[Congressional Bills 108th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 4937 Introduced in House (IH)]







108th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 4937

    To amend the Lobbying Disclosure Act of 1995 to require certain 
   coalitions and associations to disclose their lobbying activities.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             July 22, 2004

Mr. Doggett (for himself, Mr. Allen, Mr. Baird, Mr. Becerra, Mr. Bell, 
 Mrs. Capps, Mr. Cardin, Ms. Carson of Indiana, Mr. Case, Mr. Davis of 
  Illinois, Mr. DeFazio, Mr. Delahunt, Ms. DeLauro, Mr. Edwards, Mr. 
Evans, Mr. Farr, Mr. Filner, Mr. Frank of Massachusetts, Mr. Frost, Mr. 
 Gonzalez, Mr. Green of Texas, Mr. Grijalva, Mr. Hastings of Florida, 
 Mr. Hoeffel, Mr. Holt, Mr. Inslee, Mr. Jefferson, Mrs. Jones of Ohio, 
  Ms. Kaptur, Mr. Kucinich, Ms. Lee, Mr. Levin, Mr. Lewis of Georgia, 
 Mrs. Maloney, Mr. Markey, Mr. Matsui, Mrs. McCarthy of New York, Ms. 
  McCarthy of Missouri, Mr. McDermott, Mr. McGovern, Mr. McNulty, Mr. 
       George Miller of California, Mrs. Napolitano, Mr. Neal of 
Massachusetts, Mr. Pomeroy, Mr. Rodriguez, Ms. Roybal-Allard, Mr. Ryan 
  of Ohio, Mr. Sanders, Ms. Schakowsky, Ms. Slaughter, Ms. Solis, Mr. 
 Stark, Mr. Tanner, Mr. Tierney, Mr. Udall of New Mexico, Mr. Waxman, 
 and Ms. Woolsey) introduced the following bill; which was referred to 
                     the Committee on the Judiciary

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
    To amend the Lobbying Disclosure Act of 1995 to require certain 
   coalitions and associations to disclose their lobbying activities.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Stealth Lobbyist Disclosure Act of 
2004''.

SEC. 2. DISCLOSURE OF LOBBYING ACTIVITIES BY CERTAIN COALITIONS AND 
              ASSOCIATIONS.

    (a) In General.--Paragraph (2) of section 3 of the Lobbying 
Disclosure Act of 1995 (2 U.S.C. 1602) is amended to read as follows:
            ``(2) Client.--
                    ``(A) In general.--The term `client' means any 
                person or entity that employs or retains another person 
                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.
                    ``(B) Treatment of coalitions and associations.--
                            ``(i) In general.--Except as provided in 
                        clauses (ii) and (iii), in the case of a 
                        coalition or association that employs or 
                        retains other persons to conduct lobbying 
                        activities, each of the individual members of 
                        the coalition or association (and not the 
                        coalition or association) is the client. For 
                        purposes of section 4(a)(3), the preceding 
                        sentence shall not apply, and the coalition or 
                        association shall be treated as the client.
                            ``(ii) Exception for certain tax-exempt 
                        associations.--In case of an association--
                                    ``(I) which is described in 
                                paragraph (3) of section 501(c) of the 
                                Internal Revenue Code of 1986 and 
                                exempt from tax under section 501(a) of 
                                such Code, or
                                    ``(II) which is described in any 
                                other paragraph of section 501(c) of 
                                the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 and 
                                exempt from tax under section 501(a) of 
                                such Code and which has substantial 
                                exempt activities other than lobbying 
                                with respect to the specific issue for 
                                which it engaged the person filing the 
                                registration statement under section 4,
                        the association (and not its members) shall be 
                        treated as the client.
                            ``(iii) Exception for certain members.--
                                    ``(I) In general.--Information on a 
                                member of a coalition or association 
                                need not be included in any 
                                registration under section 4 if the 
                                amount reasonably expected to be 
                                contributed by such member toward the 
                                activities of the coalition or 
                                association of influencing legislation 
                                is less than $1,000 per any semiannual 
                                period.
                                    ``(II) Exception.--Subclause (I) 
                                shall not apply with respect to any 
                                member who unexpectedly makes aggregate 
                                contributions of more than $1,000 in 
                                any semiannual period, and the date the 
                                aggregate of such contributions first 
                                exceeds $1,000 in such period shall be 
                                treated as the date of first employment 
                                or retention to make a lobbying contact 
                                for purposes of section 4.
                            ``(iv) Look-thru rules.--In the case of a 
                        coalition or association which is treated as a 
                        client under the first sentence of clause (i)--
                                    ``(I) 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 client 
                                under clause (i), and
                                    ``(II) information on such 
                                coalition or association need not be 
                                included in any registration under 
                                section 4 of the coalition or 
                                association with respect to which it is 
                                treated as a client under clause (i).''
    (b) Effective Date.--
            (1) In general.--The amendments made by this section shall 
        apply to--
                    (A) coalitions and associations listed on 
                registration statements filed under section 4 of the 
                Lobbying Disclosure Act of 1995 (2 U.S.C. 1603) after 
                the date of the enactment of this Act, and
                    (B) coalitions and associations for whom any 
                lobbying contact is made after the date of the 
                enactment of this Act.
            (2) Special rule.--In the case of any coalition or 
        association to which the amendments made by this Act apply by 
        reason of paragraph (1)(B), the person required by such section 
        4 to file a registration statement with respect to such 
        coalition or association shall file a new registration 
        statement within 30 days after the date of the enactment of 
        this section.
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