[Congressional Bills 111th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 5751 Introduced in House (IH)]

111th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 5751

To amend the Lobbying Disclosure Act of 1995 to require registrants to 
 pay an annual fee of $50, to impose a penalty of $500 for failure to 
file timely reports required by that Act, to provide for the use of the 
 funds from such fees and penalties for reviewing and auditing filings 
                by registrants, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             July 15, 2010

  Ms. Kilroy 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 registrants to 
 pay an annual fee of $50, to impose a penalty of $500 for failure to 
file timely reports required by that Act, to provide for the use of the 
 funds from such fees and penalties for reviewing and auditing filings 
                by registrants, and for other purposes.

    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 ``Fee on Lobbyists Act''.

SEC. 2. ANNUAL FEE FOR REGISTRANTS UNDER LOBBYING DISCLOSURE ACT OF 
              1995.

    (a) In General.--Section 4 of the Lobbying Disclosure Act of 1995 
(2 U.S.C. 1603) is amended by adding at the end the following:
    ``(d) Registration Fees.--Each registrant shall pay, for each 
registration filed under this section, a fee of $25 to the Clerk of the 
House of Representatives and $25 to the Secretary of the Senate--
            ``(1) when the registrant files the registration under 
        subsection (a); and
            ``(2) when filing the report under section 5(a) for the 
        first quarterly period beginning on January 1 of each year.''.
    (b) Applicability.--
            (1) New registrants.--
                    (A) In general.--Section 4(d)(1) of the Lobbying 
                Disclosure Act of 1995, as added by subsection (a) of 
                this section, shall apply with respect to registrations 
                filed under section 4(a) of that Act after the end of 
                the 60-day period beginning on the date of the 
                enactment of this Act.
                    (B) First annual fee.--In the case of a registrant 
                to whom subparagraph (A) applies, the fee required by 
                section 4(d)(2) of the Lobbying Disclosure Act of 1995, 
                as added by subsection (a) of this section, need not be 
                paid in the case of a quarterly report filed less than 
                180 days after the registration is filed under section 
                4(a) of that Act.
            (2) Other registrants.--Except as provided in paragraph 
        (1)(B), section 4(d)(2) of the Lobbying Disclosure Act of 1995, 
        as added by subsection (a) of this section, shall take effect 
        upon the expiration of the 60-day period beginning on the date 
        of the enactment of this Act and shall apply with respect to 
        registrations filed before, on, or after that effective date.

SEC. 3. PENALTIES FOR FAILURE TO MAKE TIMELY FILINGS; RESPONSIBILITIES 
              OF SECRETARY OF THE SENATE AND CLERK OF THE HOUSE.

    (a) In General.--Section 6 of the Lobbying Disclosure Act of 1995 
(2 U.S.C. 1605) is amended--
            (1) in subsection (a)--
                    (A) by redesignating paragraphs (10) and (11) as 
                paragraphs (11) and (12); and
                    (B) by inserting after paragraph (9) the following:
            ``(10) reconcile the databases maintained by the Secretary 
        and the Clerk so that information in the databases is 
        compatible and easily comparable;'';
            (2) by redesignating subsection (b) as subsection (e); and
            (3) by inserting after subsection (a) the following:
    ``(b) Fines for Late Filings.--
            ``(1) In general.--If any person fails to file a report 
        required under section 5 by the date by which such report is 
        due under such section, the Secretary of the Senate or the 
        Clerk of the House of Representatives shall--
                    ``(A) impose a fine of $500 on such person; or
                    ``(B) in the case of a second or subsequent failure 
                to so file, impose a fine of $1,000 on such person.
            ``(2) Relationship to other penalties.--A fine imposed 
        under paragraph (1) is in addition to any fine imposed under 
        section 7 by reason of a failure to file a report described in 
        paragraph (1).
    ``(c) Use of Fees and Fines.--All fines paid pursuant to subsection 
(b) and all fees paid under section 4(d) shall, subject to 
appropriations Acts, be available to the Secretary of the Senate and 
the Clerk of the House of Representatives for reviewing and auditing 
registrations filed under section 4 and reports filed under section 5.
    ``(d) List of Delinquent Filers.--
            ``(1) In general.--The Secretary of the Senate and the 
        Clerk of the House of Representatives shall maintain and make 
        publicly available a list of all persons required to file 
        reports under section 5 who fail to do so by the dates required 
        by such section.
            ``(2) Removal of person from list.--If a person whose name 
        is included on the list maintained under paragraph (1) because 
        of a failure to file a report under section 5 thereafter files 
        the report and pays the fine under subsection (b) because of 
        such failure, the Secretary of the Senate and the Clerk of the 
        House of Representatives shall remove that person from the 
        list.''.
    (b) Applicability.--Subsections (b) and (d) of section 6 of the 
Lobbying Disclosure Act of 1995, as added by subsection (a) of this 
section, shall apply with respect to reports that are required to be 
filed under section 5 of that Act after the end of the 60-day period 
beginning on the date of the enactment of this Act.
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