On July 16, the House Clerk and Secretary of the Senate released updated guidance that applies to any organization that registers as a lobbyist under the federal Lobbying Disclosure Act (LDA), as updated by the Honest Leadership and Open Government Act (HLOGA). House and Senate leaders directed the Secretary of the Senate and the Clerk of the House to rewrite the guidelines in response to complaints about the original guidance.
HLOGA, passed in 2007, requires all individual lobbyists and lobbying organizations to disclose any campaign contributions of more than $200, connections to any political action committees, and expenditures for certain events that honor covered officials. The form to report such information, Form LD-203, was made available on June 30. The Secretary and Clerk originally issued updated LDA Guidance on May 29 to provide a number of examples of reportable expenditures. This interpretation for when lobbyists must report was criticized as extremely broad. For example, lobbyists had to report the fee involved if a "covered official" was simply in attendance at an event. This would have required a lobbyist who paid for a table at a charitable event to report the cost if a member of Congress appeared at the event, even if it was a surprise appearance.
Legal counsel representing labor and nonprofit organizations who register under the LDA wrote July 8 to the Secretary and the Clerk regarding the LD-203 Contributions Reporting System and the new LDA guidance. They expressed concern that the new guidance "misinterprets" HLOGA, and will "chill ordinary interaction and association with Members of Congress and impose undue and unreasonable recordkeeping and reporting burdens on registrants and their employed lobbyists … Members of Congress and other government officials frequently attend or speak at events that are sponsored or funded, at least in part, by entities that employ lobbyists, including policy forums, seminars, meetings, conferences, conventions and other events that have nothing to do with 'honoring or recognizing' the officials."
Under the guidelines, even a conference where a lawmaker made a speech could be interpreted as an event "honoring" that official. This could have ended up in not only exhaustive reporting, but could have also had an effect on those officials who wanted to participate in events.
In response to such concerns, the Secretary and the Clerk rewrote the guidelines as they pertain to LD-203, and now some events involving covered officials may not have to be reported on the form. Under the changes, an event does not "honor" or "recognize" a covered official when:
Lobbyists also do not have to disclose money raised for a charity that is not created or controlled by a lawmaker or that names the legislator as an "honorary co-host." Other changes include that buying a ticket or table at an event honoring a covered official would not be considered payment that has to be disclosed. However, it would need to be disclosed if the lobbyist is a sponsor or host of the event.
There has been some backlash in response to the new guidance, including accusations that the changes were made to create new loopholes for lobbyists' funding of events, particularly during political party nominating conventions. As the Wall Street Journal notes, "Nor will the new ethics rules clamp a lid on industry-paid merrymaking at Democratic and Republican nominating conventions this summer. The new guidance exempts companies from revealing their sponsorship of most parties at the conventions."
The deadline for filing LD-203 is July 30, and along with it, a filer must certify that he or she understands and has complied with the Gift and Travel Rules.
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