[Congressional Bills 115th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 6533 Introduced in House (IH)]

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115th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 6533

 To amend the Lobbying Disclosure Act of 1995 to require an individual 
to register as a lobbyist under such Act if the individual is employed 
or retained by a client for making more than one lobbying contact over 
  a 2-year period and to treat legislative, political, and strategic 
 counseling in support of lobbying contacts as lobbying activity under 
                   such Act, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             July 25, 2018

Mr. Sarbanes (for himself and Mr. Polis) introduced the following bill; 
  which was referred to the Committee on House Administration, and in 
    addition to the Committee on the Judiciary, for a period to be 
subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration 
  of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee 
                               concerned

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To amend the Lobbying Disclosure Act of 1995 to require an individual 
to register as a lobbyist under such Act if the individual is employed 
or retained by a client for making more than one lobbying contact over 
  a 2-year period and to treat legislative, political, and strategic 
 counseling in support of lobbying contacts as lobbying activity under 
                   such Act, 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 ``Curtailing Lobbying and Empowering 
Americans for a New Politics Act of 2018'' or the ``CLEAN Politics Act 
of 2018''.

SEC. 2. EXPANDING SCOPE OF INDIVIDUALS AND ACTIVITIES SUBJECT TO 
              REQUIREMENTS OF LOBBYING DISCLOSURE ACT OF 1995.

    (a) Elimination of 20 Percent Exemption for Determination of 
Threshold of Lobbying Contacts Required for Individuals To Register as 
Lobbyists.--Section 3(10) of the Lobbying Disclosure Act of 1995 (2 
U.S.C. 1602(10)) is amended by striking ``more than one lobbying 
contact'' and all that follows and inserting ``more than one lobbying 
contact over a 2-year period.''.
    (b) Coverage of Individuals Providing Legislative, Political, and 
Strategic Counseling Services.--
            (1) Treatment of legislative, political, and strategic 
        counseling services in support of lobbying contacts as lobbying 
        activity.--Section 3(7) of such Act (2 U.S.C. 1602(7)) is 
        amended--
                    (A) by striking ``efforts'' and inserting ``any 
                efforts''; and
                    (B) by striking ``research and other background 
                work'' and inserting the following: ``legislative, 
                political, and strategic counseling services, research, 
                and other background work''.
            (2) Treatment of lobbying contact made with support of 
        legislative, political, and strategic counseling services as 
        lobbying contact made by individual providing services.--
        Section 3(8) of such Act (2 U.S.C. 1602(8)) is amended by 
        adding at the end the following new subparagraph:
                    ``(C) Treatment of providers of legislative, 
                political, and strategic counseling services.--Any 
                individual who for financial or other compensation 
                provides legislative, political, and strategic 
                counseling services which are treated as lobbying 
                activity under paragraph (7), and which are used in 
                support of a lobbying contact under this paragraph 
                which is made by another individual, shall be 
                considered to have made the same lobbying contact at 
                the same time and in the same manner to the covered 
                executive branch official or covered legislative branch 
                official involved.''.
    (c) Effective Date.--The amendments made by this section shall 
apply with respect to lobbying contacts made on or after the date of 
the enactment of this Act.

SEC. 3. TREATMENT OF CERTAIN CONTRIBUTIONS FOR PURPOSES OF CONTRIBUTION 
              LIMITS UNDER FEDERAL ELECTION CAMPAIGN ACT OF 1971.

    (a) Treatment of Bundled Contributions as Contributions by Donor 
and Bundler.--Section 315(a) of the Federal Election Campaign Act of 
1971 (52 U.S.C. 30116(a)) is amended by adding at the end the following 
new paragraph:
    ``(10)(A) For purposes of paragraph (1), any bundled contribution 
to a committee described in section 304(i)(6) that is forwarded by or 
credited to a person described in section 304(i)(7) (including the 
agent of such a person) shall be treated both as a contribution made by 
the person forwarding such contribution or credited with such 
contribution, and as a contribution made by the contributor.
    ``(B) For purposes of determining the amount of bundled 
contributions provided by a person to a committee which were received 
by the person at a fundraising event sponsored by the person, or in 
response to an invitation to attend a fundraising event sponsored by 
the person, each person who is a sponsor of the event shall be 
considered to have provided to the committee the aggregate amount of 
all bundled contributions which were provided to the committee by all 
sponsors of the event.
    ``(C) This paragraph does not apply with respect to a contribution 
made by any individual who is a spouse, parent, child, sibling, father-
in-law, or mother-in-law of the person described in section 304(i)(7).
    ``(D) Nothing in this paragraph may be construed to prohibit any 
person from engaging in volunteer activity on behalf of a candidate or 
from making communications which provide information about the 
candidate but which do not include the solicitation of contributions or 
other fundraising activity in support of the candidate.
    ``(E) In this paragraph, the term `bundled contribution' has the 
meaning given such term in section 304(i)(8), except that such term 
also includes a contribution which would be a bundled contribution 
under section 304(i)(8) if it met the applicable threshold described in 
section 304(i)(3).''.
    (b) Treatment of Contributions Solicited by Lobbyists as 
Contributions by Donor and Lobbyist.--Section 315(a) of such Act (52 
U.S.C. 30116(a)), as amended by subsection (a), is further amended by 
adding at the end the following new paragraph:
    ``(11)(A) For purposes of paragraph (1), any contribution made to a 
committee described in section 304(i)(6) that is solicited by a person 
described in section 304(i)(7) (including the agent of such a person) 
shall be treated both as a contribution made by the contributor and as 
a contribution made by the person who solicited the contribution.
    ``(B) This paragraph does not apply with respect to a contribution 
made by any individual who is a spouse, parent, child, sibling, father-
in-law, or mother-in-law of the person described in section 
304(i)(7).''.
    (c) Effective Date.--The amendments made by this section shall 
apply with respect to contributions made on or after the date of the 
enactment of this Act.

SEC. 4. PROHIBITING CANDIDATES FROM SOLICITING CAMPAIGN CONTRIBUTIONS 
              FROM REGISTERED LOBBYISTS WHILE CONGRESS IS IN SESSION.

    Title III of the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 (2 U.S.C. 
30101 et seq.) is amended by adding at the end the following new 
section:

``SEC. 325. PROHIBITING CANDIDATES FROM SOLICITING CONTRIBUTIONS FROM 
              REGISTERED LOBBYISTS WHILE CONGRESS IS IN SESSION.

    ``(a) Candidates for Senate.--A candidate for the office of 
Senator, an individual holding the office of Senator, an agent of such 
a candidate or an individual holding such office, or an entity directly 
or indirectly established, financed, maintained, or controlled by or 
acting on behalf of 1 or more such candidates or individuals holding 
such office may not solicit from any registered lobbyist funds in 
connection with any election for the office of Senator during any 
period in which the Senate is in session.
    ``(b) Candidates for House.--A candidate for the office of 
Representative in, or Delegate or Resident Commissioner to, the 
Congress, an individual holding such an office, an agent of a candidate 
or an individual holding such an office, or an entity directly or 
indirectly established, financed, maintained, or controlled by or 
acting on behalf of 1 or more such candidates or individuals holding 
such an office may not solicit from any registered lobbyist funds in 
connection with any election for the office of Representative in, or 
Delegate or Resident Commissioner to, the Congress during any period in 
which the House of Representatives is in session.
    ``(c) Registered Lobbyist Defined.--For purposes of this section, 
the term `registered lobbyist' means any person who is described in 
subparagraph (A), (B), or (C) of section 304(i)(7).
    ``(d) Determination of When Body Is in Session.--For purposes of 
this section, the Senate or House of Representatives shall be 
considered to be in session during any period unless such body has 
adjourned for, or is in recess for, a period of 10 consecutive calendar 
days or longer.''.

SEC. 5. CLARIFICATION OF ACTIONS CONSTITUTING SOLICITATION UNDER 
              FEDERAL ELECTION CAMPAIGN ACT OF 1971.

    Section 301 of the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 (52 U.S.C. 
30101) is amended by adding at the end the following new paragraph:
            ``(27) The term `solicit' means to directly or indirectly 
        ask, request, or recommend, explicitly or implicitly, that 
        another person make a contribution, donation, transfer of 
        funds, or otherwise provide anything of value.''.

SEC. 6. REPEALING EXEMPTION FROM REGISTRATION UNDER FOREIGN AGENTS 
              REGISTRATION ACT OF 1938 FOR PERSONS FILING DISCLOSURE 
              REPORTS UNDER LOBBYING DISCLOSURE ACT OF 1995.

    (a) Repeal of Exemption.--Section 3 of the Foreign Agents 
Registration Act of 1938 (22 U.S.C. 613) is amended by striking 
subsection (h).
    (b) Timing of Filing of Registration Statements.--Section 2 of the 
Foreign Agents Registration Act of 1938 (22 U.S.C. 612) is amended--
            (1) in subsection (a), in the matter preceding paragraph 
        (1), in the fourth sentence, by striking ``The registration 
        statement shall include'' and inserting ``Except as provided in 
        subsection (h), the registration statement shall include''; and
            (2) by adding at the end the following:
    ``(h) Timing for Filing of Statements by Persons Registered Under 
Lobbying Disclosure Act of 1995.--In the case of an agent of a person 
described in section 1(b)(2) or an entity described in section 1(b)(3) 
who has registered under the Lobbying Disclosure Act of 1995 (2 U.S.C. 
1601 et seq.), after the agent files the first registration required 
under subsection (a) in connection with the agent's representation of 
such person or entity, the agent shall file all subsequent statements 
required under this section at the same time, and in the same 
frequency, as the reports filed with the Clerk of the House of 
Representatives or the Secretary of the Senate (as the case may be) 
under section 5 of the Lobbying Disclosure Act of 1995 (2 U.S.C. 1604) 
in connection with the agent's representation of such person or 
entity.''.
    (c) Effective Date.--The amendments made by this section shall take 
effect 180 days after the date of the enactment of this Act.
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