I 

108TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 4937

To amend the Lobbying Disclosure Act of 1995 to require certain coalitions 

and associations to disclose their lobbying activities. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JULY 22, 2004

Mr. DOGGETT (for himself, Mr. ALLEN, Mr. BAIRD, Mr. BECERRA, Mr. BELL, 

Mrs. CAPPS, Mr. CARDIN, Ms. CARSON of Indiana, Mr. CASE, Mr. DAVIS

of Illinois, Mr. DEFAZIO, Mr. DELAHUNT, Ms. DELAURO, Mr. EDWARDS, 

Mr. EVANS, Mr. FARR, Mr. FILNER, Mr. FRANK of Massachusetts, Mr. 

FROST, Mr. GONZALEZ, Mr. GREEN of Texas, Mr. GRIJALVA, Mr. 

HASTINGS of Florida, Mr. HOEFFEL, Mr. HOLT, Mr. INSLEE, Mr. JEFFERSON, Mrs. JONES of Ohio, Ms. KAPTUR, Mr. KUCINICH, Ms. LEE, 

Mr. LEVIN, Mr. LEWIS of Georgia, Mrs. MALONEY, Mr. MARKEY, Mr. 

MATSUI, Mrs. MCCARTHY of New York, Ms. MCCARTHY of Missouri, Mr. 

MCDERMOTT, Mr. MCGOVERN, Mr. MCNULTY, Mr. GEORGE MILLER of 

California, Mrs. NAPOLITANO, Mr. NEAL of Massachusetts, Mr. POMEROY, Mr. RODRIGUEZ, Ms. ROYBAL-ALLARD, Mr. RYAN of Ohio, Mr. 

SANDERS, Ms. SCHAKOWSKY, Ms. SLAUGHTER, Ms. SOLIS, Mr. STARK, 

Mr. TANNER, Mr. TIERNEY, Mr. UDALL of New Mexico, Mr. WAXMAN, 

and Ms. WOOLSEY) introduced the following bill; which was referred to 

the Committee on the Judiciary 

A BILL

To amend the Lobbying Disclosure Act of 1995 to require 

certain coalitions and associations to disclose their lobbying activities.

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

2 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Stealth Lobbyist Dis3 closure Act of 2004’’. 

4 SEC. 2. DISCLOSURE OF LOBBYING ACTIVITIES BY CERTAIN 

5 COALITIONS AND ASSOCIATIONS. 

6 (a) IN GENERAL.—Paragraph (2) of section 3 of the 

7 Lobbying Disclosure Act of 1995 (2 U.S.C. 1602) is 

8 amended to read as follows: 

9 ‘‘(2) CLIENT.—

10 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The term ‘client’ 

11 means any person or entity that employs or re12 tains another person for financial or other com13 pensation to conduct lobbying activities on be14 half of that person or entity. A person or entity 

15 whose employees act as lobbyists on its own be16 half is both a client and an employer of such 

17 employees. 

18 ‘‘(B) TREATMENT OF COALITIONS AND AS19 SOCIATIONS.—

20 ‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—Except as pro21 vided in clauses (ii) and (iii), in the case 

22 of a coalition or association that employs 

23 or retains other persons to conduct lob24 bying activities, each of the individual 

25 members of the coalition or association 

26 (and not the coalition or association) is the 
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1 client. For purposes of section 4(a)(3), the 

2 preceding sentence shall not apply, and the 

3 coalition or association shall be treated as 

4 the client. 

5 ‘‘(ii) EXCEPTION FOR CERTAIN TAX6 EXEMPT ASSOCIATIONS.—In case of an as7 sociation—

8 ‘‘(I) which is described in para9 graph (3) of section 501(c) of the In10 ternal Revenue Code of 1986 and ex11 empt from tax under section 501(a) of 

12 such Code, or 

13 ‘‘(II) which is described in any 

14 other paragraph of section 501(c) of 

15 the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 

16 and exempt from tax under section 

17 501(a) of such Code and which has 

18 substantial exempt activities other 

19 than lobbying with respect to the spe20 cific issue for which it engaged the 

21 person filing the registration state22 ment under section 4, 

23 the association (and not its members) shall 

24 be treated as the client. 
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1 ‘‘(iii) EXCEPTION FOR CERTAIN MEM2 BERS.—

3 ‘‘(I) IN GENERAL.—Information 

4 on a member of a coalition or associa5 tion need not be included in any reg6 istration under section 4 if the 

7 amount reasonably expected to be con8 tributed by such member toward the 

9 activities of the coalition or associa10 tion of influencing legislation is less 

11 than $1,000 per any semiannual pe12 riod. 

13 ‘‘(II) EXCEPTION.—Subclause (I) 

14 shall not apply with respect to any 

15 member who unexpectedly makes ag16 gregate contributions of more than 

17 $1,000 in any semiannual period, and 

18 the date the aggregate of such con19 tributions first exceeds $1,000 in such 

20 period shall be treated as the date of 

21 first employment or retention to make 

22 a lobbying contact for purposes of sec23 tion 4. 

24 ‘‘(iv) LOOK-THRU RULES.—In the 

25 case of a coalition or association which is 
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1 treated as a client under the first sentence 

2 of clause (i)—

3 ‘‘(I) such coalition or association 

4 shall be treated as employing or re5 taining other persons to conduct lob6 bying activities for purposes of deter7 mining whether any individual mem8 ber thereof is treated as a client under 

9 clause (i), and 

10 ‘‘(II) information on such coali11 tion or association need not be in12 cluded in any registration under sec13 tion 4 of the coalition or association 

14 with respect to which it is treated as 

15 a client under clause (i).’’

16 (b) EFFECTIVE DATE.—

17 (1) IN GENERAL.—The amendments made by 

18 this section shall apply to—

19 (A) coalitions and associations listed on 

20 registration statements filed under section 4 of 

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

22 1603) after the date of the enactment of this 

23 Act, and 
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1 (B) coalitions and associations for whom 

2 any lobbying contact is made after the date of 

3 the enactment of this Act. 

4 (2) SPECIAL RULE.—In the case of any coali5 tion or association to which the amendments made 

6 by this Act apply by reason of paragraph (1)(B), the 

7 person required by such section 4 to file a registra8 tion statement with respect to such coalition or asso9 ciation shall file a new registration statement within 

10 30 days after the date of the enactment of this sec11 tion.

Æ