July 18, 1978

78-39 MEMORANDUM OPINION FOR THE SOLICITOR,

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Antilobbying Laws (18 U.S.C. § 1913, Public Law

95-465, 92 Stat. 1291)— Department of the Interior

This is in response to your request that we consider the effect of 18 U.S.C. 

§ 1913 and several appropriation act riders on various materials prepared by the 

Department of the Interior for public release in connection with proposed 

legislation.

This Department has long taken the position that the purpose of 18 U.S.C. 

§ 1913, as revealed in its legislative history, is to restrict the use of appropriated 

funds for a campaign of telephone calls, telegrams, letters, or other disseminations particularly directed at members of the public urging the recipients to 

contact Members of Congress about pending legislative matters. Section 1913 

has not been construed by this Department to sweep more broadly than this 

evident legislative purpose so as to preclude the President or executive branch 

agencies from informing the public about programs and policies of the 

administration, including those that touch on legislative matters. This interpretation of § 1913, drawn from its legislative history, is consistent with rules of 

construction applicable to criminal statutes generally. Moreover, it respects the 

First Amendment right of the public to receive information about administration programs and the President’s constitutionally based role in the legislative 

process.

Section 304 of the Interior Department Appropriation Act (Pub. L. No. 

95-465, 92 Stat. 1291) by its terms appears to incorporate the substance of 

§ 1913 and should presumably be interpreted in the same manner as that 

provision. Our interpretation of provisions such as that in § 607(a) of the 

Treasury, Postal Service, and General Government Appropriation Act of 1979 

(Pub. L. No. 95-465, 92 Stat. 1001), which largely conforms to interpretations 

by the Comptroller General, have been based on similar considerations as those 

identified above in connection with 18 U.S.C. § 1913.

Your Department’s press releases that merely disclose information that 

officials of your Department have given congressional testimony, made public 

speeches, or explained the administration’s legislative proposals, but do not call

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for the reader to contact the Congress, do not raise questions under the relevant 

statutory provisions. In any event, normal distribution of releases to the press, 

whose members may then independently determine whether to publish material 

contained in the releases, are qualitatively different than broad disseminations 

made directly by the Government to individual members of the public.

The Secretary’s statement included in a series of columns in local newspapers, touching on nonlegislative issues, appears to be a legitimate explanation 

of the Department’s position on major issues of public importance. It does not 

raise a question under the relevant statutory provisions, nor do newsletters 

addressed to persons who had asked to be on a mailing list, containing a 

straightforward explanation of issues of concern to the Department but making 

no suggestion that the reader contact Congress.

J o h n M . H a r m o n

Assistant Attorney General

Office of Legal Counsel

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