I
107TH CONGRESS
2D SESSION
H. R. 5527
To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to require disclosure of lobbying
activities by certain organizations.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
OCTOBER 2, 2002
Mr. DOGGETT (for himself, Mr. ALLEN, Mr. BAIRD, Mr. BARRETT of Wis-
consin, Mr. BECERRA, Mrs. CAPPS, Mr. CARDIN, Mr. CARSON of Okla-
homa, Mr. COYNE, Mr. DAVIS of Illinois, Mr. DEFAZIO, Mr. DELAHUNT,
Ms. DELAURO, Mr. EDWARDS, Mr. EVANS, Mr. FALEOMAVAEGA, Mr.
FARR of California, Mr. FILNER, Mr. FRANK, Mr. HOEFFEL, Mr. HOLT,
Mr. INSLEE, Mr. JEFFERSON, Ms. KAPTUR, Mr. KLECZKA, Mr.
KUCINICH, Ms. LEE, Mr. LEVIN, Mr. LEWIS of Georgia, Mr. LUTHER,
Mrs. MCCARTHY of New York, Ms. MCCARTHY of Missouri, Mr.
MCDERMOTT, Mr. MCGOVERN, Mr. MCNULTY, Mrs. MALONEY of New
York, Mr. MARKEY, Mr. MATSUI, Mr. GEORGE MILLER of California, Mr.
NEAL of Massachusetts, Ms. PELOSI, Mr. RODRIGUEZ, Ms. ROYBAL-AL-
LARD, Ms. SCHAKOWSKY, Ms. SLAUGHTER, Mr. STARK, Mr. TANNER,
Mrs. THURMAN, Mr. TIERNEY, Mr. POMEROY, Mr. UDALL of New Mex-
ico, Mr. WAXMAN, Ms. WOOLSEY, and Mr. WYNN) introduced the fol-
lowing 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.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Stealth Lobbyist Dis-
closure Act of 2002’’.
SEC. 2. DISCLOSURE OF LOBBYING ACTIVITIES BY CERTAIN
ORGANIZATIONS.
(a) IN GENERAL.—Section 527 of the Internal Rev-
enue Code of 1986 (relating to political organizations) is
amended by adding at the end the following new sub-
section:
‘‘(k) DISCLOSURE OF CERTAIN LOBBYING ACTIVI-
TIES.—
‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—In the case of a coalition or
association that is identified as a client on any reg-
istration filed under section 4 of the Lobbying Dis-
closure Act of 1995 and that is not a political orga-
nization (determined without regard to this para-
graph)—
‘‘(A) such coalition or association shall be
treated for purposes of this title as a separate
entity which is a political organization, and
‘‘(B) this section shall be applied to such
coalition or association with the following modi-
fications:
‘‘(i) The function of conducting lob-
bying activities (as defined in section 3(7)
of the Lobbying Disclosure Act of 1995)
shall be treated as its exempt function.
‘‘(ii) The specific deduction under
subsection (c)(2)(A) shall not be allowed.
‘‘(iii) Subparagraphs (C) and (D) of
subsection (c)(3) shall not apply.
‘‘(iv) The disclosure requirements of
paragraph (2) shall apply in lieu of the re-
quirements of subsections (i) and (j).
For purposes of subparagraph (B)(i), lobbying ac-
tivities shall not include any activity described in
subparagraph (C), (D), or (E) of section 4911(d)(2).
‘‘(2) DISCLOSURE REQUIREMENTS.—
‘‘(A) ESTABLISHMENT.—A coalition or as-
sociation which is treated under paragraph (1)
as a political organization shall notify the Sec-
retary, electronically and in writing, of its exist-
ence. Such notice shall be transmitted not later
than 72 hours after a lobbyist first makes a
lobbying contact (or, if earlier, is employed or
retained to make a lobbying contact) on behalf
of such coalition or association. For purposes of
the preceding sentence, the terms ‘lobbyist’ and
‘lobbying contact’ have the respective meanings
given to such terms by section 3 of the Lob-
bying Disclosure Act of 1995.
‘‘(B) CHANGE IN MEMBERSHIP.—A coali-
tion or association which is required to provide
a notice to the Secretary under paragraph (1)
shall also notify the Secretary, electronically
and in writing, of any change in its membership
since its prior required notice under this para-
graph. Such notice shall be transmitted not
later than 72 hours after the date of the mem-
bership change.
‘‘(3) CONTENTS OF NOTICE.—
‘‘(A) INITIAL
NOTICE.—Each notice re-
quired under paragraph (2)(A) shall include in-
formation regarding—
‘‘(i) the name, address, business tele-
phone number, and principal place of busi-
ness of each of the members of the coali-
tion or association,
‘‘(ii) a general description of the busi-
ness or activities of each of such members,
and
‘‘(iii) the amount reasonably expected
to be contributed by each of such members
toward the activities of the coalition or as-
sociation of influencing legislation.
‘‘(B) NOTICE OF MEMBERSHIP CHANGE.—
Each notice required under paragraph (2)(B)
shall include—
‘‘(i) if the notice relates to a new
member of the coalition or association, the
information described in subparagraph (A)
with respect to such new member, and
‘‘(ii) if the notice relates to the ces-
sation of a person’s membership, the name
of such person.
‘‘(4) EFFECT OF FAILURE.—
‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—In the case of—
‘‘(i) a failure to give the notice re-
quired under paragraph (2) at the time
and in the manner prescribed therefor, or
‘‘(ii) a failure to include any of the in-
formation required to be included in such
notice or to show the correct information,
there shall be paid by the coalition or associa-
tion an amount equal to the rate of tax speci-
fied in subsection (b)(1) multiplied by the
amount involved.
‘‘(B) AMOUNT
INVOLVED.—For purposes
of subparagraph (A), the amount involved with
respect to any failure is—
‘‘(i) in the case of a failure to file the
notice under paragraph (2)(A) at the time
and in the manner prescribed therefor, the
amount which is reasonably expected to be
paid by the coalition or association or its
members to the person filing the registra-
tion statement, and
‘‘(ii) in the case of a failure to include
any of the information required to be in-
cluded in such notice, or to show the cor-
rect information, with respect to any mem-
ber, the amount reasonably expected to be
contributed by such member toward the
activities of the coalition or association of
influencing legislation.
‘‘(C) JOINT AND SEVERAL LIABILITY.—All
members of the coalition or association shall be
jointly and severally liable under this paragraph
for any failure.
‘‘(D) PROCEDURES FOR ASSESSMENT AND
COLLECTION
OF
PENALTY.—For purposes of
subtitle F, the penalty imposed by this para-
graph shall be assessed and collected in the
same manner as penalties imposed by section
6652(c).
‘‘(5) EXCEPTION
FOR
CERTAIN
TAX-EXEMPT
ASSOCIATIONS.—This subsection shall not apply to
any association—
‘‘(A) 
which 
is 
described 
in 
section
501(c)(3) and exempt from tax under section
501(a), or
‘‘(B)(i) which is described in any other
paragraph of section 501(c) and exempt from
tax under section 501(a), and
‘‘(ii) which has substantial exempt activi-
ties other than lobbying with respect to the spe-
cific issue for which it engaged the person filing
the registration statement under section 4 of
the Lobbying Disclosure Act of 1995.
The preceding sentence shall not apply to any asso-
ciation formed or availed of to avoid the purposes of
this subsection.
‘‘(6) EXCEPTION FROM DISCLOSURE FOR CER-
TAIN MEMBERS.—
‘‘(A) IN
GENERAL.—Information on a
member of a coalition or association need not
be included in any notice under paragraph (3)
if the amount referred to in paragraph
(3)(A)(iii) with respect to such member is less
than $2,000 per year.
‘‘(B) EXPENDITURES IN EXCESS OF EX-
PECTED AMOUNT.—If—
‘‘(i) information on a member of a co-
alition or association is not included in any
notice by reason of subparagraph (A), and
‘‘(ii) the amount contributed by such
member toward the activities of the coali-
tion or association of influencing legislation
exceeds $2,200 per year,
such member shall be treated for purposes of
this subsection as a new member of such coali-
tion or association as of the earliest date that
clause (ii) is met.
‘‘(7) LOOK-THRU RULES.—In the case of a coa-
lition or association which is treated as a political
organization under paragraph (1)—
‘‘(A) such coalition or association shall be
treated as employing or retaining other persons
to conduct lobbying activities for purposes of
determining whether any individual member
thereof is treated as a political organization
under paragraph (1), and
‘‘(B) information on such coalition or asso-
ciation need not be included in any notice under
paragraph (2) of the coalition or association
with respect to which it is treated as a political
organization under paragraph (1).’’.
(b) PUBLIC DISCLOSURE OF NOTICES.—Subsection
(a) of section 6104 of such Code is amended by adding
at the end the following new paragraph:
‘‘(4) INFORMATION AVAILABLE ON INTERNET
AND IN PERSON.—
‘‘(A) IN
GENERAL.—The Secretary shall
make publicly available, on the Internet and at
the offices of the Internal Revenue Service—
‘‘(i) a list of all political organizations
which file a notice with the Secretary
under section 527(k), and
‘‘(ii) the information provided in such
notice.
‘‘(B) TIME TO MAKE INFORMATION AVAIL-
ABLE.—The Secretary shall make available the
information required under subparagraph (A)
not later than 5 business days after the Sec-
retary receives a notice from a political organi-
zation under section 527(k).’’.
(c) EFFECTIVE DATE.—