[Congressional Bills 110th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 2093 Introduced in House (IH)]







110th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 2093

To amend the Lobbying Disclosure Act of 1995 to provide for additional 
                      reporting by lobbying firms.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                              May 1, 2007

 Mr. Meehan (for himself and Mr. Shays) introduced the following bill; 
          which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To amend the Lobbying Disclosure Act of 1995 to provide for additional 
                      reporting by lobbying firms.

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

SECTION 1. DISCLOSURE OF PAID COMMUNICATIONS CAMPAIGNS TO INFLUENCE THE 
              GENERAL PUBLIC TO LOBBY CONGRESS.

    (a) Applicability.--The amendments made by this section shall not 
apply to any person or entity other than a lobbying firm that is 
retained on behalf of a client other than that person or entity. No 
person or entity other than a lobbying firm is required to register or 
file a report under the amendments made by this section.
    (b) Definitions.--Section 3 of the Lobbying Disclosure Act of 1995 
(2 U.S.C. 1602) is amended--
            (1) in paragraph (7), by adding at the end the following: 
        ``For purposes of a lobbying firm only, the term `lobbying 
        activities' includes paid communications campaigns to influence 
        the general public to lobby Congress.'';
            (2) in paragraph (9)--
                    (A) in the first sentence--
                            (i) by striking ``means a person'' and 
                        inserting
                    ``(A) means--
                            ``(i) a person'';
                            (ii) by moving the remaining text of the 
                        sentence 4 ems to the right; and
                            (iii) by striking ``entity.'' and inserting 
                        ``entity; and
                            ``(ii) a person or entity that is retained 
                        by 1 or more clients (other than that person or 
                        entity) to engage in paid communications 
                        campaigns to influence the general public to 
                        lobby Congress, and receives income of, or 
                        spends or agrees to spend, an aggregate of 
                        $100,000 or more for such efforts in any 
                        quarterly period; and''; and
                    (B) in the last sentence--
                            (i) by striking ``The term also includes'' 
                        and inserting
                    ``(B) includes''; and
                            (ii) by moving the remaining text of the 
                        sentence 2 ems to the right; and
            (3) by adding at the end the following:
            ``(17) Paid communications campaigns to influence the 
        general public to lobby congress.--The term `paid 
        communications campaigns to influence the general public to 
        lobby Congress' means any efforts by a lobbying firm, on behalf 
        of a client that retains the firm, to influence the general 
        public or segments thereof to contact 1 or more covered 
        legislative or executive branch officials (or Congress 
        generally) to urge such officials (or Congress) to take 
        specific action with respect to a matter described in paragraph 
        (8)(A), except that such term does not include--
                    ``(A) communications made to the members of the 
                client; or
                    ``(B) direct mail communications to the general 
                public, or segments of the general public, that are 
                made primarily for the purpose of recruiting members to 
                join an organization.''.
    (c) Registration.--Section 4(a) of the Lobbying Disclosure Act of 
1995 (2 U.S.C. 1603(a)) is amended by inserting after paragraph (2) the 
following and redesignating the succeeding paragraph accordingly:
            ``(3) Filing by certain lobbying firms.--Any person or 
        entity that qualifies as a lobbying firm under section 
        3(9)(A)(ii) shall register with the Secretary of the Senate and 
        the Clerk of the House of Representatives not later than 45 
        days after such lobbying firm is first retained by a client to 
        engage in paid communications campaigns to influence the 
        general public to lobby Congress.''.
    (d) Separate Itemization of Paid Communications Campaigns To 
Influence the General Public To Lobby Congress.--Section 5(b) of the 
Act (2 U.S.C. 1604(b)) is amended--
            (1) in paragraph (3)--
                    (A) by striking ``firm, a good'' and inserting 
                ``firm--
                    ``(A) a good'';
                    (B) by moving the remaining text 2 ems to the 
                right; and
                    (C) by adding at the end the following:
                    ``(B) a separate good faith estimate of the total 
                amount of income relating specifically to paid 
                communications campaigns to influence the general 
                public to lobby Congress, if such income from the 
                client exceeds $50,000 during the quarterly filing 
                period; and''; and
            (2) by adding at the end the following:
``Subparagraphs (B) and (C) of paragraph (2) shall not apply with 
respect to reports relating to paid communications campaigns to 
influence the general public to lobby Congress.''.
                                 <all>