or threatens to take or 

withhold, an official act, or 

‘‘(2) influences, or offers or threatens to influence, the official act of another, 

shall be fined under this title or imprisoned for not more than 

15 years, or both, and may be disqualified from holding any office 

of honor, trust, or profit under the United States.’’. 

(b) NO INFERENCE.—Nothing in section 227 of title 18, United 

States Code, as added by this section, shall be construed to create 

any inference with respect to whether the activity described in 

section 227 of title 18, United States Code, was a criminal or 

civil offense before the enactment of this Act, including under 

section 201(b), 201(c), any of sections 203 through 209, or section 

872, of title 18, United States Code. 

(c) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—The table of sections for chapter 

11 of title 18, United States Code, is amended by adding at the 

end the following: 

‘‘227. Wrongfully influencing a private entity’s employment decisions by a Member 

of Congress.’’. 

SEC. 103. NOTIFICATION OF POST-EMPLOYMENT RESTRICTIONS. 

(a) NOTIFICATION OF POST-EMPLOYMENT RESTRICTIONS.—After 

a Member of Congress or an elected officer of either House of 

Congress leaves office, or after the termination of employment 

with the House of Representatives or the Senate of an employee 

who is covered under paragraph (2), (3), (4), or (5) of section 207(e) 

of title 18, United States Code, the Clerk of the House of Representatives, after consultation with the Committee on Standards of Official Conduct, or the Secretary of the Senate, as the case may 

be, shall notify the Member, officer, or employee of the beginning 

and ending date of the prohibitions that apply to the Member, 

officer, or employee under section 207(e) of that title. 

(b) POSTING ON INTERNET.—The Clerk of the House of Representatives, with respect to notifications under subsection (a) 

relating to Members, officers, and employees of the House, and 

the Secretary of the Senate, with respect to such notifications 

relating to Members, officers, and employees of the Senate, shall 

post the information contained in such notifications on the public 

Internet site of the Office of the Clerk or the Secretary of the 

Senate, as the case may be, in a format that, to the extent technically practicable, is searchable, sortable, and downloadable. 

2 USC 104d. 

18 USC 227 note. 

Penalties. 


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121 STAT. 740 PUBLIC LAW 110–81—SEPT. 14, 2007 

SEC. 104. EXCEPTION TO RESTRICTIONS ON FORMER OFFICERS, 

EMPLOYEES, AND ELECTED OFFICIALS OF THE EXECUTIVE AND LEGISLATIVE BRANCH. 

(a) IN GENERAL.—Section 207(j)(1) of title 18, United States 

Code, is amended— 

(1) by striking ‘‘The restrictions’’ and inserting the following: 

‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The restrictions’’; 

(2) by moving the remaining text 2 ems to the right; and 

(3) by adding at the end the following: 

‘‘(B) TRIBAL ORGANIZATIONS AND INTER-TRIBAL CONSOR- TIUMS.—The restrictions contained in this section shall not 

apply to acts authorized by section 104(j) of the Indian 

Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act (25 

U.S.C. 450i(j)).’’. 

(b) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—Section 104(j) of the Indian 

Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act (25 U.S.C. 450i(j)) 

is amended to read as follows: 

‘‘(j) Anything in sections 205 and 207 of title 18, United States 

Code, to the contrary notwithstanding— 

‘‘(1) an officer or employee of the United States assigned 

to a tribal organization (as defined in section 4(l)) or an intertribal consortium (as defined in section 501), as authorized 

under section 3372 of title 5, United States Code, or section 

2072 of the Revised Statutes (25 U.S.C. 48) may act as agent 

or attorney for, and appear on behalf of, such tribal organization 

or inter-tribal consortium in connection with any matter related 

to a tribal governmental activity or Federal Indian program 

or service pending before any department, agency, court, or 

commission, including any matter in which the United States 

is a party or has a direct and substantial interest: Provided, 

That such officer or employee must advise in writing the head 

of the department, agency, court, or commission with which 

the officer or employee is dealing or appearing on behalf of 

the tribal organization or inter-tribal consortium of any personal and substantial involvement with the matter involved; 

and 

‘‘(2) a former officer or employee of the United States 

who is carrying out official duties as an employee or as an 

elected or appointed official of a tribal organization (as defined 

in section 4(l)) or inter-tribal consortium (as defined in section 

501) may act as agent or attorney for, and appear on behalf 

of, such tribal organization or intra-tribal consortium in connection with any matter related to a tribal governmental activity 

or Federal Indian program or service pending before any department, agency, court, or commission, including any matter in 

which the United States is a party or has a direct and substantial interest: Provided, That such former officer or employee 

must advise in writing the head of the department, agency, 

court, or commission with which the former officer or employee 

is dealing or appearing on behalf of the tribal organization 

or inter-tribal consortium of any personal and substantial 

involvement that he or she may have had as an officer or 

employee of the United States in connection with the matter 

involved.’’. 

(c) EFFECT OF SECTION.—Except as expressly identified in this 

section and in the amendments made by this section, nothing in 

18 USC 207 note. 


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PUBLIC LAW 110–81—SEPT. 14, 2007 121 STAT. 741 

this section or the amendments made by this section affects any 

other provision of law. 

SEC. 105. EFFECTIVE DATE. 

(a) SECTION 101.—The amendments made by section 101 shall 

apply to individuals who leave Federal office or employment to 

which such amendments apply on or after the date of adjournment 

of the first session of the 110th Congress sine die or December 

31, 2007, whichever date is earlier. 

(b) SECTION 102.—The amendments made by section 102 shall 

take effect on the date of the enactment of this Act. 

(c) SECTION 103.— 

(1) NOTIFICATION OF POST-EMPLOYMENT RESTRICTIONS.— Subsection (a) of section 103 shall take effect on the 60th 

day after the date of the enactment of this Act. 

(2) POSTING OF INFORMATION.—Subsection (b) of section 

103 shall take effect January 1, 2008, except that the Secretary 

of the Senate and the Clerk of the House of Representatives 

shall post the information contained in notifications required 

by that subsection that are made on or after the effective 

date provided under paragraph (1) of this subsection. 

(d) SECTION 104.—The amendments made by section 104 shall 

take effect on the date of the enactment of this Act, except that 

section 104(j)(2) of the Indian Self-Determination and Education 

Assistance Act (as amended by section 104(b)) shall apply to individuals who leave Federal office or employment to which such amendments apply on or after the 60th day after the date of the enactment 

of this Act. 

TITLE II—FULL PUBLIC DISCLOSURE 

OF LOBBYING 

SEC. 201. QUARTERLY FILING OF LOBBYING DISCLOSURE REPORTS. 

(a) QUARTERLY FILING REQUIRED.—Section 5 of the Lobbying 

Disclosure Act of 1995 (2 U.S.C. 1604) is amended— 

(1) in subsection (a)— 

(A) by striking ‘‘SEMIANNUAL’’ and inserting ‘‘QUARTERLY’’; 

(B) by striking ‘‘45 days’’ and all that follows through 

‘‘section 4,’’ and inserting ‘‘20 days after the end of the 

quarterly period beginning on the first day of January, 

April, July, and October of each year in which a registrant 

is registered under section 4, or on the first business day 

after such 20th day if the 20th day is not a business 

day,’’; and 

(C) by striking ‘‘such semiannual period’’ and inserting 

‘‘such quarterly period’’; and 

(2) in subsection (b)— 

(A) in the matter preceding paragraph (1), by striking 

‘‘semiannual report’’ and inserting ‘‘quarterly report’’; 

(B) in paragraph (2), by striking ‘‘semiannual filing 

period’’ and inserting ‘‘quarterly period’’; 

(C) in paragraph (3), by striking ‘‘semiannual period’’ 

and inserting ‘‘quarterly period’’; and 

(D) in paragraph (4), by striking ‘‘semiannual filing 

period’’ and inserting ‘‘quarterly period’’. 

25 USC 450i 

note. 

2 USC 104d note. 

2 USC 227 note. 

18 USC 207 note. 


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121 STAT. 742 PUBLIC LAW 110–81—SEPT. 14, 2007 

(b) CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.— (1) DEFINITION.—Section 3(10) of the Lobbying Disclosure 

Act of 1995 (2 U.S.C. 1602) is amended by striking ‘‘six month 

period’’ and inserting ‘‘3-month period’’. 

(2) REGISTRATION.—Section 4 of the Lobbying Disclosure 

Act of 1995 (2 U.S.C. 1603) is amended— 

(A) in subsection (a)(1), by inserting after ‘‘earlier,’’ 

the following: ‘‘or on the first business day after such 

45th day if the 45th day is not a business day,’’; and 

(B) in subsection (a)(3)(A), by striking ‘‘semiannual 

period’’ and inserting ‘‘quarterly period’’. 

(3) ENFORCEMENT.—Section 6 of the Lobbying Disclosure 

Act of 1995 (2 U.S.C. 1605) is amended in paragraph (6) by 

striking ‘‘semiannual period’’ and inserting ‘‘quarterly period’’. 

(4) ESTIMATES.—Section 15 of the Lobbying Disclosure Act 

of 1995 (2 U.S.C. 1610) is amended— 

(A) in subsection (a)(1), by striking ‘‘semiannual period’’ 

and inserting ‘‘quarterly period’’; and 

(B) in subsection (b)(1), by striking ‘‘semiannual period’’ 

and inserting ‘‘quarterly period’’. 

(5) DOLLAR AMOUNTS.—Section 4 of the Lobbying Disclosure 

Act of 1995 (2 U.S.C. 1603) is further amended— 

(A) in subsection (a)(3)(A)(i), by striking ‘‘$5,000’’ and inserting ‘‘$2,500’’; (B) in subsection (a)(3)(A)(ii), by striking ‘‘$20,000’’ and inserting ‘‘$10,000’’; (C) in subsection (b)(3)(A), by striking ‘‘$10,000’’ and inserting ‘‘$5,000’’; and (D) in subsection (b)(4), by striking ‘‘$10,000’’ and inserting ‘‘$5,000’’. 

(6) REPORTS.—Section 5(c) of the Lobbying Disclosure Act 

of 1995 (2 U.S.C. 1604(c)) is further amended— 

(A) in paragraph (1), by striking ‘‘$10,000’’ and ‘‘$20,000’’ and inserting ‘‘$5,000’’ and ‘‘$10,000’’, respectively; and (B) in paragraph (2), by striking ‘‘$10,000’’ both places such term appears and inserting ‘‘$5,000’’. 

SEC. 202. ADDITIONAL DISCLOSURE. 

Section 5(b) of the Lobbying Disclosure Act of 1995 (2 U.S.C. 

1604(b)) is amended— 

(1) in paragraph (3), by striking ‘‘and’’ after the semicolon; 

(2) in paragraph (4), by striking the period and inserting 

‘‘; and’’; and 

(3) by adding at the end of the following: 

‘‘(5) for each client, immediately after listing the client, 

an identification of whether the client is a State or local government or a department, agency, special purpose district, or other 

instrumentality controlled by one or more State or local governments.’’. 

SEC. 203. SEMIANNUAL REPORTS ON CERTAIN CONTRIBUTIONS. 

(a) OTHER CONTRIBUTIONS.—Section 5 of the Lobbying Disclosure Act of 1995 (2 U.S.C. 1604) is further amended by adding 

at the end the following: 

‘‘(d) SEMIANNUAL REPORTS ON CERTAIN CONTRIBUTIONS.— 

‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 30 days after the end 

of the semiannual period beginning on the first day of January 


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PUBLIC LAW 110–81—SEPT. 14, 2007 121 STAT. 743 

and July of each year, or on the first business day after such 

30th day if the 30th day is not a business day, each person 

or organization who is registered or is required to register 

under paragraph (1) or (2) of section 4(a), and each employee 

who is or is required to be listed as a lobbyist under section 

4(b)(6) or subsection (b)(2)(C) of this section, shall file a report 

with the Secretary of the Senate and the Clerk of the House 

of Representatives containing— 

‘‘(A) the name of the person or organization; 

‘‘(B) in the case of an employee, his or her employer; 

‘‘(C) the names of all political committees established 

or controlled by the person or organization; 

‘‘(D) the name of each Federal candidate or officeholder, 

leadership PAC, or political party committee, to whom 

aggregate contributions equal to or exceeding $200 were 

made by the person or organization, or a political committee 

established or controlled by the person or organization 

within the semiannual period, and the date and amount 

of each such contribution made within the semiannual 

period; 

‘‘(E) the date, recipient, and amount of funds contributed or disbursed during the semiannual period by the 

person or organization or a political committee established 

or controlled by the person or organization— 

‘‘(i) to pay the cost of an event to honor or recognize 

a covered legislative branch official or covered executive branch official; 

‘‘(ii) to an entity that is named for a covered legislative branch official, or to a person or entity in recognition of such official; 

‘‘(iii) to an entity established, financed, maintained, 

or controlled by a covered legislative branch official 

or covered executive branch official, or an entity designated by such official; or 

‘‘(iv) to pay the costs of a meeting, retreat, conference, or other similar event held by, or in the name 

of, 1 or more covered legislative branch officials or 

covered executive branch officials, 

except that this subparagraph shall not apply if the funds 

are provided to a person who is required to report the 

receipt of the funds under section 304 of the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 (2 U.S.C. 434); 

‘‘(F) the name of each Presidential library foundation, 

and each Presidential inaugural committee, to whom contributions equal to or exceeding $200 were made by the 

person or organization, or a political committee established 

or controlled by the person or organization, within the 

semiannual period, and the date and amount of each such 

contribution within the semiannual period; and 

‘‘(G) a certification by the person or organization filing 

the report that the person or organization— 

‘‘(i) has read and is familiar with those provisions 

of the Standing Rules of the Senate and the Rules 

of the House of Representatives relating to the provision of gifts and travel; and 

‘‘(ii) has not provided, requested, or directed a 

gift, including travel, to a Member of Congress or an 


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121 STAT. 744 PUBLIC LAW 110–81—SEPT. 14, 2007 

officer or employee of either House of Congress with 

knowledge that receipt of the gift would violate rule 

XXXV of the Standing Rules of the Senate or rule 

XXV of the Rules of the House of Representatives. 

‘‘(2) DEFINITION.—In this subsection, the term ‘leadership 

PAC’ has the meaning given such term in section 304(i)(8)(B) 

of the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971.’’. 

(b) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendment made by subsection (a) 

shall apply with respect to the first semiannual period described 

in section 5(d)(1) of the Lobbying Disclosure Act of 1995 (as added 

by this section) that begins after the date of the enactment of 

this Act and each succeeding semiannual period. 

(c) REPORT ON REQUIRING QUARTERLY REPORTS.—The Clerk 

of the House of Representatives and the Secretary of the Senate 

shall submit a report to the Congress, not later than 1 year after 

the date on which the first reports are required to be made under 

section 5(d) of the Lobbying Disclosure Act of 1995 (as added 

by this section), on the feasibility of requiring the reports under 

such section 5(d) to be made on a quarterly, rather than a semiannual, basis. 

(d) SENSE OF CONGRESS.—It is the sense of the Congress that 

after the end of the 2-year period beginning on the day on which 

the amendment made by subsection (a) of this section first applies, 

the reports required under section 5(d) of the Lobbying Disclosure 

Act of 1995 (as added by this section) should be made on a quarterly 

basis if it is practicably feasible to do so. 

SEC. 204. DISCLOSURE OF BUNDLED CONTRIBUTIONS. 

(a) DISCLOSURE.—Section 304 of the Federal Election Campaign 

Act of 1971 (2 U.S.C. 434) is amended by adding at the end the 

following new subsection: 

‘‘(i) DISCLOSURE OF BUNDLED CONTRIBUTIONS.— 

‘‘(1) REQUIRED DISCLOSURE.—Each committee described in 

paragraph (6) shall include in the first report required to be 

filed under this section after each covered period (as defined 

in paragraph (2)) a separate schedule setting forth the name, 

address, and employer of each person reasonably known by 

the committee to be a person described in paragraph (7) who 

provided 2 or more bundled contributions to the committee 

in an aggregate amount greater than the applicable threshold 

(as defined in paragraph (3)) during the covered period, and 

the aggregate amount of the bundled contributions provided 

by each such person during the covered period. 

‘‘(2) COVERED PERIOD.—In this subsection, a ‘covered period’ 

means, with respect to a committee— 

‘‘(A) the period beginning January 1 and ending June 

30 of each year; 

‘‘(B) the period beginning July 1 and ending December 

31 of each year; and 

‘‘(C) any reporting period applicable to the committee 

under this section during which any person described in 

paragraph (7) provided 2 or more bundled contributions 

to the committee in an aggregate amount greater than 

the applicable threshold. 

‘‘(3) APPLICABLE THRESHOLD.— ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—In this subsection, the ‘applicable threshold’ is $15,000, except that in determining whether 

Reports. 

2 USC 1604 note. 


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the amount of bundled contributions provided to a committee by a person described in paragraph (7) exceeds 

the applicable threshold, there shall be excluded any contribution made to the committee by the person or the 

person’s spouse. 

‘‘(B) INDEXING.—In any calendar year after 2007, section 315(c)(1)(B) shall apply to the amount applicable under 

subparagraph (A) in the same manner as such section 

applies to the limitations established under subsections 

(a)(1)(A), (a)(1)(B), (a)(3), and (h) of such section, except 

that for purposes of applying such section to the amount 

applicable under subparagraph (A), the ‘base period’ shall 

be 2006. 

‘‘(4) PUBLIC AVAILABILITY.—The Commission shall ensure 

that, to the greatest extent practicable— 

‘‘(A) information required to be disclosed under this 

subsection is publicly available through the Commission 

website in a manner that is searchable, sortable, and 

downloadable; and 

‘‘(B) the Commission’s public database containing 

information disclosed under this subsection is linked electronically to the websites maintained by the Secretary of 

the Senate and the Clerk of the House of Representatives 

containing information filed pursuant to the Lobbying 

Disclosure Act of 1995. 

‘‘(5) REGULATIONS.—Not later than 6 months after the date 

of enactment of the Honest Leadership and Open Government 

Act of 2007, the Commission shall promulgate regulations to 

implement this subsection. Under such regulations, the 

Commission— 

‘‘(A) may, notwithstanding paragraphs (1) and (2), provide for quarterly filing of the schedule described in paragraph (1) by a committee which files reports under this 

section more frequently than on a quarterly basis; 

‘‘(B) shall provide guidance to committees with respect 

to whether a person is reasonably known by a committee 

to be a person described in paragraph (7), which shall 

include a requirement that committees consult the websites 

maintained by the Secretary of the Senate and the Clerk 

of the House of Representatives containing information 

filed pursuant to the Lobbying Disclosure Act of 1995; 

‘‘(C) may not exempt the activity of a person described 

in paragraph (7) from disclosure under this subsection on 

the grounds that the person is authorized to engage in 

fundraising for the committee or any other similar grounds; 

and 

‘‘(D) shall provide for the broadest possible disclosure 

of activities described in this subsection by persons 

described in paragraph (7) that is consistent with this 

subsection. 

‘‘(6) COMMITTEES DESCRIBED.—A committee described in 

this paragraph is an authorized committee of a candidate, 

a leadership PAC, or a political party committee. 

‘‘(7) PERSONS DESCRIBED.—A person described in this paragraph is any person, who, at the time a contribution is forwarded to a committee as described in paragraph (8)(A)(i) or 

Deadlines. 

Internet. 

Websites. 


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121 STAT. 746 PUBLIC LAW 110–81—SEPT. 14, 2007 

is received by a committee as described in paragraph (8)(A)(ii), 

is— 

‘‘(A) a current registrant under section 4(a) of the Lobbying Disclosure Act of 1995; 

‘‘(B) an individual who is listed on a current registration filed under section 4(b)(6) of such Act or a current 

report under section 5(b)(2)(C) of such Act; or 

‘‘(C) a political committee established or controlled by 

such a registrant or individual. 

‘‘(8) DEFINITIONS.—For purposes of this subsection, the following definitions apply: 

‘‘(A) BUNDLED CONTRIBUTION.—The term ‘bundled contribution’ means, with respect to a committee described 

in paragraph (6) and a person described in paragraph 

(7), a contribution (subject to the applicable threshold) 

which is— 

‘‘(i) forwarded from the contributor or contributors 

to the committee by the person; or 

‘‘(ii) received by the committee from a contributor 

or contributors, but credited by the committee or candidate involved (or, in the case of a leadership PAC, 

by the individual referred to in subparagraph (B) 

involved) to the person through records, designations, 

or other means of recognizing that a certain amount 

of money has been raised by the person. 

‘‘(B) LEADERSHIP PAC.—The term ‘leadership PAC’ 

means, with respect to a candidate for election to Federal 

office or an individual holding Federal office, a political 

committee that is directly or indirectly established, 

financed, maintained or controlled by the candidate or the 

individual but which is not an authorized committee of 

the candidate or individual and which is not affiliated 

with an authorized committee of the candidate or individual, except that such term does not include a political 

committee of a political party.’’. 

(b) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendment made by subsection (a) 

shall apply with respect to reports filed under section 304 of the 

Federal Election Campaign Act after the expiration of the 3-month 

period which begins on the date that the regulations required 

to be promulgated by the Federal Election Commission under section 304(i)(5) of such Act (as added by subsection (a)) become 

final. 

SEC. 205. ELECTRONIC FILING OF LOBBYING DISCLOSURE REPORTS. 

Section 5 of the Lobbying Disclosure Act of 1995 (2 U.S.C. 

1604) is further amended by adding at the end the following: 

‘‘(e) ELECTRONIC FILING REQUIRED.—A report required to be 

filed under this section shall be filed in electronic form, in addition 

to any other form that the Secretary of the Senate or the Clerk 

of the House of Representatives may require or allow. The Secretary 

of the Senate and the Clerk of the House of Representatives shall 

use the same electronic software for receipt and recording of filings 

under this Act.’’. 

2 USC 434 note. 


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SEC. 206. PROHIBITION ON PROVISION OF GIFTS OR TRAVEL BY REGISTERED LOBBYISTS TO MEMBERS OF CONGRESS AND 

TO CONGRESSIONAL EMPLOYEES. 

(a) PROHIBITION.—The Lobbying Disclosure Act of 1995 (2 

U.S.C. 1601 et seq.) is amended by adding at the end the following: 

‘‘SEC. 25. PROHIBITION ON PROVISION OF GIFTS OR TRAVEL BY REGISTERED LOBBYISTS TO MEMBERS OF CONGRESS AND 

TO CONGRESSIONAL EMPLOYEES. 

‘‘(a) PROHIBITION.—Any person described in subsection (b) may 

not make a gift or provide travel to a covered legislative branch 

official if the person has knowledge that the gift or travel may 

not be accepted by that covered legislative branch official under 

the Rules of the House of Representatives or the Standing Rules 

of the Senate (as the case may be). 

‘‘(b) PERSONS SUBJECT TO PROHIBITION.—The persons subject 

to the prohibition under subsection (a) are any lobbyist that is 

registered or is required to register under section 4(a)(1), any 

organization that employs 1 or more lobbyists and is registered 

or is required to register under section 4(a)(2), and any employee 

listed or required to be listed as a lobbyist by a registrant under 

section 4(b)(6) or 5(b)(2)(C).’’. 

(b) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendment made by this section 

shall take effect on the date of the enactment of this Act. 

SEC. 207. DISCLOSURE OF LOBBYING ACTIVITIES BY CERTAIN COALITIONS AND ASSOCIATIONS. 

(a) IN GENERAL.— 

(1) DISCLOSURE.—Section 4(b)(3) of the Lobbying Disclosure 

Act of 1995 (2 U.S.C. 1603(b)(3)) is amended— 

(A) by amending subparagraph (A) to read as follows: 

‘‘(A) contributes more than $5,000 to the registrant 

or the client in the quarterly period to fund the lobbying 

activities of the registrant; and’’; and 

(B) by amending subparagraph (B) to read as follows: 

‘‘(B) actively participates in the planning, supervision, 

or control of such lobbying activities;’’. 

(2) UPDATING OF INFORMATION.—Section 5(b)(1) of the Lobbying Disclosure Act of 1995 (2 U.S.C. 1604(b)(1)) is amended 

by inserting ‘‘, including information under section 4(b)(3)’’ after 

‘‘initial registration’’. 

(b) NO DONOR OR MEMBERSHIP LIST DISCLOSURE.—Section 4(b) 

of the Lobbying Disclosure Act of 1995 (2 U.S.C. 1603(b)) is amended 

by adding at the end the following: 

‘‘No disclosure is required under paragraph (3)(B) if the organization 

that would be identified as affiliated with the client is listed on 

the client’s publicly accessible Internet website as being a member 

of or contributor to the client, unless the organization in whole 

or in major part plans, supervises, or controls such lobbying activities. If a registrant relies upon the preceding sentence, the registrant must disclose the specific Internet address of the web page 

containing the information relied upon. Nothing in paragraph (3)(B) 

shall be construed to require the disclosure of any information 

about individuals who are members of, or donors to, an entity 

treated as a client by this Act or an organization identified under 

that paragraph.’’. 

2 USC 1613 note. 

2 USC 1613. 


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SEC. 208. DISCLOSURE BY REGISTERED LOBBYISTS OF PAST EXECUTIVE BRANCH AND CONGRESSIONAL EMPLOYMENT. 

Section 4(b)(6) of the Lobbying Disclosure Act of 1995 (2 U.S.C. 

1603(b)(6)) is amended by striking ‘‘in the 2 years’’ and all that 

follows through ‘‘Act)’’ and inserting ‘‘in the 20 years before the 

date on which the employee first acted’’. 

SEC. 209. PUBLIC AVAILABILITY OF LOBBYING DISCLOSURE INFORMATION; MAINTENANCE OF INFORMATION. 

(a) PUBLIC AVAILABILITY.—Section 6 of the Lobbying Disclosure 

Act of 1995 (2 U.S.C. 1605) is further amended— 

(1) in paragraph (7), by striking ‘‘and’’ at the end; 

(2) in paragraph (8), by striking the period at the end 

and inserting a semicolon; and 

(3) by adding at the end the following new paragraphs: 

‘‘(9) maintain all registrations and reports filed under this 

Act, and make them available to the public over the Internet, 

without a fee or other access charge, in a searchable, sortable, 

and downloadable manner, to the extent technically practicable, 

that— 

‘‘(A) includes the information contained in the registrations and reports; 

‘‘(B) is searchable and sortable to the maximum extent 

practicable, including searchable and sortable by each of 

the categories of information described in section 4(b) or 

5(b); and 

‘‘(C) provides electronic links or other appropriate 

mechanisms to allow users to obtain relevant information 

in the database of the Federal Election Commission; and 

‘‘(10) retain the information contained in a registration 

or report filed under this Act for a period of 6 years after 

the registration or report (as the case may be) is filed.’’. 

(b) AVAILABILITY OF REPORTS.—Section 6(4) of the Lobbying 

Disclosure Act of 1995 (2 U.S.C. 1605) is amended by inserting 

before the semicolon at the end the following: ‘‘and, in the case 

of a report filed in electronic form under section 5(e), make such 

report available for public inspection over the Internet as soon 

as technically practicable after the report is so filed’’. 

(c) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There are authorized 

to be appropriated such sums as may be necessary to carry out 

paragraph (9) of section 6 of the Lobbying Disclosure Act of 1995 

(2 U.S.C. 1605), as added by subsection (a) of this section. 

SEC. 210. DISCLOSURE OF ENFORCEMENT FOR NONCOMPLIANCE. 

Section 6 of the Lobbying Disclosure Act of 1995 (2 U.S.C. 

1605) is further amended— 

(1) by striking ‘‘The Secretary’’ and inserting ‘‘(a) IN GEN- ERAL.—The Secretary’’; ; 

(2) in paragraph (9), by striking ‘‘and’’ at the end; 

(3) in paragraph (10), by striking the period and inserting 

‘‘; and’’; 

(4) by adding after paragraph (10) the following: 

‘‘(11) make publicly available, on a semiannual basis, the 

aggregate number of registrants referred to the United States 

Attorney for the District of Columbia for noncompliance as 

required by paragraph (8).’’; and 

(5) by adding at the end the following: 

Public 

information. 

Deadline. 

Internet. 


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PUBLIC LAW 110–81—SEPT. 14, 2007 121 STAT. 749 

‘‘(b) ENFORCEMENT REPORT.— ‘‘(1) REPORT.—The Attorney General shall report to the 

congressional committees referred to in paragraph (2), after 

the end of each semiannual period beginning on January 1 

and July 1, the aggregate number of enforcement actions taken 

by the Department of Justice under this Act during that semiannual period and, by case, any sentences imposed, except 

that such report shall not include the names of individuals, 

or personally identifiable information, that is not already a 

matter of public record. 

‘‘(2) COMMITTEES.—The congressional committees referred 

to in paragraph (1) are the Committee on Homeland Security 

and Governmental Affairs and the Committee on the Judiciary 

of the Senate and the Committee on the Judiciary of the House 

of Representatives.’’. 

SEC. 211. INCREASED CIVIL AND CRIMINAL PENALTIES FOR FAILURE 

TO COMPLY WITH LOBBYING DISCLOSURE REQUIREMENTS. 

(a) IN GENERAL.—Section 7 of the Lobbying Disclosure Act 

of 1995 (2 U.S.C. 1606) is amended— 

(1) by striking ‘‘Whoever’’ and inserting ‘‘(a) CIVIL PEN- ALTY.—Whoever’’; 

(2) by striking ‘‘$50,000’’ and inserting ‘‘$200,000’’; and 

(3) by adding at the end the following: 

‘‘(b) CRIMINAL PENALTY.—Whoever knowingly and corruptly 

fails to comply with any provision of this Act shall be imprisoned 

for not more than 5 years or fined under title 18, United States 

Code, or both.’’. 

(b) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by subsection 

(a) shall apply to any violation committed on or after the date 

of the enactment of this Act. 

SEC. 212. ELECTRONIC FILING AND PUBLIC DATABASE FOR LOBBYISTS 

FOR FOREIGN GOVERNMENTS. 

(a) ELECTRONIC FILING.—Section 2 of the Foreign Agents Registration Act of 1938, as amended (22 U.S.C. 612), is amended 

by adding at the end the following new subsection: 

‘‘(g) ELECTRONIC FILING OF REGISTRATION STATEMENTS AND

SUPPLEMENTS.—A registration statement or supplement required 

to be filed under this section shall be filed in electronic form, 

in addition to any other form that may be required by the Attorney 

General.’’. 

(b) PUBLIC DATABASE.—Section 6 of the Foreign Agents Registration Act of 1938, as amended (22 U.S.C. 616), is amended 

by adding at the end the following new subsection: 

‘‘(d) PUBLIC DATABASE OF REGISTRATION STATEMENTS AND

UPDATES.— 

‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Attorney General shall maintain, 

and make available to the public over the Internet, without 

a fee or other access charge, in a searchable, sortable, and 

downloadable manner, to the extent technically practicable, 

an electronic database that— 

‘‘(A) includes the information contained in registration 

statements and updates filed under this Act; and 

‘‘(B) is searchable and sortable, at a minimum, by 

each of the categories of information described in section 

2(a). 

Internet. 

2 USC 1606 note. 


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‘‘(2) ACCOUNTABILITY.—The Attorney General shall make 

each registration statement and update filed in electronic form 

pursuant to section 2(g) available for public inspection over 

the Internet as soon as technically practicable after the registration statement or update is filed.’’. 

(c) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by this section 

shall take effect on the 90th day after the date of the enactment 

of this Act. 

SEC. 213. COMPTROLLER GENERAL AUDIT AND ANNUAL REPORT. 

(a) ANNUAL AUDITS AND REPORTS.—The Lobbying Disclosure 

Act of 1995 (2 U.S.C. 1601 et seq.) is further amended by adding 

at the end the following: 

‘‘SEC. 26. ANNUAL AUDITS AND REPORTS BY COMPTROLLER GENERAL. 

‘‘(a) AUDIT.—On an annual basis, the Comptroller General shall 

audit the extent of compliance or noncompliance with the requirements of this Act by lobbyists, lobbying firms, and registrants 

through a random sampling of publicly available lobbying registrations and reports filed under this Act during each calendar year. 

‘‘(b) REPORTS TO CONGRESS.— 

‘‘(1) ANNUAL REPORTS.—Not later than April 1 of each 

year, the Comptroller General shall submit to the Congress 

a report on the review required by subsection (a) for the preceding calendar year. The report shall include the Comptroller 

General’s assessment of the matters required to be emphasized 

by that subsection and any recommendations of the Comptroller 

General to— 

‘‘(A) improve the compliance by lobbyists, lobbying 

firms, and registrants with the requirements of this Act; 

and 

‘‘(B) provide the Department of Justice with the 

resources and authorities needed for the effective enforcement of this Act. 

‘‘(2) ASSESSMENT OF COMPLIANCE.—The annual report 

under paragraph (1) shall include an assessment of compliance 

by registrants with the requirements of section 4(b)(3). 

‘‘(c) ACCESS TO INFORMATION.—The Comptroller General may, 

in carrying out this section, request information from and access 

to any relevant documents from any person registered under paragraph (1) or (2) of section 4(a) and each employee who is listed 

as a lobbyist under section 4(b)(6) or section 5(b)(2)(C) if the material requested relates to the purposes of this section. The Comptroller General may request such person to submit in writing such 

information as the Comptroller General may prescribe. The Comptroller General may notify the Congress in writing if a person 

from whom information has been requested under this subsection 

refuses to comply with the request within 45 days after the request 

is made.’’. 

(b) INITIAL AUDIT AND REPORT.—The initial audit under subsection (a) of section 26 of the Lobbying Disclosure Act of 1995 

(as added by subsection (a) of this section) shall be made with 

respect to lobbying registrations and reports filed during the first 

calendar quarter of 2008, and the initial report under subsection 

(b) of such section shall be filed, with respect to those registrations 

and reports, not later than 6 months after the end of that calendar 

quarter. 

2 USC 1614 note. 

2 USC 1614. 

22 USC 612 note. 


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SEC. 214. SENSE OF CONGRESS. 

It is the sense of the Congress that— 

(1) the use of a family relationship by a lobbyist who 

is an immediate family member of a Member of Congress 

to gain special advantages over other lobbyists is inappropriate; 

and 

(2) the lobbying community should develop proposals for 

multiple self-regulatory organizations which could— 

(A) provide for the creation of standards for the 

organizations appropriate to the type of lobbying and 

individuals to be served; 

(B) provide training for the lobbying community on 

law, ethics, reporting requirements, and disclosure requirements; 

(C) provide for the development of educational materials for the public on how to responsibly hire a lobbyist 

or lobby firm; 

(D) provide standards regarding reasonable fees 

charged to clients; 

(E) provide for the creation of a third-party certification 

program that includes ethics training; and 

(F) provide for disclosure of requirements to clients 

regarding fee schedules and conflict of interest rules. 

SEC. 215. EFFECTIVE DATE. 

Except as otherwise provided in sections 203, 204, 206, 211, 

212, and 213, the amendments made by this title shall apply 

with respect to registrations under the Lobbying Disclosure Act 

of 1995 having an effective date of January 1, 2008, or later and 

with respect to quarterly reports under that Act covering calendar 

quarters beginning on or after January 1, 2008. 

TITLE III—MATTERS RELATING TO THE 

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

SEC. 301. DISCLOSURE BY MEMBERS AND STAFF OF EMPLOYMENT 

NEGOTIATIONS. 

(a) IN GENERAL.—The Rules of the House of Representatives 

are amended by redesignating rules XXVII and XXVIII as rules 

XXVIII and XXIX, respectively, and by inserting after rule XXVI 

the following new rule: 

‘‘RULE XXVII 

‘‘DISCLOSURE BY MEMBERS AND STAFF OF EMPLOYMENT

NEGOTIATIONS

‘‘1. A Member, Delegate, or Resident Commissioner shall not 

directly negotiate or have any agreement of future employment 

or compensation until after his or her successor has been elected, 

unless such Member, Delegate, or Resident Commissioner, within 

3 business days after the commencement of such negotiation or 

agreement of future employment or compensation, files with the 

Committee on Standards of Official Conduct a statement, which 

must be signed by the Member, Delegate, or Resident Commissioner, regarding such negotiations or agreement, including the 

Deadline. 

2 USC 434 note. 


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name of the private entity or entities involved in such negotiations 

or agreement, and the date such negotiations or agreement commenced. 

‘‘2. An officer or an employee of the House earning in excess 

of 75 percent of the salary paid to a Member shall notify the 

Committee on Standards of Official Conduct that he or she is 

negotiating or has any agreement of future employment or compensation. 

‘‘3. The disclosure and notification under this rule shall be 

made within 3 business days after the commencement of such 

negotiation or agreement of future employment or compensation. 

‘‘4. A Member, Delegate, or Resident Commissioner, and an 

officer or employee to whom this rule applies, shall recuse himself 

or herself from any matter in which there is a conflict of interest 

or an appearance of a conflict for that Member, Delegate, Resident 

Commissioner, officer, or employee under this rule and shall notify 

the Committee on Standards of Official Conduct of such recusal. 

A Member, Delegate, or Resident Commissioner making such 

recusal shall, upon such recusal, submit to the Clerk for public 

disclosure the statement of disclosure under clause 1 with respect 

to which the recusal was made.’’. 

(b) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendment made by subsection (a) 

shall take effect on the date of the enactment of this Act, and 

shall apply to negotiations commenced, and agreements entered 

into, on or after that date. 

SEC. 302. PROHIBITION ON LOBBYING CONTACTS WITH SPOUSE OF 

MEMBER WHO IS A REGISTERED LOBBYIST. 

Rule XXV of the Rules of the House of Representatives is 

amended by adding at the end the following new clause: 

‘‘7. A Member, Delegate, or Resident Commissioner shall prohibit all staff employed by that Member, Delegate, or Resident 

Commissioner (including staff in personal, committee, and leadership offices) from making any lobbying contact (as defined in section 

3 of the Lobbying Disclosure Act of 1995) with that individual’s 

spouse if that spouse is a lobbyist under the Lobbying Disclosure 

Act of 1995 or is employed or retained by such a lobbyist for 

the purpose of influencing legislation.’’. 

SEC. 303. TREATMENT OF FIRMS AND OTHER BUSINESSES WHOSE 

MEMBERS SERVE AS HOUSE COMMITTEE CONSULTANTS. 

Clause 18(b) of rule XXIII of the Rules of the House of Representatives is amended by adding at the end the following: ‘‘In 

the case of such an individual who is a member or employee 

of a firm, partnership, or other business organization, the other 

members and employees of the firm, partnership, or other business 

organization shall be subject to the same restrictions on lobbying 

that apply to the individual under this paragraph.’’. 

SEC. 304. POSTING OF TRAVEL AND FINANCIAL DISCLOSURE REPORTS 

ON PUBLIC WEBSITE OF CLERK OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES. 

(a) REQUIRING POSTING ON INTERNET.—The Clerk of the House 

of Representatives shall post on the public Internet site of the 

Office of the Clerk, in a format that is searchable, sortable, and 

downloadable, to the extent technically practicable, each of the 

following: 

2 USC 104e. 

Public 

information. 

Notification. 

Deadline. 

Notification. 


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(1) The advance authorizations, certifications, and disclosures filed with respect to transportation, lodging, and related 

expenses for travel under clause 5(b) of rule XXV of the Rules 

of the House of Representatives by Members (including Delegates and Resident Commissioners to the Congress), officers, 

and employees of the House. 

(2) The reports filed under section 103(h)(1) of the Ethics 

in Government Act of 1978 by Members of the House of Representatives (including Delegates and Resident Commissioners 

to the Congress). 

(b) APPLICABILITY AND TIMING.— (1) APPLICABILITY.—Subject to paragraph (2), subsection 

(a) shall apply with respect to information received by the 

Clerk of the House of Representatives on or after the date 

of the enactment of this Act. 

(2) TIMING.—The Clerk of the House of Representatives 

shall— 

(A) not later than August 1, 2008, post the information 

required by subsection (a) that the Clerk receives by June 

1, 2008; and 

(B) not later than the end of each 45-day period occurring after information is required to be posted under 

subparagraph (A), post the information required by subsection (a) that the Clerk has received since the last posting 

under this subsection. 

(3) OMISSION OF PERSONALLY IDENTIFIABLE INFORMATION.— 

Members of the House of Representatives (including Delegates 

and Resident Commissioners to the Congress) shall be permitted to omit personally identifiable information not required 

to be disclosed on the reports posted on the public Internet 

site under this section (such as home address, Social Security 

numbers, personal bank account numbers, home telephone, and 

names of children) prior to the posting of such reports on 

such public Internet site. 

(4) ASSISTANCE IN PROTECTING PERSONAL INFORMATION.— The Clerk of the House of Representatives, in consultation 

with the Committee on Standards of Official Conduct, shall 

include in any informational materials concerning any disclosure that will be posted on the public Internet site under 

this section an explanation of the procedures for protecting 

personally identifiable information as described in this section. 

(c) RETENTION.—The Clerk shall maintain the information 

posted on the public Internet site of the Office of the Clerk under 

this section for a period of 6 years after receiving the information. 

SEC. 305. PROHIBITING PARTICIPATION IN LOBBYIST-SPONSORED 

EVENTS DURING POLITICAL CONVENTIONS. 

Rule XXV of the Rules of the House of Representatives, as 

amended by section 302, is amended by adding at the end the 

following new clause: 

‘‘8. During the dates on which the national political party 

to which a Member (including a Delegate or Resident Commissioner) 

belongs holds its convention to nominate a candidate for the office 

of President or Vice President, the Member may not participate 

in an event honoring that Member, other than in his or her capacity 

as a candidate for such office, if such event is directly paid for 

by a registered lobbyist under the Lobbying Disclosure Act of 1995 

Records. 

Deadlines. 


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121 STAT. 754 PUBLIC LAW 110–81—SEPT. 14, 2007 

or a private entity that retains or employs such a registered lobbyist.’’. 

SEC. 306. EXERCISE OF RULEMAKING AUTHORITY. 

The provisions of this title are adopted by the House of Representatives— 

(1) as an exercise of the rulemaking power of the House; 

and 

(2) with full recognition of the constitutional right of the 

House to change those rules at any time, in the same manner, 

and to the same extent as in the case of any other rule of 

the House. 

TITLE IV—CONGRESSIONAL PENSION 

ACCOUNTABILITY 

SEC. 401. LOSS OF PENSIONS ACCRUED DURING SERVICE AS A 

MEMBER OF CONGRESS FOR ABUSING THE PUBLIC 

TRUST. 

(a) CIVIL SERVICE RETIREMENT SYSTEM.—Section 8332 of title 

5, United States Code, is amended by adding at the end the following: 

‘‘(o)(1) Notwithstanding any other provision of this subchapter, 

the service of an individual finally convicted of an offense described 

in paragraph (2) shall not be taken into account for purposes 

of this subchapter, except that this sentence applies only to service 

rendered as a Member (irrespective of when rendered). Any such 

individual (or other person determined under section 8342(c), if 

applicable) shall be entitled to be paid so much of such individual’s 

lump-sum credit as is attributable to service to which the preceding 

sentence applies. 

‘‘(2)(A) An offense described in this paragraph is any offense 

described in subparagraph (B) for which the following apply: 

‘‘(i) Every act or omission of the individual (referred to 

in paragraph (1)) that is needed to satisfy the elements of 

the offense occurs while the individual is a Member. 

‘‘(ii) Every act or omission of the individual that is needed 

to satisfy the elements of the offense directly relates to the 

performance of the individual’s official duties as a Member. 

‘‘(iii) The offense is committed after the date of enactment 

of this subsection. 

‘‘(B) An offense described in this subparagraph is only the 

following, and only to the extent that the offense is a felony: 

‘‘(i) An offense under section 201 of title 18 (relating to 

bribery of public officials and witnesses). 

‘‘(ii) An offense under section 219 of title 18 (relating to 

officers and employees acting as agents of foreign principals). 

‘‘(iii) An offense under section 1343 of title 18 (relating 

to fraud by wire, radio, or television, including as part of 

a scheme to deprive citizens of honest services thereby). 

‘‘(iv) An offense under section 104(a) of the Foreign Corrupt 

Practices Act of 1977 (relating to prohibited foreign trade practices by domestic concerns). 

‘‘(v) An offense under section 1957 of title 18 (relating 

to engaging in monetary transactions in property derived from 

specified unlawful activity). 

Applicability. 

2 USC 104e note. 


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‘‘(vi) An offense under section 1512 of title 18 (relating 

to tampering with a witness, victim, or an informant). 

‘‘(vii) An offense under chapter 96 of title 18 (relating 

to racketeer influenced and corrupt organizations). 

‘‘(viii) An offense under section 371 of title 18 (relating 

to conspiracy to commit offense or to defraud United States), 

to the extent of any conspiracy to commit an act which constitutes— 

‘‘(I) an offense under clause (i), (ii), (iii), (iv), (v), (vi), 

or (vii); or 

‘‘(II) an offense under section 207 of title 18 (relating 

to restrictions on former officers, employees, and elected 

officials of the executive and legislative branches). 

‘‘(ix) Perjury committed under section 1621 of title 18 in 

falsely denying the commission of an act which constitutes— 

‘‘(I) an offense under clause (i), (ii), (iii), (iv), (v), (vi), 

or (vii); or 

‘‘(II) an offense under clause (viii), to the extent provided in such clause. 

‘‘(x) Subornation of perjury committed under section 1622 

of title 18 in connection with the false denial or false testimony 

of another individual as specified in clause (ix). 

‘‘(3) An individual convicted of an offense described in paragraph (2) shall not, after the date of the final conviction, be eligible 

to participate in the retirement system under this subchapter or 

chapter 84 while serving as a Member. 

‘‘(4) The Office of Personnel Management shall prescribe any 

regulations necessary to carry out this subsection. Such regulations 

shall include— 

‘‘(A) provisions under which interest on any lump-sum payment under the second sentence of paragraph (1) shall be 

limited in a manner similar to that specified in the last sentence 

of section 8316(b); and 

‘‘(B) provisions under which the Office may provide for— 

‘‘(i) the payment, to the spouse or children of any 

individual referred to in the first sentence of paragraph 

(1), of any amounts which (but for this clause) would otherwise have been nonpayable by reason of such first sentence, 

subject to paragraph (5); and 

‘‘(ii) an appropriate adjustment in the amount of any 

lump-sum payment under the second sentence of paragraph 

(1) to reflect the application of clause (i). 

‘‘(5) Regulations to carry out clause (i) of paragraph (4)(B) 

shall include provisions to ensure that the authority to make any 

payment to the spouse or children of an individual under such 

clause shall be available only to the extent that the application 

of such clause is considered necessary and appropriate taking into 

account the totality of the circumstances, including the financial 

needs of the spouse or children, whether the spouse or children 

participated in an offense described in paragraph (2) of which 

such individual was finally convicted, and what measures, if any, 

may be necessary to ensure that the convicted individual does 

not benefit from any such payment. 

‘‘(6) For purposes of this subsection— 

‘‘(A) the terms ‘finally convicted’ and ‘final conviction’ refer 

to a conviction (i) which has not been appealed and is no 

longer appealable because the time for taking an appeal has 

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expired, or (ii) which has been appealed and the appeals process 

for which is completed; 

‘‘(B) the term ‘Member’ has the meaning given such term 

by section 2106, notwithstanding section 8331(2); and 

‘‘(C) the term ‘child’ has the meaning given such term 

by section 8341.’’. 

(b) FEDERAL EMPLOYEES’ RETIREMENT SYSTEM.—Section 8411 

of title 5, United States Code, is amended by adding at the end 

the following: 

‘‘(l)(1) Notwithstanding any other provision of this chapter, 

the service of an individual finally convicted of an offense described 

in paragraph (2) shall not be taken into account for purposes 

of this chapter, except that this sentence applies only to service 

rendered as a Member (irrespective of when rendered). Any such 

individual (or other person determined under section 8424(d), if 

applicable) shall be entitled to be paid so much of such individual’s 

lump-sum credit as is attributable to service to which the preceding 

sentence applies. 

‘‘(2) An offense described in this paragraph is any offense 

described in section 8332(o)(2)(B) for which the following apply: 

‘‘(A) Every act or omission of the individual (referred to 

in paragraph (1)) that is needed to satisfy the elements of 

the offense occurs while the individual is a Member. 

‘‘(B) Every act or omission of the individual that is needed 

to satisfy the elements of the offense directly relates to the 

performance of the individual’s official duties as a Member. 

‘‘(C) The offense is committed after the date of enactment 

of this subsection. 

‘‘(3) An individual convicted of an offense described in paragraph (2) shall not, after the date of the final conviction, be eligible 

to participate in the retirement system under this chapter while 

serving as a Member. 

‘‘(4) The Office of Personnel Management shall prescribe any 

regulations necessary to carry out this subsection. Such regulations 

shall include— 

‘‘(A) provisions under which interest on any lump-sum payment under the second sentence of paragraph (1) shall be 

limited in a manner similar to that specified in the last sentence 

of section 8316(b); and 

‘‘(B) provisions under which the Office may provide for— 

‘‘(i) the payment, to the spouse or children of any 

individual referred to in the first sentence of paragraph 

(1), of any amounts which (but for this clause) would otherwise have been nonpayable by reason of such first sentence, 

subject to paragraph (5); and 

‘‘(ii) an appropriate adjustment in the amount of any 

lump-sum payment under the second sentence of paragraph 

(1) to reflect the application of clause (i). 

‘‘(5) Regulations to carry out clause (i) of paragraph (4)(B) 

shall include provisions to ensure that the authority to make any 

payment under such clause to the spouse or children of an individual shall be available only to the extent that the application 

of such clause is considered necessary and appropriate taking into 

account the totality of the circumstances, including the financial 

needs of the spouse or children, whether the spouse or children 

participated in an offense described in paragraph (2) of which 

such individual was finally convicted, and what measures, if any, 

Regulations. 

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may be necessary to ensure that the convicted individual does 

not benefit from any such payment. 

‘‘(6) For purposes of this subsection— 

‘‘(A) the terms ‘finally convicted’ and ‘final conviction’ refer 

to a conviction (i) which has not been appealed and is no 

longer appealable because the time for taking an appeal has 

expired, or (ii) which has been appealed and the appeals process 

for which is completed; 

‘‘(B) the term ‘Member’ has the meaning given such term 

by section 2106, notwithstanding section 8401(20); and 

‘‘(C) the term ‘child’ has the meaning given such term 

by section 8441.’’. 

TITLE V—SENATE LEGISLATIVE 

TRANSPARENCY AND ACCOUNTABILITY 

Subtitle A—Procedural Reform 

SEC. 511. AMENDMENTS TO RULE XXVIII. 

(a) OUT OF SCOPE MATERIAL AMENDMENT.—Rule XXVIII of 

the Standing Rules of the Senate is amended by— 

(1) redesignating paragraphs 4 through 6 as paragraphs 

6 through 8, respectively; and 

(2) striking paragraphs 2 and 3 and inserting the following: 

‘‘2. (a) Conferees shall not insert in their report matter not 

committed to them by either House, nor shall they strike from 

the bill matter agreed to by both Houses. 

‘‘(b) If matter which was agreed to by both Houses is stricken 

from the bill a point of order may be made against the report, 

and if the point of order is sustained, the report is rejected or 

shall be recommitted to the committee of conference if the House 

of Representatives has not already acted thereon. 

‘‘(c) If new matter is inserted in the report, a point of order 

may be made against the conference report and it shall be disposed 

of as provided under paragraph 4. 

‘‘3. (a) In any case in which a disagreement to an amendment 

in the nature of a substitute has been referred to conferees— 

‘‘(1) it shall be in order for the conferees to report a substitute on the same subject matter; 

‘‘(2) the conferees may not include in the report matter 

not committed to them by either House; and 

‘‘(3) the conferees may include in their report in any such 

case matter which is a germane modification of subjects in 

disagreement. 

‘‘(b) In any case in which the conferees violate subparagraph 

(a), a point of order may be made against the conference report 

and it shall be disposed of as provided under paragraph 4. 

‘‘4. (a) A Senator may raise a point of order that one or more 

provisions of a conference report violates paragraph 2 or paragraph 

3, as the case may be. The Presiding Officer may sustain the 

point of order as to some or all of the provisions against which 

the Senator raised the point of order. 

‘‘(b) If the Presiding Officer sustains the point of order as 

to any of the provisions against which the Senator raised the 

point of order, then those provisions against which the Presiding 


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Officer sustains the point of order shall be stricken. After all other 

points of order under this paragraph have been disposed of— 

‘‘(1) the Senate shall proceed to consider the question of 

whether the Senate should recede from its amendment to the 

House bill, or its disagreement to the amendment of the House, 

and concur with a further amendment, which further amendment shall consist of only that portion of the conference report 

that has not been stricken; 

‘‘(2) the question in clause (1) shall be decided under the 

same debate limitation as the conference report; and 

‘‘(3) no further amendment shall be in order. 

‘‘5. (a) Any Senator may move to waive any or all points 

of order under paragraph 2 or 3 with respect to the pending conference report by an affirmative vote of three-fifths of the Members, 

duly chosen and sworn. All motions to waive under this paragraph 

shall be debatable collectively for not to exceed 1 hour equally 

divided between the Majority Leader and the Minority Leader or 

their designees. A motion to waive all points of order under this 

paragraph shall not be amendable. 

‘‘(b) All appeals from rulings of the Chair under paragraph 

4 shall be debatable collectively for not to exceed 1 hour, equally 

divided between the Majority and the Minority Leader or their 

designees. An affirmative vote of three-fifths of the Members of 

the Senate, duly chosen and sworn, shall be required in the Senate 

to sustain an appeal of the ruling of the Chair under paragraph 

4.’’. 

(b) PUBLIC AVAILABILITY AMENDMENT.— 

(1) IN GENERAL.—Rule XXVIII of the Standing Rules of 

the Senate is amended by adding at the end the following: 

‘‘9. (a)(1) It shall not be in order to vote on the adoption 

of a report of a committee of conference unless such report has 

been available to Members and to the general public for at least 

48 hours before such vote. If a point of order is sustained under 

this paragraph, then the conference report shall be set aside. 

‘‘(2) For purposes of this paragraph, a report of a committee 

of conference is made available to the general public as of the 

time it is posted on a publicly accessible website controlled by 

a Member, committee, Library of Congress, or other office of Congress, or the Government Printing Office, as reported to the Presiding Officer by the Secretary of the Senate. 

‘‘(b)(1) This paragraph may be waived in the Senate with 

respect to the pending conference report by an affirmative vote 

of three-fifths of the Members, duly chosen and sworn. A motion 

to waive this paragraph shall be debatable for not to exceed 1 

hour equally divided between the Majority Leader and the Minority 

Leader or their designees. 

‘‘(2) An affirmative vote of three-fifths of the Members, duly 

chosen and sworn, shall be required to sustain an appeal of the 

ruling of the Chair on a point of order raised under this paragraph. 

An appeal of the ruling of the Chair shall be debatable for not 

to exceed 1 hour equally divided between the Majority and the 

Minority Leader or their designees 

‘‘(c) This paragraph may be waived by joint agreement of the 

Majority Leader and the Minority Leader of the Senate, upon their 

certification that such waiver is necessary as a result of a significant 

disruption to Senate facilities or to the availability of the Internet.’’. 


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(2) IMPLEMENTATION.—Not later than 60 days after the 

date of enactment of this section, the Committee on Rules 

and Administration, in consultation with the Secretary of the 

Senate and the Clerk of the House of Representatives, and 

the Government Printing Office shall promulgate regulations 

for the implementation of the requirements of paragraph 9 

of rule XXVIII of the Standing Rules of the Senate, as added 

by this section. 

SEC. 512. NOTICE OF OBJECTING TO PROCEEDING. 

(a) IN GENERAL.—The Majority and Minority Leaders of the 

Senate or their designees shall recognize a notice of intent of 

a Senator who is a member of their caucus to object to proceeding 

to a measure or matter only if the Senator— 

(1) following the objection to a unanimous consent to proceeding to, and, or passage of, a measure or matter on their 

behalf, submits the notice of intent in writing to the appropriate 

leader or their designee; and 

(2) not later than 6 session days after the submission 

under paragraph (1), submits for inclusion in the Congressional 

Record and in the applicable calendar section described in 

subsection (b) the following notice: 

‘‘I, Senator llll, intend to object to proceedings to llll, dated llll for the following reasonsllll.’’. 

(b) CALENDAR.— (1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of the Senate shall establish for both the Senate Calendar of Business and the Senate 

Executive Calendar a separate section entitled ‘‘Notice of Intent 

to Object to Proceeding’’. 

(2) CONTENT.—The section required by paragraph (1) shall 

include— 

(A) the name of each Senator filing a notice under 

subsection (a)(2); 

(B) the measure or matter covered by the calendar 

that the Senator objects to; and 

(C) the date the objection was filed. 

(3) NOTICE.—A Senator who has notified their respective 

leader and who has withdrawn their objection within the 6 

session day period is not required to submit a notification 

under subsection (a)(2). 

(c) REMOVAL.—A Senator may have an item with respect to 

the Senator removed from a calendar to which it was added under 

subsection (b) by submitting for inclusion in the Congressional 

Record the following notice: 

‘‘I, Senator llll, do not object to proceed to llll, dated llll.’’. 

SEC. 513. PUBLIC AVAILABILITY OF SENATE COMMITTEE AND SUBCOMMITTEE MEETINGS. 

(a) IN GENERAL.—Paragraph 5(e) of rule XXVI of the Standing 

Rules of the Senate is amended by— 

(1) inserting after ‘‘(e)’’ the following: ‘‘(1)’’; and 

(2) adding at the end the following: 

‘‘(2)(A) Except with respect to meetings closed in accordance 

with this rule, each committee and subcommittee shall make publicly available through the Internet a video recording, audio 

recording, or transcript of any meeting not later than 21 business 

days after the meeting occurs. 

Internet. 

Deadline. 

2 USC 30b. 

Deadline. 

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‘‘(B) Information required by subclause (A) shall be available 

until the end of the Congress following the date of the meeting. 

‘‘(C) The Committee on Rules and Administration may waive 

this clause upon request based on the inability of a committee 

or subcommittee to comply with this clause due to technical or 

logistical reasons.’’. 

(b) EFFECTIVE DATE.—This section shall take effect 90 days 

after the date of enactment of this Act. 

SEC. 514. AMENDMENTS AND MOTIONS TO RECOMMIT. 

Paragraph 1 of rule XV of the Standing Rules of the Senate 

is amended to read as follows: 

‘‘1. (a) An amendment and any instruction accompanying a 

motion to recommit shall be reduced to writing and read and 

identical copies shall be provided by the Senator offering the amendment or instruction to the desks of the Majority Leader and the 

Minority Leader before being debated. 

‘‘(b) A motion shall be reduced to writing, if desired by the 

Presiding Officer or by any Senator, and shall be read before being 

debated.’’. 

SEC. 515. SENSE OF THE SENATE ON CONFERENCE COMMITTEE 

PROTOCOLS. 

It is the sense of the Senate that— 

(1) conference committees should hold regular, formal 

meetings of all conferees that are open to the public; 

(2) all conferees should be given adequate notice of the 

time and place of all such meetings; 

(3) all conferees should be afforded an opportunity to 

participate in full and complete debates of the matters that 

such conference committees may recommend to their respective 

Houses; and 

(4) the text of a report of a committee of conference shall 

not be changed after the Senate signature sheets have been 

signed by a majority of the Senate conferees. 

Subtitle B—Earmark Reform 

SEC. 521. CONGRESSIONALLY DIRECTED SPENDING. 

The Standing Rules of the Senate are amended by adding 

at the end the following: 

‘‘RULE XLIV 

‘‘CONGRESSIONALLY DIRECTED SPENDING AND RELATED ITEMS

‘‘1. (a) It shall not be in order to vote on a motion to proceed 

to consider a bill or joint resolution reported by any committee 

unless the chairman of the committee of jurisdiction or the Majority 

Leader or his or her designee certifies— 

‘‘(1) that each congressionally directed spending item, limited tax benefit, and limited tariff benefit, if any, in the bill 

or joint resolution, or in the committee report accompanying 

the bill or joint resolution, has been identified through lists, 

charts, or other similar means including the name of each 

Senator who submitted a request to the committee for each 

item so identified; and 

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‘‘(2) that the information in clause (1) has been available 

on a publicly accessible congressional website in a searchable 

format at least 48 hours before such vote. 

‘‘(b) If a point of order is sustained under this paragraph, 

the motion to proceed shall be suspended until the sponsor of 

the motion or his or her designee has requested resumption and 

compliance with this paragraph has been achieved. 

‘‘2. (a) It shall not be in order to vote on a motion to proceed 

to consider a Senate bill or joint resolution not reported by committee unless the chairman of the committee of jurisdiction or 

the Majority Leader or his or her designee certifies— 

‘‘(1) that each congressionally directed spending item, limited tax benefit, and limited tariff benefit, if any, in the bill 

or joint resolution, has been identified through lists, charts, 

or other similar means, including the name of each Senator 

who submitted a request to the sponsor of the bill or joint 

resolution for each item so identified; and 

‘‘(2) that the information in clause (1) has been available 

on a publicly accessible congressional website in a searchable 

format at least 48 hours before such vote. 

‘‘(b) If a point of order is sustained under this paragraph, 

the motion to proceed shall be suspended until the sponsor of 

the motion or his or her designee has requested resumption and 

compliance with this paragraph has been achieved. 

‘‘3. (a) It shall not be in order to vote on the adoption of 

a report of a committee of conference unless the chairman of the 

committee of jurisdiction or the Majority Leader or his or her 

designee certifies— 

‘‘(1) that each congressionally directed spending item, limited tax benefit, and limited tariff benefit, if any, in the conference report, or in the joint statement of managers accompanying the conference report, has been identified through lists, 

charts, or other means, including the name of each Senator 

who submitted a request to the committee of jurisdiction for 

each item so identified; and 

‘‘(2) that the information in clause (1) has been available 

on a publicly accessible congressional website at least 48 hours 

before such vote. 

‘‘(b) If a point of order is sustained under this paragraph, 

then the conference report shall be set aside. 

‘‘4. (a) If during consideration of a bill or joint resolution, 

a Senator proposes an amendment containing a congressionally 

directed spending item, limited tax benefit, or limited tariff benefit 

which was not included in the bill or joint resolution as placed 

on the calendar or as reported by any committee, in a committee 

report on such bill or joint resolution, or a committee report of 

the Senate on a companion measure, then as soon as practicable, 

the Senator shall ensure that a list of such items (and the name 

of any Senator who submitted a request to the Senator for each 

respective item included in the list) is printed in the Congressional 

Record. 

‘‘(b) If a committee reports a bill or joint resolution that includes 

congressionally directed spending items, limited tax benefits, or 

limited tariff benefits in the bill or joint resolution, or in the 

committee report accompanying the bill or joint resolution, the 

committee shall as soon as practicable identify on a publicly accessible congressional website each such item through lists, charts, 

Congressional 

Record, 

publication. 

Website. 

Certification. 

Website. 

Certification. 

Website. 


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or other similar means, including the name of each Senator who 

submitted a request to the committee for each item so identified. 

Availability on the Internet of a committee report that contains 

the information described in this subparagraph shall satisfy the 

requirements of this subparagraph. 

‘‘(c) To the extent technically feasible, information made available on publicly accessible congressional websites under paragraphs 

3 and 4 shall be provided in a searchable format. 

‘‘5. For the purpose of this rule— 

‘‘(a) the term ‘congressionally directed spending item’ 

means a provision or report language included primarily at 

the request of a Senator providing, authorizing, or recommending a specific amount of discretionary budget authority, 

credit authority, or other spending authority for a contract, 

loan, loan guarantee, grant, loan authority, or other expenditure 

with or to an entity, or targeted to a specific State, locality 

or Congressional district, other than through a statutory or 

administrative formula-driven or competitive award process; 

‘‘(b) the term ‘limited tax benefit’ means— 

‘‘(1) any revenue provision that— 

‘‘(A) provides a Federal tax deduction, credit, exclusion, or preference to a particular beneficiary or limited 

group of beneficiaries under the Internal Revenue Code 

of 1986; and 

‘‘(B) contains eligibility criteria that are not uniform in application with respect to potential beneficiaries of such provision; 

‘‘(c) the term ‘limited tariff benefit’ means a provision modifying the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States 

in a manner that benefits 10 or fewer entities; and 

‘‘(d) except as used in subparagraph 8(e), the term ‘item’ 

when not preceded by ‘congressionally directed spending’ means 

any provision that is a congressionally directed spending item, 

a limited tax benefit, or a limited tariff benefit. 

‘‘6. (a) A Senator who requests a congressionally directed 

spending item, a limited tax benefit, or a limited tariff benefit 

in any bill or joint resolution (or an accompanying report) or in 

any conference report (or an accompanying joint statement of managers) shall provide a written statement to the chairman and 

ranking member of the committee of jurisdiction, including— 

‘‘(1) the name of the Senator; 

‘‘(2) in the case of a congressionally directed spending item, 

the name and location of the intended recipient or, if there 

is no specifically intended recipient, the intended location of 

the activity; 

‘‘(3) in the case of a limited tax or tariff benefit, identification of the individual or entities reasonably anticipated to benefit, to the extent known to the Senator; 

‘‘(4) the purpose of such congressionally directed spending 

item or limited tax or tariff benefit; and 

‘‘(5) a certification that neither the Senator nor the Senator’s immediate family has a pecuniary interest in the item, 

consistent with the requirements of paragraph 9. 

‘‘(b) With respect to each item included in a Senate bill or 

joint resolution (or accompanying report) reported by committee 

or considered by the Senate, or included in a conference report 

(or joint statement of managers accompanying the conference report) 

Public 

information. 

Internet. 

Statement. 

Certification. 


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considered by the Senate, each committee of jurisdiction shall make 

available for public inspection on the Internet the certifications 

under subparagraph (a)(5) as soon as practicable. 

‘‘7. In the case of a bill, joint resolution, or conference report 

that contains congressionally directed spending items in any classified portion of a report accompanying the measure, the committee 

of jurisdiction shall, to the greatest extent practicable, consistent 

with the need to protect national security (including intelligence 

sources and methods), include on the list required by paragraph 

1, 2, or 3 as the case may be, a general program description 

in unclassified language, funding level, and the name of the sponsor 

of that congressionally directed spending item. 

‘‘8. (a) A Senator may raise a point of order against one or 

more provisions of a conference report if they constitute new 

directed spending provisions. The Presiding Officer may sustain 

the point of order as to some or all of the provisions against 

which the Senator raised the point of order. 

‘‘(b) If the Presiding Officer sustains the point of order as 

to any of the provisions against which the Senator raised the 

point of order, then those provisions against which the Presiding 

Officer sustains the point of order shall be stricken. After all other 

points of order under this paragraph have been disposed of— 

‘‘(1) the Senate shall proceed to consider the question of 

whether the Senate should recede from its amendment to the 

House bill, or its disagreement to the amendment of the House, 

and concur with a further amendment, which further amendment shall consist of only that portion of the conference report 

that has not been stricken; and 

‘‘(2) the question in clause (1) shall be decided under the 

same debate limitation as the conference report and no further 

amendment shall be in order. 

‘‘(c) Any Senator may move to waive any or all points of order 

under this paragraph with respect to the pending conference report 

by an affirmative vote of three-fifths of the Members, duly chosen 

and sworn. All motions to waive under this paragraph shall be 

debatable collectively for not to exceed 1 hour equally divided 

between the Majority Leader and the Minority Leader or their 

designees. A motion to waive all points of order under this paragraph shall not be amendable. 

‘‘(d) All appeals from rulings of the Chair under this paragraph 

shall be debatable collectively for not to exceed 1 hour, equally 

divided between the Majority and the Minority Leader or their 

designees. An affirmative vote of three-fifths of the Members of 

the Senate, duly chosen and sworn, shall be required in the Senate 

to sustain an appeal of the ruling of the Chair under this paragraph. 

‘‘(e) The term ‘new directed spending provision’ as used in 

this paragraph means any item that consists of a specific provision 

containing a specific level of funding for any specific account, specific 

program, specific project, or specific activity, when no specific 

funding was provided for such specific account, specific program, 

specific project, or specific activity in the measure originally committed to the conferees by either House. 

‘‘9. No Member, officer, or employee of the Senate shall knowingly use his official position to introduce, request, or otherwise 

aid the progress or passage of congressionally directed spending 

items, limited tax benefits, or limited tariff benefits a principal 

purpose of which is to further only his pecuniary interest, only 


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the pecuniary interest of his immediate family, or only the pecuniary interest of a limited class of persons or enterprises, when 

he or his immediate family, or enterprises controlled by them, 

are members of the affected class. 

‘‘10. Any Senator may move to waive application of paragraph 

1, 2, or 3 with respect to a measure by an affirmative vote of 

three-fifths of the Members, duly chosen and sworn. A motion 

to waive under this paragraph with respect to a measure shall 

be debatable for not to exceed 1 hour equally divided between 

the Majority Leader and the Minority Leader or their designees. 

With respect to points of order raised under paragraphs 1, 2, 

or 3, only one appeal from a ruling of the Chair shall be in order, 

and debate on such an appeal from a ruling of the Chair on 

such point of order shall be limited to one hour. 

‘‘11. Any Senator may move to waive all points of order under 

this rule with respect to the pending measure or motion by an 

affirmative vote of three-fifths of the Members, duly chosen and 

sworn. All motions to waive all points of order with respect to 

a measure or motion as provided by this paragraph shall be debatable collectively for not to exceed 1 hour equally divided between 

the Majority Leader and the Minority Leader or their designees. 

A motion to waive all points of order with respect to a measure 

or motion as provided by this paragraph shall not be amendable. 

‘‘12. Paragraph 1, 2, or 3 of this rule may be waived by joint 

agreement of the Majority Leader and the Minority Leader of the 

Senate upon their certification that such waiver is necessary as 

a result of a significant disruption to Senate facilities or to the 

availability of the Internet.’’. 

Subtitle C—Revolving Door Reform 

SEC. 531. POST-EMPLOYMENT RESTRICTIONS. 

(a) APPLICATION TO ENTITY.—Paragraph 8 of rule XXXVII of 

the Standing Rules of the Senate is amended by— 

(1) inserting after ‘‘by such a registered lobbyist’’ the following ‘‘or an entity that employs or retains a registered lobbyist’’; and 

(2) striking ‘‘one year’’ and inserting ‘‘2 years’’. 

(b) PROHIBITION.—Paragraph 9 of rule XXXVII of the Standing 

Rules of the Senate is amended— 

(1) in the first sentence, by inserting after ‘‘by such a 

registered lobbyist’’ the following: ‘‘or an entity that employs 

or retains a registered lobbyist’’; 

(2) in the second sentence, by inserting after ‘‘by such 

a registered lobbyist’’ the following: ‘‘or an entity that employs 

or retains a registered lobbyist’’; 

(3) by designating the first and second sentences as subparagraphs (a) and (b), respectively; and 

(4) by adding at the end the following: 

‘‘(c) If an officer of the Senate or an employee on the staff 

of a Member or on the staff of a committee whose rate of pay 

is equal to or greater than 75 percent of the rate of pay of a 

Member and employed at such rate for more than 60 days in 

a calendar year, upon leaving that position, becomes a registered 

lobbyist, or is employed or retained by such a registered lobbyist 

or an entity that employs or retains a registered lobbyist for the 


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purpose of influencing legislation, such employee may not lobby 

any Member, officer, or employee of the Senate for a period of 

1 year after leaving that position.’’. 

(c) EFFECTIVE DATE.—Paragraph 9(c) of rule XXXVII of the 

Standing Rules of the Senate shall apply to individuals who leave 

office or employment to which such paragraph applies on or after 

the date of adjournment of the first session of the 110th Congress 

sine die or December 31, 2007, whichever date is earlier. 

SEC. 532. DISCLOSURE BY MEMBERS OF CONGRESS AND STAFF OF 

EMPLOYMENT NEGOTIATIONS. 

Rule XXXVII of the Standing Rules of the Senate is amended 

by— 

(1) redesignating paragraph 12 as paragraph 13; and 

(2) adding after paragraph 11 the following: 

‘‘12. (a) A Member shall not negotiate or have any arrangement 

concerning prospective private employment until after his or her 

successor has been elected, unless such Member files a signed 

statement with the Secretary of the Senate, for public disclosure, 

regarding such negotiations or arrangements not later than 3 business days after the commencement of such negotiation or arrangement, including the name of the private entity or entities involved 

in such negotiations or arrangements, and the date such negotiations or arrangements commenced. 

‘‘(b) A Member shall not negotiate or have any arrangement 

concerning prospective employment for a job involving lobbying 

activities as defined by the Lobbying Disclosure Act of 1995 until 

after his or her successor has been elected. 

‘‘(c)(1) An employee of the Senate earning in excess of 75 

percent of the salary paid to a Senator shall notify the Select 

Committee on Ethics that he or she is negotiating or has any 

arrangement concerning prospective private employment. 

‘‘(2) The notification under this subparagraph shall be made 

not later than 3 business days after the commencement of such 

negotiation or arrangement. 

‘‘(3) An employee to whom this subparagraph applies shall— 

‘‘(A) recuse himself or herself from— 

‘‘(i) any contact or communication with the prospective 

employer on issues of legislative interest to the prospective 

employer; and 

‘‘(ii) any legislative matter in which there is a conflict 

of interest or an appearance of a conflict for that employee 

under this subparagraph; and 

‘‘(B) notify the Select Committee on Ethics of such recusal.’’. 

SEC. 533. ELIMINATION OF FLOOR PRIVILEGES FOR FORMER MEMBERS, SENATE OFFICERS, AND SPEAKERS OF THE HOUSE 

WHO ARE REGISTERED LOBBYISTS OR SEEK FINANCIAL 

GAIN. 

Rule XXIII of the Standing Rules of the Senate is amended 

by— 

(1) inserting ‘‘1.’’ before ‘‘Other’’; 

(2) inserting after ‘‘Ex-Senators and Senators-elect’’ the 

following: ‘‘, except as provided in paragraph 2’’; 

(3) inserting after ‘‘Ex-Secretaries and ex-Sergeants at 

Arms of the Senate’’ the following: ‘‘, except as provided in 

paragraph 2’’; 

Notification. 

Applicability. 

Deadline. 

Notification. 

Deadline. 


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(4) inserting after ‘‘Ex-Speakers of the House of Representatives’’ the following: ‘‘, except as provided in paragraph 2’’; 

and 

(5) adding at the end the following: 

‘‘2.(a) The floor privilege provided in paragraph 1 shall not 

apply, when the Senate is in session, to an individual covered 

by this paragraph who is— 

‘‘(1) a registered lobbyist or agent of a foreign principal; 

or 

‘‘(2) in the employ of or represents any party or organization 

for the purpose of influencing, directly or indirectly, the passage, defeat, or amendment of any Federal legislative proposal. 

‘‘(b) The Committee on Rules and Administration may promulgate regulations to allow individuals covered by this paragraph 

floor privileges for ceremonial functions and events designated by 

the Majority Leader and the Minority Leader. 

‘‘3. A former Member of the Senate may not exercise privileges 

to use Senate athletic facilities or Member-only parking spaces 

if such Member is— 

‘‘(a) a registered lobbyist or agent of a foreign principal; 

or 

‘‘(b) in the employ of or represents any party or organization 

for the purpose of influencing, directly or indirectly, the passage, defeat, or amendment of any Federal legislative proposal.’’. 

SEC. 534. INFLUENCING HIRING DECISIONS. 

Rule XLIII of the Standing Rules of the Senate is amended 

by adding at the end the following: 

‘‘6. No Member, with the intent to influence solely on the 

basis of partisan political affiliation an employment decision or 

employment practice of any private entity, shall— 

‘‘(a) take or withhold, or offer or threaten to take or withhold, an official act; or 

‘‘(b) influence, or offer or threaten to influence the official 

act of another.’’. 

SEC. 535. NOTIFICATION OF POST-EMPLOYMENT RESTRICTIONS. 

(a) IN GENERAL.—After a Senator or an elected officer of the 

Senate leaves office or after the termination of employment with 

the Senate of an employee of the Senate, the Secretary of the 

Senate shall notify the Member, officer, or employee of the beginning and ending date of the prohibitions that apply to the Member, 

officer, or employee under rule XXXVII of the Standing Rules of 

the Senate. 

(b) EFFECTIVE DATE.—This section shall take effect 60 days 

after the date of enactment of this Act. 

Subtitle D—Gift and Travel Reform 

SEC. 541. BAN ON GIFTS FROM REGISTERED LOBBYISTS AND ENTITIES 

THAT HIRE REGISTERED LOBBYISTS. 

Paragraph 1(a)(2) of rule XXXV of the Standing Rules of the 

Senate is amended by— 

(1) inserting ‘‘(A)’’ after ‘‘(2)’’; and 

(2) adding at the end the following: 

2 USC 104f. 


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‘‘(B) A Member, officer, or employee may not knowingly accept 

a gift from a registered lobbyist, an agent of a foreign principal, 

or a private entity that retains or employs a registered lobbyist 

or an agent of a foreign principal, except as provided in subparagraphs (c) and (d).’’. 

SEC. 542. NATIONAL PARTY CONVENTIONS. 

Paragraph (1)(d) of rule XXXV of the Standing Rules of the 

Senate is amended by adding at the end the following: 

‘‘(5) During the dates of the national party convention for 

the political party to which a Member belongs, a Member may 

not participate in an event honoring that Member, other than 

in his or her capacity as the party’s presidential or vice presidential 

nominee or presumptive nominee, if such event is directly paid 

for by a registered lobbyist or a private entity that retains or 

employs a registered lobbyist.’’. 

SEC. 543. PROPER VALUATION OF TICKETS TO ENTERTAINMENT AND 

SPORTING EVENTS. 

Paragraph 1(c)(1) of rule XXXV of the Standing Rules of the 

Senate is amended by— 

(1) inserting ‘‘(A)’’ before ‘‘Anything’’; and 

(2) adding at the end the following: 

‘‘(B) The market value of a ticket to an entertainment 

or sporting event shall be the face value of the ticket or, 

in the case of a ticket without a face value, the value of 

the ticket with the highest face value for the event, except 

that if a ticket holder can establish in advance of the event 

to the Select Committee on Ethics that the ticket at issue 

is equivalent to another ticket with a face value, then the 

market value shall be set at the face value of the equivalent 

ticket. In establishing equivalency, the ticket holder shall provide written and independently verifiable information related 

to the primary features of the ticket, including, at a minimum, 

the seat location, access to parking, availability of food and 

refreshments, and access to venue areas not open to the public. 

The Select Committee on Ethics may make a determination 

of equivalency only if such information is provided in advance 

of the event.’’. 

SEC. 544. RESTRICTIONS ON REGISTERED LOBBYIST PARTICIPATION 

IN TRAVEL AND DISCLOSURE. 

(a) PROHIBITION.—Paragraph 2 of rule XXXV of the Standing 

Rules of the Senate is amended— 

(1) in subparagraph (a)(1), by— 

(A) adding after ‘‘foreign principal’’ the following: ‘‘or 

a private entity that retains or employs 1 or more registered 

lobbyists or agents of a foreign principal’’; 

(B) striking the dash and inserting ‘‘complies with 

the requirements of this paragraph.’’; and 

(C) striking clauses (A) and (B); 

(2) by redesignating subparagraph (a)(2) as subparagraph 

(a)(3) and adding after subparagraph (a)(1) the following: 

‘‘(2)(A) Notwithstanding clause (1), a reimbursement (including 

payment in kind) to a Member, officer, or employee of the Senate 

from an individual, other than a registered lobbyist or agent of 

a foreign principal, that is a private entity that retains or employs 

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121 STAT. 768 PUBLIC LAW 110–81—SEPT. 14, 2007 

shall be deemed to be a reimbursement to the Senate under clause 

(1) if— 

‘‘(i) the reimbursement is for necessary transportation, 

lodging, and related expenses for travel to a meeting, speaking 

engagement, factfinding trip, or similar event described in 

clause (1) in connection with the duties of the Member, officer, 

or employee and the reimbursement is provided only for attendance at or participation for 1-day (exclusive of travel time 

and an overnight stay) at an event described in clause (1); 

or 

‘‘(ii) the reimbursement is for necessary transportation, 

lodging, and related expenses for travel to a meeting, speaking 

engagement, factfinding trip, or similar event described in 

clause (1) in connection with the duties of the Member, officer, 

or employee and the reimbursement is from an organization 

designated under section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code 

of 1986. 

‘‘(B) When deciding whether to preapprove a trip under this 

clause, the Select Committee on Ethics shall make a determination 

consistent with regulations issued pursuant to section 544(b) of 

the Honest Leadership and Open Government Act of 2007. The 

committee through regulations to implement subclause (A)(i) may 

permit a longer stay when determined by the committee to be 

practically required to participate in the event, but in no event 

may the stay exceed 2 nights.’’; 

(3) in subparagraph (a)(3), as redesignated, by striking 

‘‘clause (1)’’ and inserting ‘‘clauses (1) and (2)’’; 

(4) in subparagraph (b), by inserting before ‘‘Each’’ the 

following: ‘‘Before an employee may accept reimbursement 

pursuant to subparagraph (a), the employee shall receive 

advance written authorization from the Member or officer under 

whose direct supervision the employee works.’’; 

(5) in subparagraph (c)— 

(A) by inserting before ‘‘Each’’ the following: ‘‘Each 

Member, officer, or employee that receives reimbursement 

under this paragraph shall disclose the expenses 

reimbursed or to be reimbursed, the authorization under 

subparagraph (b) (for an employee), and a copy of the 

certification in subparagraph (e)(1) to the Secretary of the 

Senate not later than 30 days after the travel is completed.’’; 

(B) by striking ‘‘subparagraph (a)(1)’’ and inserting 

‘‘this subparagraph’’; 

(C) in clause (5), by striking ‘‘and’’ after the semicolon; 

(D) by redesignating clause (6) as clause (7); and 

(E) by inserting after clause (5) the following: 

‘‘(6) a description of meetings and events attended; and’’; 

(6) by redesignating subparagraphs (d) and (e) as subparagraphs (f) and (g), respectively; 

(7) by adding after subparagraph (c) the following: 

‘‘(d)(1) A Member, officer, or employee of the Senate may not 

accept a reimbursement (including payment in kind) for transportation, lodging, or related expenses under subparagraph (a) for 

a trip that was— 

‘‘(A) planned, organized, or arranged by or at the request 

of a registered lobbyist or agent of a foreign principal; or 

Records. 

Deadline. 


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‘‘(B)(i) for trips described under subparagraph (a)(2)(A)(i) 

on which a registered lobbyist accompanies the Member, officer, 

or employee on any segment of the trip; or 

‘‘(ii) for all other trips allowed under this paragraph, on 

which a registered lobbyist accompanies the Member, officer, 

or employee at any point throughout the trip. 

‘‘(2) The Select Committee on Ethics shall issue regulations 

identifying de minimis activities by registered lobbyists or foreign 

agents that would not violate this subparagraph. 

‘‘(e) A Member, officer, or employee shall, before accepting 

travel otherwise permissible under this paragraph from any 

source— 

‘‘(1) provide to the Select Committee on Ethics a written 

certification from such source that— 

‘‘(A) the trip will not be financed in any part by a 

registered lobbyist or agent of a foreign principal; 

‘‘(B) the source either— 

‘‘(i) does not retain or employ registered lobbyists 

or agents of a foreign principal and is not itself a 

registered lobbyist or agent of a foreign principal; or 

‘‘(ii) certifies that the trip meets the requirements 

of subclause (i) or (ii) of subparagraph (a)(2)(A); 

‘‘(C) the source will not accept from a registered lobbyist or agent of a foreign principal or a private entity 

that retains or employs 1 or more registered lobbyists 

or agents of a foreign principal, funds earmarked directly 

or indirectly for the purpose of financing the specific trip; 

and 

‘‘(D) the trip will not in any part be planned, organized, 

requested, or arranged by a registered lobbyist or agent 

of a foreign principal and the traveler will not be accompanied on the trip consistent with the applicable requirements of subparagraph (d)(1)(B) by a registered lobbyist 

or agent of a foreign principal, except as permitted by 

regulations issued under subparagraph (d)(2); and 

‘‘(2) after the Select Committee on Ethics has promulgated 

regulations pursuant to section 544(b) of the Honest Leadership 

and Open Government Act of 2007, obtain the prior approval 

of the committee for such reimbursement.’’; and 

(8) by striking subparagraph (g), as redesignated, and 

inserting the following: 

‘‘(g) The Secretary of the Senate shall make all advance 

authorizations, certifications, and disclosures filed pursuant to this 

paragraph available for public inspection as soon as possible after 

they are received, but in no event prior to the completion of the 

relevant travel.’’. 

(b) GUIDELINES.— 

(1) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided in paragraph (4) and 

not later than 60 days after the date of enactment of this 

Act and at annual intervals thereafter, the Select Committee 

on Ethics shall develop and revise, as necessary— 

(A) guidelines, for purposes of implementing the 

amendments made by subsection (a), on evaluating a trip 

proposal and judging the reasonableness of an expense 

or expenditure, including guidelines related to evaluating— 

(i) the stated mission of the organization sponsoring the trip; 

Deadlines. 

2 USC 31–3. 

Public 

information. 

Regulations. 


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(ii) the organization’s prior history of sponsoring 

congressional trips, if any; 

(iii) other educational activities performed by the 

organization besides sponsoring congressional trips; 

(iv) whether any trips previously sponsored by the 

organization led to an investigation by the Select Committee on Ethics; 

(v) whether the length of the trip and the itinerary 

is consistent with the official purpose of the trip; 

(vi) whether there is an adequate connection 

between a trip and official duties; 

(vii) the reasonableness of an amount spent by 

a sponsor of the trip; 

(viii) whether there is a direct and immediate relationship between a source of funding and an event; 

and 

(ix) any other factor deemed relevant by the Select 

Committee on Ethics; and 

(B) regulations describing the information it will 

require individuals subject to the requirements of the 

amendments made by subsection (a) to submit to the committee in order to obtain the prior approval of the committee for travel under paragraph 2 of rule XXXV of the 

Standing Rules of the Senate, including any required certifications. 

(2) CONSIDERATION.—In developing and revising guidelines 

under paragraph (1)(A), the committee shall take into account 

the maximum per diem rates for official Federal Government 

travel published annually by the General Services Administration, the Department of State, and the Department of Defense. 

(3) UNREASONABLE EXPENSE.—For purposes of this subsection, travel on a flight described in paragraph 1(c)(1)(C)(ii) 

of rule XXXV of the Standing Rules of the Senate shall not 

be considered to be a reasonable expense. 

(4) EXTENSION.—The deadline for the initial guidelines 

required by paragraph (1) may be extended for 30 days by 

the Committee on Rules and Administration. 

(c) REIMBURSEMENT FOR NONCOMMERCIAL AIR TRAVEL.— 

(1) CHARTER RATES.—Paragraph 1(c)(1) of rule XXXV of 

the Standing Rules of the Senate is amended by adding at 

the end the following: 

‘‘(C)(i) Fair market value for a flight on an aircraft 

described in item (ii) shall be the pro rata share of the fair 

market value of the normal and usual charter fare or rental 

charge for a comparable plane of comparable size, as determined 

by dividing such cost by the number of Members, officers, 

or employees of Congress on the flight. 

‘‘(ii) A flight on an aircraft described in this item is any 

flight on an aircraft that is not— 

‘‘(I) operated or paid for by an air carrier or commercial 

operator certificated by the Federal Aviation Administration and required to be conducted under air carrier safety 

rules; or 

‘‘(II) in the case of travel which is abroad, an air 

carrier or commercial operator certificated by an appropriate foreign civil aviation authority and the flight is 

required to be conducted under air carrier safety rules. 

Regulations. 


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‘‘(iii) This subclause shall not apply to an aircraft owned 

or leased by a governmental entity or by a Member of Congress 

or a Member’s immediate family member (including an aircraft 

owned by an entity that is not a public corporation in which 

the Member or Member’s immediate family member has an 

ownership interest), provided that the Member does not use 

the aircraft anymore than the Member’s or immediate family 

member’s proportionate share of ownership allows.’’. 

(2) UNOFFICIAL OFFICE ACCOUNTS.—Paragraph 1 of rule 

XXXVIII of the Standing Rules of the Senate is amended by 

adding at the end the following: 

‘‘(c) For purposes of reimbursement under this rule, fair market 

value of a flight on an aircraft shall be determined as provided 

in paragraph 1(c)(1)(C) of rule XXXV.’’. 

(d) REVIEW OF TRAVEL ALLOWANCES.—Not later than 90 days 

after the date of enactment of this Act, the Subcommittee on the 

Legislative Branch of the Senate Committee on Appropriations, 

in consultation with the Committee on Rules and Administration 

of the Senate, shall consider and propose, as necessary in the 

discretion of the subcommittee, any adjustment to the Senator’s 

Official Personnel and Office Expense Account needed in light of 

the enactment of this section, and any modifications of Federal 

statutes or appropriations measures needed to accomplish such 

adjustments. 

(e) SEPARATELY REGULATED EXPENSES.—Nothing in this section 

or section 541 is meant to alter treatment under law or Senate 

rules of expenses that are governed by the Foreign Gifts and Decorations Act or the Mutual Educational and Cultural Exchange Act. 

(f) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by subsections 

(a) and (b) shall take effect 60 days after the date of enactment 

of this Act or the date the Select Committee on Ethics issues 

new guidelines as required by subsection (b), whichever is later. 

Subsection (c) shall take effect on the date of enactment of this 

Act. 

SEC. 545. FREE ATTENDANCE AT A CONSTITUENT EVENT. 

(a) IN GENERAL.—Paragraph 1(c) of rule XXXV of the Standing 

Rules of the Senate is amended by adding at the end the following: 

‘‘(24) Subject to the restrictions in subparagraph (a)(2)(A), 

free attendance at a constituent event permitted pursuant to 

subparagraph (g).’’. 

(b) IN GENERAL.—Paragraph 1 of rule XXXV of the Standing 

Rules of the Senate is amended by adding at the end the following: 

‘‘(g)(1) A Member, officer, or employee may accept an offer 

of free attendance in the Member’s home State at a conference, 

symposium, forum, panel discussion, dinner event, site visit, 

viewing, reception, or similar event, provided by a sponsor of the 

event, if— 

‘‘(A) the cost of meals provided the Member, officer, or 

employee is less than $50; 

‘‘(B)(i) the event is sponsored by constituents of, or a group 

that consists primarily of constituents of, the Member (or the 

Member by whom the officer or employee is employed); and 

‘‘(ii) the event will be attended primarily by a group of 

at least 5 constituents of the Member (or the Member by 

whom the officer or employee is employed) provided that a 

registered lobbyist shall not attend the event; and 

2 USC 31–3 note. 

2 USC 31–3 note. 

Deadline. 


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‘‘(C)(i) the Member, officer, or employee participates in 

the event as a speaker or a panel participant, by presenting 

information related to Congress or matters before Congress, 

or by performing a ceremonial function appropriate to the Member’s, officer’s, or employee’s official position; or 

‘‘(ii) attendance at the event is appropriate to the performance of the official duties or representative function of the 

Member, officer, or employee. 

‘‘(2) A Member, officer, or employee who attends an event 

described in clause (1) may accept a sponsor’s unsolicited offer 

of free attendance at the event for an accompanying individual 

if others in attendance will generally be similarly accompanied 

or if such attendance is appropriate to assist in the representation 

of the Senate. 

‘‘(3) For purposes of this subparagraph, the term ‘free attendance’ has the same meaning given such term in subparagraph 

(d).’’. 

SEC. 546. SENATE PRIVATELY PAID TRAVEL PUBLIC WEBSITE. 

(a) TRAVEL DISCLOSURE.—Not later than January 1, 2008, the 

Secretary of the Senate shall establish a publicly available website 

without fee or without access charge, that contains information 

on travel that is subject to disclosure under paragraph 2 of rule 

XXXV of the Standing Rules of the Senate, that includes, with 

respect to travel occurring on or after January 1, 2008— 

(1) a search engine; 

(2) uniform categorization by Member, dates of travel, and 

any other common categories associated with congressional 

travel; and 

(3) forms filed in the Senate relating to officially related 

travel. 

(b) RETENTION.—The Secretary of the Senate shall maintain 

the information posted on the public Internet site of the Office 

of the Secretary under this section for a period not longer than 

4 years after receiving the information. 

(c) EXTENSION OF AUTHORITY.—If the Secretary of the Senate 

is unable to meet the deadline established under subsection (a), 

the Committee on Rules and Administration of the Senate may 

grant an extension of the Secretary of the Senate. 

(e) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There are authorized 

to be appropriated such sums as are necessary to carry out this 

section. 

Subtitle E—Other Reforms 

SEC. 551. COMPLIANCE WITH LOBBYING DISCLOSURE. 

Rule XXXVII of the Standing Rules of the Senate is amended 

by— 

(1) redesignating paragraphs 10 through 13 as paragraphs 

11 through 14, respectively; and 

(2) inserting after paragraph 9, the following: 

‘‘10. Paragraphs 8 and 9 shall not apply to contacts with the 

staff of the Secretary of the Senate regarding compliance with 

the lobbying disclosure requirements of the Lobbying Disclosure 

Act of 1995.’’. 

Records. 

Deadline. 

2 USC 104g. 


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SEC. 552. PROHIBIT OFFICIAL CONTACT WITH SPOUSE OR IMMEDIATE 

FAMILY MEMBER OF MEMBER WHO IS A REGISTERED 

LOBBYIST. 

Rule XXXVII of the Standing Rules of the Senate is amended 

by— 

(1) redesignating paragraphs 11 through 14 as paragraphs 

12 through 15, respectively; and 

(2) inserting after paragraph 10, the following: 

‘‘11. (a) If a Member’s spouse or immediate family member 

is a registered lobbyist, or is employed or retained by such a 

registered lobbyist or an entity that hires or retains a registered 

lobbyist for the purpose of influencing legislation, the Member 

shall prohibit all staff employed or supervised by that Member 

(including staff in personal, committee, and leadership offices) from 

having any contact with the Member’s spouse or immediate family 

member that constitutes a lobbying contact as defined by section 

3 of the Lobbying Disclosure Act of 1995 by such person. 

‘‘(b) Members and employees on the staff of a Member (including 

staff in personal, committee, and leadership offices) shall be prohibited from having any contact that constitutes a lobbying contact 

as defined by section 3 of the Lobbying Disclosure Act of 1995 

by any spouse of a Member who is a registered lobbyist, or is 

employed or retained by such a registered lobbyist. 

‘‘(c) The prohibition in subparagraph (b) shall not apply to 

the spouse of a Member who was serving as a registered lobbyist 

at least 1 year prior to the most recent election of that Member 

to office or at least 1 year prior to his or her marriage to that 

Member.’’. 

SEC. 553. MANDATORY SENATE ETHICS TRAINING FOR MEMBERS AND 

STAFF. 

(a) TRAINING PROGRAM.—The Select Committee on Ethics shall 

conduct ongoing ethics training and awareness programs for Members of the Senate and Senate staff. 

(b) REQUIREMENTS.—The ethics training program conducted by 

the Select Committee on Ethics shall be completed by— 

(1) new Senators or staff not later than 60 days after 

commencing service or employment; and 

(2) Senators and Senate staff serving or employed on the 

date of enactment of this Act not later than 165 days after 

the date of enactment of this Act. 

SEC. 554. ANNUAL REPORT BY SELECT COMMITTEE ON ETHICS. 

The Select Committee on Ethics of the Senate shall issue an 

annual report due no later than January 31, describing the following: 

(1) The number of alleged violations of Senate rules 

received from any source, including the number raised by a 

Senator or staff of the committee. 

(2) A list of the number of alleged violations that were 

dismissed— 

(A) for lack of subject matter jurisdiction or, in which, 

even if the allegations in the complaint are true, no violation of Senate rules would exist; or 

(B) because they failed to provide sufficient facts as 

to any material violation of the Senate rules beyond mere 

allegation or assertion. 

2 USC 72a–1i. 

Deadlines. 

2 USC 72a–1h. 


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(3) The number of alleged violations in which the committee 

staff conducted a preliminary inquiry. 

(4) The number of alleged violations that resulted in an 

adjudicatory review. 

(5) The number of alleged violations that the committee 

dismissed for lack of substantial merit. 

(6) The number of private letters of admonition or public 

letters of admonition issued. 

(7) The number of matters resulting in a disciplinary sanction. 

(8) Any other information deemed by the committee to 

be appropriate to describe its activities in the preceding year. 

SEC. 555. EXERCISE OF RULEMAKING POWERS. 

The Senate adopts the provisions of this title— 

(1) as an exercise of the rulemaking power of the Senate; 

and 

(2) with full recognition of the constitutional right of the 

Senate to change those rules at any time, in the same manner, 

and to the same extent as in the case of any other rule of 

the Senate. 

SEC. 556. EFFECTIVE DATE AND GENERAL PROVISIONS. 

Except as otherwise provided in this title, this title shall take 

effect on the date of enactment of this title. 

TITLE VI—PROHIBITED USE OF 

PRIVATE AIRCRAFT 

SEC. 601. RESTRICTIONS ON USE OF CAMPAIGN FUNDS FOR FLIGHTS 

ON NONCOMMERCIAL AIRCRAFT. 

(a) RESTRICTIONS.—Section 313 of the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 (2 U.S.C. 439a) is amended by adding at the 

end the following new subsection: 

‘‘(c) RESTRICTIONS ON USE OF CAMPAIGN FUNDS FOR FLIGHTS

ON NONCOMMERCIAL AIRCRAFT.— 

‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Notwithstanding any other provision of 

this Act, a candidate for election for Federal office (other than 

a candidate who is subject to paragraph (2)), or any authorized 

committee of such a candidate, may not make any expenditure 

for a flight on an aircraft unless— 

‘‘(A) the aircraft is operated by an air carrier or 

commercial operator certificated by the Federal Aviation 

Administration and the flight is required to be conducted 

under air carrier safety rules, or, in the case of travel 

which is abroad, by an air carrier or commercial operator 

certificated by an appropriate foreign civil aviation 

authority and the flight is required to be conducted under 

air carrier safety rules; or 

‘‘(B) the candidate, the authorized committee, or other 

political committee pays to the owner, lessee, or other 

person who provides the airplane the pro rata share of 

the fair market value of such flight (as determined by 

dividing the fair market value of the normal and usual 

charter fare or rental charge for a comparable plane of 

comparable size by the number of candidates on the flight) 

2 USC 30b note. 

2 USC 30b note. 


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within a commercially reasonable time frame after the 

date on which the flight is taken. 

‘‘(2) HOUSE CANDIDATES.—Notwithstanding any other provision of this Act, in the case of a candidate for election for 

the office of Representative in, or Delegate or Resident Commissioner to, the Congress, an authorized committee and a leadership PAC of the candidate may not make any expenditure 

for a flight on an aircraft unless— 

‘‘(A) the aircraft is operated by an air carrier or 

commercial operator certificated by the Federal Aviation 

Administration and the flight is required to be conducted 

under air carrier safety rules, or, in the case of travel 

which is abroad, by an air carrier or commercial operator 

certificated by an appropriate foreign civil aviation 

authority and the flight is required to be conducted under 

air carrier safety rules; or 

‘‘(B) the aircraft is operated by an entity of the Federal 

government or the government of any State. 

‘‘(3) EXCEPTION FOR AIRCRAFT OWNED OR LEASED BY CAN- DIDATE.— 

‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Paragraphs (1) and (2) do not apply 

to a flight on an aircraft owned or leased by the candidate 

involved or an immediate family member of the candidate 

(including an aircraft owned by an entity that is not a 

public corporation in which the candidate or an immediate 

family member of the candidate has an ownership interest), 

so long as the candidate does not use the aircraft more 

than the candidate’s or immediate family member’s proportionate share of ownership allows. 

‘‘(B) IMMEDIATE FAMILY MEMBER DEFINED.—In this 

subparagraph (A), the term ‘immediate family member’ 

means, with respect to a candidate, a father, mother, son, 

daughter, brother, sister, husband, wife, father-in-law, or 

mother-in-law. 

‘‘(4) LEADERSHIP PAC DEFINED.—In this subsection, the term 

‘leadership PAC’ has the meaning given such term in section 

304(i)(8)(B).’’. 

(b) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendment made by subsection (a) 

shall apply with respect to flights taken on or after the date of 

the enactment of this Act. 

TITLE VII—MISCELLANEOUS 

PROVISIONS 

SEC. 701. SENSE OF THE CONGRESS THAT ANY APPLICABLE RESTRICTIONS ON CONGRESSIONAL OFFICIALS AND EMPLOYEES 

SHOULD APPLY TO THE EXECUTIVE AND JUDICIAL 

BRANCHES. 

It is the sense of the Congress that any applicable restrictions 

on congressional officials and employees in this Act should apply 

to the executive and judicial branches. 

SEC. 702. KNOWING AND WILLFUL FALSIFICATION OR FAILURE TO 

REPORT. 

Section 104(a) of the Ethics in Government Act of 1978 (5 

U.S.C. App.) is amended— 

2 USC 439a note. 


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121 STAT. 776 PUBLIC LAW 110–81—SEPT. 14, 2007 

LEGISLATIVE HISTORY—S. 1: 

CONGRESSIONAL RECORD, Vol. 153 (2007): 

Jan. 9–12, 16–18, considered and passed Senate. 

July 31, considered and passed House, amended. 

Aug. 2, Senate concurred in House amendment. 

WEEKLY COMPILATION OF PRESIDENTIAL DOCUMENTS, Vol. 43 (2007): 

Sept. 14, Presidential statement. 

Æ 

(1) by inserting ‘‘(1)’’ after ‘‘(a)’’; 

(2) in paragraph (1), as so designated, by striking ‘‘$10,000’’ and inserting ‘‘$50,000’’; and 

(3) by adding at the end the following: 

‘‘(2)(A) It shall be unlawful for any person to knowingly and 

willfully— 

‘‘(i) falsify any information that such person is required 

to report under section 102; and 

‘‘(ii) fail to file or report any information that such person 

is required to report under section 102. 

‘‘(B) Any person who— 

‘‘(i) violates subparagraph (A)(i) shall be fined under title 

18, United States Code, imprisoned for not more than 1 year, 

or both; and 

‘‘(ii) violates subparagraph (A)(ii) shall be fined under title 

18, United States Code.’’. 

SEC. 703. RULE OF CONSTRUCTION. 

Nothing in this Act or the amendments made by this Act 

shall be construed to prohibit any expressive conduct protected 

from legal prohibition by, or any activities protected by the free 

speech, free exercise, or free association clauses of, the First Amendment to the Constitution. 

Approved September 14, 2007. 

2 USC 1601 note. 


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