113 S2417 IS: Close the Revolving Door Act of 2014
U.S. Senate
2014-06-03
text/xml
EN
Pursuant to Title 17 Section 105 of the United States Code, this file is not subject to copyright protection and is in the public domain.
1.
This Act may be cited as
the Close the Revolving Door Act of 2014
.
2.
Lifetime ban on
Members of Congress from lobbying
(a)
Section 207(e)(1) of
title 18, United States Code, is amended to read as follows:
(1)
Any person who is a Senator, a Member of the House of
Representatives or an elected officer of the Senate or the House of
Representatives and who after that person leaves office, knowingly
makes, with
the intent to influence, any communication to or appearance before
any Member,
officer, or employee of either House of Congress or any employee of
any other
legislative office of the Congress, on behalf of any other person
(except the
United States) in connection with any matter on which such former
Senator,
Member, or elected official seeks action by a Member, officer, or
employee of
either House of Congress, in his or her official capacity, shall be
punished as
provided in section 216 of this
title.
.
(b)
Section 207(e)(2) of title 18, United States Code, is
amended—
(1)
in the heading,
by striking Officers and staff
and inserting
Staff
; and
(2)
by striking
an elected officer of the Senate, or
.
3.
Paragraphs (2), (3),
(4), (5)(A), and (6)(A) of section 207(e) of title 18, United States Code,
is
amended by striking 1 year
and inserting 6
years
.
4.
Improved
reporting of lobbyists’ activities
Section 6 of the Lobbying Disclosure Act of
1995 (2 U.S.C. 1605) is amended by adding at the end the following:
(c)
(1)
The Secretary of the
Senate and the Clerk of the House of Representatives shall maintain
a joint
lobbyist disclosure Internet database for information required to
be publicly
disclosed under this Act which shall be an easily searchable Web
site called
lobbyists.gov with a stated goal of simplicity of usage.
(2)
Authorization
of appropriations
There are
authorized to be appropriated to carry out this subsection $100,000
for fiscal
year
2015.
.
5.
Lobbyist
revolving door to Congress
(a)
Any person who is a registered lobbyist or an agent of a
foreign principal may not within 6 years after that person leaves such
position
be hired by a Member or committee of either House of Congress with whom
the
registered lobbyist or an agent of a foreign principal has had substantial
lobbying contact.
(b)
This
section may be waived in the Senate or the House of Representatives by the
Committee on Ethics or the Committee on Standards of Official Conduct
based on
a compelling national need.
(c)
Substantial
lobbying contact
For purposes of this section, in determining
whether a registered lobbyist or agent of a foreign principal has had
substantial lobbying contact within the applicable period of time, the
Member
or committee of either House of Congress shall take into consideration
whether
the individual's lobbying contacts have pertained to pending legislative
business, or related to solicitation of an earmark or other Federal
funding,
particularly if such contacts included the coordination of meetings with
the
Member or staff, involved presentations to staff, or participation in
fundraising exceeding the mere giving of a personal contribution. Simple
social
contacts with the Member or committee of either House of Congress and
staff,
shall not by themselves constitute substantial lobbying contacts.
6.
Reporting by
substantial lobbying entities
The Lobbying Disclosure Act of 1995 (2
U.S.C. 1601 et seq.) is amended by inserting after section 6 the
following:
6A.
Reporting by
substantial lobbying entities
(a)
A substantial lobbying entity shall file on an annual
basis with the Clerk of the House of Representatives and the
Secretary of the
United States Senate a list of any employee, individual under
contract, or
individual who provides paid consulting services who is—
(1)
a former United
States Senator or a former Member of the United States House of
Representatives; or
(2)
a former
congressional staff person who—
(A)
made at least
$100,000 in any 1 year as a congressional staff person;
(B)
worked for a
total of 4 years or more as a congressional staff person; or
(C)
had a job title
at any time while employed as a congressional staff person that
contained any
of the following terms: Chief of Staff
, Legislative
Director
, Staff Director
, Counsel
,
Professional Staff Member
, Communications
Director
, or Press Secretary
.
(b)
The filing required by this section shall contain a brief
job description of each such employee, individual under contract,
or individual
who provides paid consulting services, and an explanation of their
work
experience under subsection (a) that requires this filing.
(c)
Improved
reporting of substantial lobbying entities
The Joint Web site
being maintained by the Secretary of the Senate and the Clerk of
the House of
Representatives, known as lobbyists.gov, shall include an easily
searchable
database entitled Substantial Lobbying Entities
that includes
qualifying employees, individuals under contract, or individuals
who provide
paid consulting services, under subsection (a).
(d)
Law enforcement
oversight
The Clerk of the House of Representatives and the
Secretary of the Senate shall provide a copy of the filings of
substantial
lobbying entities to the District of Columbia United States
Attorney, to allow
the District of Columbia United States Attorney to determine
whether any such
entities are underreporting the Federal lobbying activities of its
employees,
individuals under contract, or individuals who provide paid
consulting
services.
(e)
Substantial
lobbying entity
In this section, the term substantial
lobbying entity means an incorporated entity that employs more than 3
federally registered lobbyists during a filing
period.
.
7.
Section 7(a) of the
Lobbying Disclosure Act of 1995 (2 U.S.C. 1606(a)) is amended by striking
$200,000
and inserting $500,000
.