I
104TH CONGRESS
1ST SESSION
H. R. 2169
To provide for the disclosure of lobbying activities to influence the Federal
Government, and for other purposes.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
AUGUST 2, 1995
Mr. MCHALE (for himself, Mr. SHAYS, Mrs. WALDHOLTZ, Mr. BARRETT of
Wisconsin, Mr. KLUG, Mr. CASTLE, Mr. MINGE, Mr. DEAL of Georgia,
Mr. DICKEY, Mr. ZIMMER, Mr. MEEHAN, Mr. LUTHER, and Mr. INGLIS
of South Carolina) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the
Committee on the Judiciary
A BILL
To provide for the disclosure of lobbying activities to
influence the Federal Government, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE; TABLE OF CONTENTS.
(a) SHORT TITLE.—This Act may be cited as the
‘‘Lobbying Disclosure Reform Act of 1995’’.
(b) TABLE OF CONTENTS.—The table of contents for
this Act is as follows:
Sec. 1. Short title; table of contents.
Sec. 2. Findings.
Sec. 3. Definitions.
Sec. 4. Registration of lobbyists.
Sec. 5. Reports by registered lobbyists.
Sec. 6. Duties of Chairman.
Sec. 7. Initial procedure for alleged violations.
Sec. 8. Determinations of violations.
Sec. 9. Disclosure of information; written decisions.
Sec. 10. Judicial review.
Sec. 11. Conforming amendments to other statutes.
Sec. 12. Severability.
Sec. 13. Authorization of appropriations.
Sec. 14. Identification of clients and covered officials.
Sec. 15. Transitional filing requirement.
Sec. 16. Estimates based on tax reporting system.
Sec. 17. Effective dates and interim rules.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
The Congress finds that—
(1) responsible representative Government re-
quires public awareness of the efforts of paid lobby-
ists to influence the public decisionmaking process in
both the legislative and executive branches of the
Federal Government;
(2) existing lobbying disclosure statutes have
been ineffective because of unclear statutory lan-
guage, weak administrative and enforcement provi-
sions, and an absence of clear guidance as to who
is required to register and what they are required to
disclose;
(3) the effective public disclosure of the identity
and extent of the efforts of paid lobbyists to influ-
ence Federal officials in the conduct of Government
actions will increase public confidence in the integ-
rity of Government;
(4) citizens acting on their own behalf, regard-
less of how much money they might spend or how
influential they might be perceived to be, should not
be subject to reporting and disclosure requirements;
and
(5) grassroots organizations play an important
role in a democracy, and individual citizens’ right,
ability, or ease in participating in ‘‘grassroots’’ ac-
tivities should not be infringed upon.
SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS.
As used in this Act:
(1) AGENCY.—The term ‘‘agency’’ has the
meaning given that term in section 551(1) of title 5,
United States Code.
(2) CLIENT.—The term ‘‘client’’ means any
person or entity that employs or retains another per-
son for financial or other compensation to conduct
lobbying activities on behalf of that person or entity.
A person or entity whose employees act as lobbyists
on its own behalf is both a client and an employer
of such employees. In the case of a coalition or asso-
ciation that employs or retains other persons to con-
duct lobbying activities, the client is the coalition or
association and not its individual members.
(3) COVERED EXECUTIVE BRANCH OFFICIAL.—
The term ‘‘covered executive branch official’’
means—
(A) the President;
(B) the Vice President;
(C) any officer or employee, or any other
individual functioning in the capacity of such
an officer or employee, in the Executive Office
of the President;
(D) any officer or employee serving in a
position in level I, II, III, IV, or V of the Exec-
utive Schedule, as designated by statute or Ex-
ecutive order;
(E) any officer or employee serving in a
Senior Executive Service position, as defined in
section 3132(a)(2) of title 5, United States
Code;
(F) any member of the uniformed services
whose pay grade is at or above O–7 under sec-
tion 201 of title 37, United States Code; and
(G) any officer or employee serving in a
position of a confidential, policy-determining,
policy-making, or policy-advocating character
described in section 7511(b)(2) of title 5, Unit-
ed States Code.