II 

114TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 1959 

To provide greater controls and restrictions on revolving door lobbying. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

AUGUST 5, 2015 

Mr. BENNET (for himself and Mr. FRANKEN) introduced the following bill; 

which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs 

A BILL 

To provide greater controls and restrictions on revolving door 

lobbying. 

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

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Close the Revolving 

5 Door Act of 2015’’. 

6 SEC. 2. LIFETIME BAN ON MEMBERS OF CONGRESS FROM 

7 LOBBYING. 

8 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 207(e)(1) of title 18, 

9 United States Code, is amended to read as follows: 


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1 ‘‘(1) MEMBERS OF CONGRESS.—Any person 

2 who is a Senator, a Member of the House of Rep3 resentatives, or an elected officer of the Senate or 

4 the House of Representatives and who, after that 

5 person leaves office, knowingly makes, with the in6 tent to influence, any communication to or appear7 ance before any Member, officer, or employee of ei8 ther House of Congress or any employee of any 

9 other legislative office of the Congress, on behalf of 

10 any other person (except the United States) in con11 nection with any matter on which such former Sen12 ator, Member, or elected official seeks action by a 

13 Member, officer, or employee of either House of 

14 Congress, in his or her official capacity, shall be 

15 punished as provided in section 216 of this title.’’. 

16 (b) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—Section 207(e)(2) 

17 of title 18, United States Code, is amended— 

18 (1) in the heading, by striking ‘‘OFFICERS AND

19 STAFF’’ and inserting ‘‘STAFF’’; 

20 (2) by striking ‘‘an elected officer of the Senate, 

21 or’’; 

22 (3) by striking ‘‘leaves office or employment’’ 

23 and inserting ‘‘leaves employment’’; and 

24 (4) by striking ‘‘former elected officer or’’. 


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1 SEC. 3. CONGRESSIONAL STAFF. 

2 Paragraphs (2), (3)(A), (4), (5)(A), and (6)(A) of 

3 section 207(e) of title 18, United States Code, are each 

4 amended by striking ‘‘1 year’’ and inserting ‘‘6 years’’. 

5 SEC. 4. IMPROVED REPORTING OF LOBBYISTS’ ACTIVITIES. 

6 Section 6 of the Lobbying Disclosure Act of 1995 (2 

7 U.S.C. 1605) is amended by adding at the end the fol8 lowing: 

9 ‘‘(c) JOINT WEB SITE.— 

10 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of the Sen11 ate and the Clerk of the House of Representatives 

12 shall maintain a joint lobbyist disclosure Internet 

13 database for information required to be publicly dis14 closed under this Act which shall be an easily 

15 searchable Web site called lobbyists.gov with a stat16 ed goal of simplicity of usage. 

17 ‘‘(2) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.— 

18 There is authorized to be appropriated to carry out 

19 this subsection $100,000 for fiscal year 2016.’’. 

20 SEC. 5. LOBBYIST REVOLVING DOOR TO CONGRESS. 

21 (a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section— 

22 (1) the term ‘‘foreign principal’’ has the mean23 ing given that term under section 1(b) of the For24 eign Agents Registration Act of 1938 (22 U.S.C. 

25 611(b)); 


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1 (2) the terms ‘‘lobbyist’’ and ‘‘lobbying contact’’ 

2 have the meanings given such terms under section 3 

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

4 1603); and 

5 (3) the term ‘‘registered lobbyist’’ means a lob6 byist registered under the Lobbying Disclosure Act 

7 of 1995 (2 U.S.C. 1601 et seq.). 

8 (b) PROHIBITION.—Any person who is a registered 

9 lobbyist or an agent of a foreign principal may not, within 

10 6 years after that person leaves such position, be hired 

11 by a Member or committee of either House of Congress 

12 with whom the registered lobbyist or agent of a foreign 

13 principal has had substantial lobbying contact. 

14 (c) WAIVER.—This section may be waived in the Sen15 ate or the House of Representatives by the Select Com16 mittee on Ethics of the Senate or the Committee on 

17 Standards of Official Conduct of the House of Representa18 tives, respectively, based on a compelling national need. 

19 (d) SUBSTANTIAL LOBBYING CONTACT.—For pur20 poses of this section, in determining whether a registered 

21 lobbyist or agent of a foreign principal has had substantial 

22 lobbying contact within the applicable period of time, a 

23 Member or committee of either House of Congress shall 

24 take into consideration whether the individual’s lobbying 

25 contacts have pertained to pending legislative business, or 


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1 related to solicitation of an earmark or other Federal 

2 funding, particularly if such contacts included the coordi3 nation of meetings with the Member or committee, in4 volved presentations to employees of the Member or com5 mittee, or participation in fundraising (except for the mere 

6 giving of a personal contribution). Simple social contacts 

7 with the Member or committee of either House of Con8 gress and staff, shall not by themselves constitute substan9 tial lobbying contacts. 

10 SEC. 6. REPORTING BY SUBSTANTIAL LOBBYING ENTITIES. 

11 The Lobbying Disclosure Act of 1995 (2 U.S.C. 1601 

12 et seq.) is amended by inserting after section 6 the fol13 lowing: 

14 ‘‘SEC. 6A. REPORTING BY SUBSTANTIAL LOBBYING ENTI15 TIES. 

16 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—A substantial lobbying entity 

17 shall file on an annual basis with the Clerk of the House 

18 of Representatives and the Secretary of the Senate a list 

19 of each employee of, individual under contract with, or in20 dividual who provides paid consulting services to the sub21 stantial lobbying entity who is— 

22 ‘‘(1) a former Senator or a former Member of 

23 the House of Representatives; or 

24 ‘‘(2) another covered legislative branch official 

25 who— 


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1 ‘‘(A) was paid not less than $100,000 in 

2 any 1 year as a covered legislative branch offi3 cial; 

4 ‘‘(B) worked for a total of not less than 4 

5 years as a covered legislative branch official; or 

6 ‘‘(C) had a job title at any time while em7 ployed as a covered legislative branch official 

8 that contained any of the following terms: 

9 ‘Chief of Staff’, ‘Legislative Director’, ‘Staff 

10 Director’, ‘Counsel’, ‘Professional Staff Mem11 ber’, ‘Communications Director’, or ‘Press Sec12 retary’. 

13 ‘‘(b) CONTENTS OF FILING.—The filing required 

14 under this section shall contain a brief job description of 

15 each individual described in subsection (a) and an expla16 nation of their work experience under subsection (a) that 

17 requires this filing. 

18 ‘‘(c) IMPROVED REPORTING OF SUBSTANTIAL LOB19 BYING ENTITIES.—The Joint Web site being maintained 

20 by the Secretary of the Senate and the Clerk of the House 

21 of Representatives, known as lobbyists.gov, shall include 

22 an easily searchable database entitled ‘Substantial Lob23 bying Entities’ that includes information on all individuals 

24 described in subsection (a). 


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1 ‘‘(d) LAW ENFORCEMENT OVERSIGHT.—The Clerk 

2 of the House of Representatives and the Secretary of the 

3 Senate shall provide a copy of each filing under subsection 

4 (a) to the United States Attorney for the District of Co5 lumbia, to allow the United States Attorney for the Dis6 trict of Columbia to determine whether a substantial lob7 bying entity is underreporting the lobbying activities of its 

8 employees, individuals under contract, or individuals who 

9 provide paid consulting services. 

10 ‘‘(e) SUBSTANTIAL LOBBYING ENTITY.—In this sec11 tion, the term ‘substantial lobbying entity’ means an incor12 porated entity that employs more than 3 registered lobby13 ists during a filing period.’’. 

14 SEC. 7. ENHANCED PENALTIES. 

15 Section 7(a) of the Lobbying Disclosure Act of 1995 

16 (2 U.S.C. 1606(a)) is amended by striking ‘‘$200,000’’ 

17 and inserting ‘‘$500,000’’. 

Æ 


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