I 

108TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 4938

To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to require disclosure of lobbying 

activities by certain organizations. 

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 Ways and Means 

A BILL

To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to require 

disclosure of lobbying activities by certain organizations.

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 ORGANIZATIONS. 

6 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 527 of the Internal Rev7 enue Code of 1986 (relating to political organizations) is 

8 amended by adding at the end the following new sub9 section: 

10 ‘‘(m) DISCLOSURE OF CERTAIN LOBBYING ACTIVI11 TIES.—

12 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—In the case of a coalition or 

13 association that is identified as a client on any reg14 istration filed under section 4 of the Lobbying Dis15 closure Act of 1995 and that is not a political orga16 nization (determined without regard to this para17 graph)—

18 ‘‘(A) such coalition or association shall be 

19 treated for purposes of this title as a separate 

20 entity which is a political organization, and 

21 ‘‘(B) this section shall be applied to such 

22 coalition or association with the following modi23 fications: 

24 ‘‘(i) The function of conducting lob25 bying activities (as defined in section 3(7) 
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1 of the Lobbying Disclosure Act of 1995) 

2 shall be treated as its exempt function. 

3 ‘‘(ii) The specific deduction under 

4 subsection (c)(2)(A) shall not be allowed. 

5 ‘‘(iii) Subparagraphs (C) and (D) of 

6 subsection (c)(3) shall not apply. 

7 ‘‘(iv) The disclosure requirements of 

8 paragraph (2) shall apply in lieu of the re9 quirements of subsections (i) and (j). 

10 For purposes of subparagraph (B)(i), lobbying ac11 tivities shall not include any activity described in 

12 subparagraph (C), (D), or (E) of section 4911(d)(2). 

13 ‘‘(2) DISCLOSURE REQUIREMENTS.—

14 ‘‘(A) ESTABLISHMENT.—A coalition or as15 sociation which is treated under paragraph (1) 

16 as a political organization shall notify the Sec17 retary, electronically and in writing, of its exist18 ence. Such notice shall be transmitted not later 

19 than 72 hours after a lobbyist first makes a 

20 lobbying contact (or, if earlier, is employed or 

21 retained to make a lobbying contact) on behalf 

22 of such coalition or association. For purposes of 

23 the preceding sentence, the terms ‘lobbyist’ and 

24 ‘lobbying contact’ have the respective meanings 
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1 given to such terms by section 3 of the Lob2 bying Disclosure Act of 1995. 

3 ‘‘(B) CHANGE IN MEMBERSHIP.—A coali4 tion or association which is required to provide 

5 a notice to the Secretary under paragraph (1) 

6 shall also notify the Secretary, electronically 

7 and in writing, of any change in its membership 

8 since its prior required notice under this para9 graph. Such notice shall be transmitted not 

10 later than 72 hours after the date of the mem11 bership change. 

12 ‘‘(3) CONTENTS OF NOTICE.—

13 ‘‘(A) INITIAL NOTICE.—Each notice re14 quired under paragraph (2)(A) shall include in15 formation regarding—

16 ‘‘(i) the name, address, business tele17 phone number, and principal place of busi18 ness of each of the members of the coali19 tion or association, 

20 ‘‘(ii) a general description of the busi21 ness or activities of each of such members, 

22 and 

23 ‘‘(iii) the amount reasonably expected 

24 to be contributed by each of such members 
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1 toward the activities of the coalition or as2 sociation of influencing legislation. 

3 ‘‘(B) NOTICE OF MEMBERSHIP CHANGE.—

4 Each notice required under paragraph (2)(B) 

5 shall include—

6 ‘‘(i) if the notice relates to a new 

7 member of the coalition or association, the 

8 information described in subparagraph (A) 

9 with respect to such new member, and 

10 ‘‘(ii) if the notice relates to the ces11 sation of a person’s membership, the name 

12 of such person. 

13 ‘‘(4) EFFECT OF FAILURE.—

14 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—In the case of— 

15 ‘‘(i) a failure to give the notice re16 quired under paragraph (2) at the time 

17 and in the manner prescribed therefor, or 

18 ‘‘(ii) a failure to include any of the in19 formation required to be included in such 

20 notice or to show the correct information, 

21 there shall be paid by the coalition or associa22 tion an amount equal to the rate of tax speci23 fied in subsection (b)(1) multiplied by the 

24 amount involved. 
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1 ‘‘(B) AMOUNT INVOLVED.—For purposes 

2 of subparagraph (A), the amount involved with 

3 respect to any failure is—

4 ‘‘(i) in the case of a failure to file the 

5 notice under paragraph (2)(A) at the time 

6 and in the manner prescribed therefor, the

7 amount which is reasonably expected to be 

8 paid by the coalition or association or its 

9 members to the person filing the registra10 tion statement, and 

11 ‘‘(ii) in the case of a failure to include 

12 any of the information required to be in13 cluded in such notice, or to show the cor14 rect information, with respect to any mem15 ber, the amount reasonably expected to be 

16 contributed by such member toward the 

17 activities of the coalition or association of 

18 influencing legislation. 

19 ‘‘(C) JOINT AND SEVERAL LIABILITY.—All 

20 members of the coalition or association shall be 

21 jointly and severally liable under this paragraph 

22 for any failure. 

23 ‘‘(D) PROCEDURES FOR ASSESSMENT AND

24 COLLECTION OF PENALTY.—For purposes of 

25 subtitle F, the penalty imposed by this para-
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1 graph shall be assessed and collected in the 

2 same manner as penalties imposed by section 

3 6652(c). 

4 ‘‘(5) EXCEPTION FOR CERTAIN TAX-EXEMPT

5 ASSOCIATIONS.—This subsection shall not apply to 

6 any association—

7 ‘‘(A) which is described in section 

8 501(c)(3) and exempt from tax under section 

9 501(a), or 

10 ‘‘(B)(i) which is described in any other 

11 paragraph of section 501(c) and exempt from 

12 tax under section 501(a), and 

13 ‘‘(ii) which has substantial exempt activi14 ties other than lobbying with respect to the spe15 cific issue for which it engaged the person filing 

16 the registration statement under section 4 of 

17 the Lobbying Disclosure Act of 1995. 

18 The preceding sentence shall not apply to any asso19 ciation formed or availed of to avoid the purposes of 

20 this subsection. 

21 ‘‘(6) EXCEPTION FROM DISCLOSURE FOR CER22 TAIN MEMBERS.—

23 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Information on a 

24 member of a coalition or association need not 

25 be included in any notice under paragraph (3) 
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1 if the amount referred to in paragraph 

2 (3)(A)(iii) with respect to such member is less 

3 than $2,000 per year. 

4 ‘‘(B) EXPENDITURES IN EXCESS OF EX5 PECTED AMOUNT.—If—

6 ‘‘(i) information on a member of a co7 alition or association is not included in any 

8 notice by reason of subparagraph (A), and 

9 ‘‘(ii) the amount contributed by such 

10 member toward the activities of the coali11 tion or association of influencing legislation 

12 exceeds $2,200 per year, 

13 such member shall be treated for purposes of 

14 this subsection as a new member of such coali15 tion or association as of the earliest date that 

16 clause (ii) is met. 

17 ‘‘(7) LOOK-THRU RULES.—In the case of a coa18 lition or association which is treated as a political 

19 organization under paragraph (1)—

20 ‘‘(A) such coalition or association shall be 

21 treated as employing or retaining other persons 

22 to conduct lobbying activities for purposes of 

23 determining whether any individual member 

24 thereof is treated as a political organization 

25 under paragraph (1), and 
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1 ‘‘(B) information on such coalition or asso2 ciation need not be included in any notice under 

3 paragraph (2) of the coalition or association 

4 with respect to which it is treated as a political 

5 organization under paragraph (1).’’. 

6 (b) PUBLIC DISCLOSURE OF NOTICES.—

7 (1) IN GENERAL.—Paragraph (1) of section 

8 527(k) of such Code is amended by inserting ‘‘or 

9 (m)(2)’’ after ‘‘(i)(1)’’. 

10 (2) ACCESS.—Paragaraph (2) of section 527(k) 

11 of such Code is amended by inserting after subpara12 graph (G) the following new subparagraph: 

13 ‘‘(H) The organizations which file a notice 

14 under subsection (m).’’. 

15 (c) EFFECTIVE DATE.—

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

17 this section shall apply to—

18 (A) coalitions and associations listed on 

19 registration statements filed under section 4 of 

20 the Lobbying Disclosure Act of 1995 after the 

21 date of the enactment of this Act, and 

22 (B) coalitions and associations for whom 

23 any lobbying contact is made after the date of 

24 the enactment of this Act. 
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1 (2) SPECIAL RULE.—In the case of any coali2 tion or association to which the amendments made 

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

4 time to file the notice under section 527(k)(2) of the 

5 Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as added by this 

6 section, shall be 30 days after the date of the enact7 ment of this section.

Æ