I 

110TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 2093 

To amend the Lobbying Disclosure Act of 1995 to provide for additional 

reporting by lobbying firms. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MAY 1, 2007 

Mr. MEEHAN (for himself and Mr. SHAYS) introduced the following bill; which 

was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary 

A BILL 

To amend the Lobbying Disclosure Act of 1995 to provide 

for additional reporting by lobbying firms. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. DISCLOSURE OF PAID COMMUNICATIONS CAM4 PAIGNS TO INFLUENCE THE GENERAL PUB5 LIC TO LOBBY CONGRESS. 

6 (a) APPLICABILITY.—The amendments made by this 

7 section shall not apply to any person or entity other than 

8 a lobbying firm that is retained on behalf of a client other 

9 than that person or entity. No person or entity other than 


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1 a lobbying firm is required to register or file a report 

2 under the amendments made by this section. 

3 (b) DEFINITIONS.—Section 3 of the Lobbying Disclo4 sure Act of 1995 (2 U.S.C. 1602) is amended— 

5 (1) in paragraph (7), by adding at the end the 

6 following: ‘‘For purposes of a lobbying firm only, the 

7 term ‘lobbying activities’ includes paid communica8 tions campaigns to influence the general public to 

9 lobby Congress.’’; 

10 (2) in paragraph (9)— 

11 (A) in the first sentence— 

12 (i) by striking ‘‘means a person’’ and 

13 inserting 

14 ‘‘(A) means— 

15 ‘‘(i) a person’’; 

16 (ii) by moving the remaining text of 

17 the sentence 4 ems to the right; and 

18 (iii) by striking ‘‘entity.’’ and insert19 ing ‘‘entity; and 

20 ‘‘(ii) a person or entity that is re21 tained by 1 or more clients (other than 

22 that person or entity) to engage in paid 

23 communications campaigns to influence the 

24 general public to lobby Congress, and re25 ceives income of, or spends or agrees to 


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1 spend, an aggregate of $100,000 or more 

2 for such efforts in any quarterly period; 

3 and’’; and 

4 (B) in the last sentence— 

5 (i) by striking ‘‘The term also in6 cludes’’ and inserting 

7 ‘‘(B) includes’’; and 

8 (ii) by moving the remaining text of 

9 the sentence 2 ems to the right; and 

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

11 ‘‘(17) PAID COMMUNICATIONS CAMPAIGNS TO

12 INFLUENCE THE GENERAL PUBLIC TO LOBBY CON13 GRESS.—The term ‘paid communications campaigns 

14 to influence the general public to lobby Congress’ 

15 means any efforts by a lobbying firm, on behalf of 

16 a client that retains the firm, to influence the gen17 eral public or segments thereof to contact 1 or more 

18 covered legislative or executive branch officials (or 

19 Congress generally) to urge such officials (or Con20 gress) to take specific action with respect to a mat21 ter described in paragraph (8)(A), except that such 

22 term does not include— 

23 ‘‘(A) communications made to the mem24 bers of the client; or 


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1 ‘‘(B) direct mail communications to the 

2 general public, or segments of the general pub3 lic, that are made primarily for the purpose of 

4 recruiting members to join an organization.’’. 

5 (c) REGISTRATION.—Section 4(a) of the Lobbying 

6 Disclosure Act of 1995 (2 U.S.C. 1603(a)) is amended 

7 by inserting after paragraph (2) the following and redesig8 nating the succeeding paragraph accordingly: 

9 ‘‘(3) FILING BY CERTAIN LOBBYING FIRMS.— 

10 Any person or entity that qualifies as a lobbying 

11 firm under section 3(9)(A)(ii) shall register with the 

12 Secretary of the Senate and the Clerk of the House 

13 of Representatives not later than 45 days after such 

14 lobbying firm is first retained by a client to engage 

15 in paid communications campaigns to influence the 

16 general public to lobby Congress.’’. 

17 (d) SEPARATE ITEMIZATION OF PAID COMMUNICA18 TIONS CAMPAIGNS TO INFLUENCE THE GENERAL PUBLIC

19 TO LOBBY CONGRESS.—Section 5(b) of the Act (2 U.S.C. 

20 1604(b)) is amended— 

21 (1) in paragraph (3)— 

22 (A) by striking ‘‘firm, a good’’ and insert23 ing ‘‘firm— 

24 ‘‘(A) a good’’; 


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1 (B) by moving the remaining text 2 ems to 

2 the right; and 

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

4 ‘‘(B) a separate good faith estimate of the 

5 total amount of income relating specifically to 

6 paid communications campaigns to influence 

7 the general public to lobby Congress, if such in8 come from the client exceeds $50,000 during 

9 the quarterly filing period; and’’; and 

10 (2) by adding at the end the following: 

11 ‘‘Subparagraphs (B) and (C) of paragraph (2) shall not 

12 apply with respect to reports relating to paid communica13 tions campaigns to influence the general public to lobby 

14 Congress.’’. 

Æ 


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