110TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 2316
AN ACT 
To provide more rigorous requirements with respect to disclo-
sure and enforcement of lobbying laws and regulations, 
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 AND TABLE OF CONTENTS. 
(a) SHORT TITLE.—This Act may be cited as the 
‘‘Honest Leadership and Open Government Act of 2007’’. 
(b) TABLE OF CONTENTS.—The table of contents for 
this Act is as follows:
Sec. 1. Short title and table of contents. 
TITLE I—CLOSING THE REVOLVING DOOR 
Sec. 101. Disclosure by Members and staff of employment negotiations. 
Sec. 102. Wrongfully influencing a private entity’s employment decisions or 
practices. 
Sec. 103. Additional restrictions on contractors. 
Sec. 104. Notification of post-employment restrictions. 
Sec. 105. Restriction on congressional employees regarding former employers. 
Sec. 106. Effective date. 
TITLE II—FULL PUBLIC DISCLOSURE OF LOBBYING 
Sec. 201. Quarterly filing of lobbying disclosure reports. 
Sec. 202. Electronic filing of lobbying disclosure reports. 
Sec. 203. Additional lobbying disclosure requirements. 
Sec. 204. Quarterly reports on other contributions. 
Sec. 205. Prohibition on provision of gifts or travel by registered lobbyists to 
Members of Congress and to congressional employees. 
Sec. 206. Disclosure of lobbying activities by certain coalitions and associations. 
Sec. 207. Disclosure by registered lobbyists of past executive branch and con-
gressional employment. 
Sec. 208. Public database of lobbying disclosure information; maintenance of 
information. 
Sec. 209. Sense of Congress regarding lobbying by immediate family members. 
Sec. 210. Inapplicability to certain political committees. 
Sec. 211. Effective date. 
TITLE III—ENFORCEMENT OF LOBBYING RESTRICTIONS 
Sec. 301. Increased civil and criminal penalties for failure to comply with lob-
bying disclosure requirements. 
TITLE IV—INCREASED DISCLOSURE 
Sec. 401. Prohibition on official contact with spouse of Member who is a reg-
istered lobbyist. 
Sec. 402. Posting of travel and financial disclosure reports on public website of 
Clerk of the House of Representatives. 
Sec. 403. Limiting gifts to Members, officers, and employees of the House from 
State and local governments. 
TITLE V—ADDITIONAL CRIMINAL PENALTIES FOR PUBLIC 
OFFICIALS 
Sec. 501. Criminal penalties for public officials.
TITLE VI—GENERAL PROVISIONS 
Sec. 601. Rule of construction.
TITLE I—CLOSING THE 
REVOLVING DOOR 
SEC. 101. DISCLOSURE BY MEMBERS AND STAFF OF EM-
PLOYMENT NEGOTIATIONS. 
The Rules of the House of Representatives are 
amended by redesignating rules XXVII and XXVIII as 
rules XXVIII and XXIX, respectively, and by inserting 
after rule XXVI the following new rule: 
‘‘RULE XXVII 
‘‘DISCLOSURE BY MEMBERS AND STAFF OF 
EMPLOYMENT NEGOTIATIONS 
‘‘1. A Member, Delegate, or Resident Commissioner 
shall not directly negotiate or have any agreement of fu-
ture employment or compensation until after his or her 
successor has been elected, unless such Member, Delegate, 
or Resident Commissioner, within 3 business days after 
the commencement of such negotiation or agreement of 
future employment or compensation, files with the Com-
mittee on Standards of Official Conduct a statement, 
which must be signed by the Member, Delegate, or Resi-
dent Commissioner, regarding such negotiations or agree-
ment, including the name of the private entity or entities 
involved in such negotiations or agreement, and the date 
such negotiations or agreement commenced.
‘‘2. An officer or an employee of the House earning 
in excess of 75 percent of the salary paid to a Member 
shall notify the Committee on Standards of Official Con-
duct that he or she is negotiating or has any agreement 
of future employment or compensation. 
‘‘3. The disclosure and notification under this rule 
shall be made within 3 business days after the commence-
ment of such negotiation or agreement of future employ-
ment or compensation. 
‘‘4. A Member, Delegate, or Resident Commissioner, 
and an officer or employee to whom this rule applies, shall 
recuse himself or herself from any matter in which there 
is a conflict of interest or an appearance of a conflict for 
that Member, Delegate, Resident Commissioner, officer, 
or employee under this rule and shall notify the Committee 
on Standards of Official Conduct of such recusal. A Mem-
ber, Delegate, or Resident Commissioner making such 
recusal shall, upon such recusal, submit to the Clerk for 
public disclosure the statement of disclosure under clause 
1 with respect to which the recusal was made.’’. 
SEC. 102. WRONGFULLY INFLUENCING A PRIVATE ENTITY’S 
EMPLOYMENT DECISIONS OR PRACTICES. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Chapter 11 of title 18, United 
States Code, is amended by adding at the end the fol-
lowing:
‘‘§ 227. Wrongfully influencing a private entity’s em-
ployment decisions by a Member of Con-
gress 
‘‘Whoever, being a Senator or Representative in, or 
a Delegate or Resident Commissioner to, the Congress or 
an employee of either House of Congress, with the intent 
to influence on the basis of partisan political affiliation 
an employment decision or employment practice of any 
private entity—
‘‘(1) takes or withholds, or offers or threatens 
to take or withhold, an official act, or 
‘‘(2) influences, or offers or threatens to influ-
ence, the official act of another, 
shall be fined under this title or imprisoned for not more 
than 15 years, or both, and may be disqualified from hold-
ing any office of honor, trust, or profit under the United 
States.’’. 
(b) NO INFERENCE.—Nothing in section 227 of title 
18, United States Code, as added by this section, shall 
be construed to create any inference with respect to wheth-
er the activity described in section 227 of title 18, United 
States Code, was a criminal or civil offense before the en-
actment of this Act, including under section 201(b), 
201(c), any of sections 203 through 209, or section 872, 
of title 18, United States Code.
(c) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—The table of sec-
tions for chapter 11 of title 18, United States Code, is 
amended by adding at the end the following:
‘‘227. Wrongfully influencing a private entity’s employment decisions by a Mem-
ber of Congress.’’.
SEC. 103. ADDITIONAL RESTRICTIONS ON CONTRACTORS. 
(a) PROHIBITION.—Chapter 11 of title 18, United 
States Code, is amended by inserting after section 219 the 
following new section: 
‘‘§ 220. Restrictions on contractors with Congress 
‘‘(a) RESTRICTIONS.—
‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—If a person who is an attor-
ney or a law firm, including a professional legal cor-
poration or partnership, or an attorney employed by 
such a law firm, enters into a contract to provide 
services to—
‘‘(A) a committee of Congress, or a sub-
committee of any such committee, 
‘‘(B) a Member of the leadership of the 
House of Representatives or a Member of the 
leadership of the Senate, 
‘‘(C) a covered legislative branch official, 
or 
‘‘(D) a working group or caucus organized 
to provide legislative services or other assistance 
to Members of Congress,
the attorney or law firm entering into the contract, 
and the law firm by which the attorney entering into 
the contract is employed, may not, during the period 
prescribed in paragraph (2), knowingly make, with 
the intent to influence, any communication or ap-
pearance before any person described in paragraph 
(3), on behalf of any other person (except the United 
States), in connection with any matter on which 
such attorney or law firm seeks official action by a 
Member, officer, or employee of either House of 
Congress, in his or her official capacity. 
‘‘(2) PERIOD DESCRIBED.—The period referred 
to in paragraph (1) is the period during which the 
contract described in paragraph (1) is in effect, and 
a period of 1 year after the attorney or law firm, as 
the case may be, is no longer subject to the contract. 
‘‘(3) PERSONS
DESCRIBED.—The persons re-
ferred to in paragraph (1) with respect to appear-
ances or communications by an attorney or law firm 
are any Member, officer, or employee of either 
House of Congress. 
‘‘(b) PENALTY.—Any person who violates paragraph 
(1) shall be punished as provided in section 216. 
‘‘(c) DEFINITIONS.—For purposes of this section—
‘‘(1) the term ‘committee of Congress’ includes 
any standing committee, joint committee, and select 
committee; 
‘‘(2) the term ‘covered legislative branch offi-
cial’ has the meaning given that term in section 3 
of the Lobbying Disclosure Act of 1995; 
‘‘(3)(A) a person is an employee of a House of 
Congress if that person is an employee of the House 
of Representatives or an employee of the Senate; 
‘‘(B) the terms ‘employee of the House of Rep-
resentatives’ and ‘employee of the Senate’ have the 
meanings given those terms in section 207(e)(7); 
‘‘(4) an attorney is ‘employed’ by a law firm if 
the attorney is an employee of, or a partner or other 
member of, the law firm; 
‘‘(5) the terms ‘Member of the leadership of the 
House of Representatives’ and ‘Member of the lead-
ership of the Senate’ have the meanings given those 
terms in section 207(e)(7); and 
‘‘(6) the term ‘Member of Congress’ means a 
Senator or Representative in, or Delegate or Resi-
dent Commissioner to, the Congress.’’. 
(b) CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.—
(1) The table of sections for chapter 11 of title 
18, United States Code, is amended by inserting
after the item relating to section 219 the following 
new item:
‘‘220. Restrictions on contractors with Congress.’’.
(2) Section 216 of title 18, United States Code, 
is amended by striking ‘‘or 209’’ each place it ap-
pears and inserting ‘‘, 209, or 220’’. 
SEC. 104. NOTIFICATION OF POST-EMPLOYMENT RESTRIC-
TIONS. 
Section 207(e) of title 18, United States Code, is 
amended by adding at the end the following new para-
graph: 
‘‘(8) NOTIFICATION OF POST-EMPLOYMENT RE-
STRICTIONS.—After a Member of the House of Rep-
resentatives or an elected officer of the House of 
Representatives leaves office, or after the termi-
nation of employment with the House of Representa-
tives of an employee of the House of Representatives 
covered under paragraph (2), (3), or (4), the Clerk 
of the House of Representatives, after consultation 
with the Committee on Standards of Official Con-
duct, shall notify the Member, officer, or employee 
of the beginning and ending date of the prohibitions 
that apply to the Member, officer, or employee under 
this subsection, and also notify each office of the 
House of Representatives with respect to which such 
prohibitions apply of those dates. The Clerk shall
also post the information contained in such notifica-
tion on the public Internet site of the Office of the 
Clerk in a format that is searchable, sortable, and 
downloadable.’’. 
SEC. 105. RESTRICTION ON CONGRESSIONAL EMPLOYEES 
REGARDING FORMER EMPLOYERS. 
(a) RESTRICTION.—Chapter 11 of title 18, United 
States Code, as amended by this Act, is further amended 
by inserting after section 220 the following new section: 
‘‘§ 221. Additional restriction on congressional em-
ployees 
‘‘(a) RESTRICTION.—Any person—
‘‘(1) who is a congressional employee, 
‘‘(2) who, before becoming employed as a con-
gressional employee, was employed as a lobbyist, and 
‘‘(3) who, within 1 year after leaving employ-
ment as a lobbyist, knowingly makes, in carrying out 
his or her official responsibilities as a congressional 
employee, any communication to or appearance be-
fore—
‘‘(A) the organization that employed the 
person as a lobbyist, if the person was not self-
employed, 
‘‘(B) any entity that was a client of the 
person while employed as a lobbyist, or any en-
tity that was a client of the organization de-
scribed in subparagraph (A) while the person 
was employed as a lobbyist, or is a client of 
that organization during that 1-year period, 
on a matter relating specifically to that organization 
or client, 
shall be punished as provided in section 216. 
‘‘(b) DEFINITIONS.—In this section—
‘‘(1) the term ‘congressional employee’ means—
‘‘(A) an elected officer of either House of 
Congress; and 
‘‘(B) any employee to which any of the re-
strictions contained in paragraphs (1) though 
(5) of section 207(e) apply; 
‘‘(2) the term ‘lobbyist’ means a person that is 
registered or required to register as a lobbyist under 
section 4(a)(1) of the Lobbying Disclosure Act of 
1995, and any employee of an organization that is 
registered or required to be registered under section 
4(b)(6) of that Act; and 
‘‘(3) the term ‘client’ has the meaning given 
that term in section 3(2) of the Lobbying Disclosure 
Act of 1995.’’. 
(b) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—The table of sec-
tions for chapter 11 of title 18, United States Code, is
amended by inserting after the item relating to section 
220 the following new item:
‘‘221. Additional restriction on congressional employees.’’.
(c) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by 
this section shall apply to individuals who become congres-
sional employees on or after January 1, 2007. 
SEC. 106. EFFECTIVE DATE. 
(a) SECTION 101.—The amendment made by section 
101 shall take effect on the date of the enactment of this 
Act, and shall apply to negotiations commenced, and 
agreements entered into, on or after that date. 
(b) SECTION 102.—The amendments made by sec-
tion 102 shall take effect on the date of the enactment 
of this Act. 
(c) SECTION 103.—The amendments made by section 
103 shall take effect on May 23, 2007, and shall apply 
with respect to any contract entered into before, on, or 
after that date. 
(d) SECTION 104.—The amendments made by sec-
tion 104 shall take effect on the date of enactment of this 
Act.