The House passed a bill by voice vote July 28 to establish a new Justice Department task force to investigate and prosecute violations of the Lobbying Disclosure Act (LDA).
The bill, introduced by Rep. Mary Jo Kilroy (D-OH), had originally included a first-ever registration fee of $50 for federally registered lobbyists along with a $500 fine for late disclosure filings, but that language was removed from the bill after congressional officials said they could not effectively administer a new registration program at this time. The bill instead directs Attorney General Eric Holder to establish a task force to better enforce rules for federal lobbyists under the existing LDA.
“When Americans on Main Street try to cheat or break the law, there are repercussions, but for years, there was no way to hold lobbyists accountable for games they play with their disclosures,” Kilroy said after the bill was passed by voice vote under suspension. “The Lobbying Disclosure Enhancement Act establishes a task force that will go after lobbyists who engage in shoddy reporting practices and hide behind ignorance of the law.”
Kilroy cited a General Accountability Office (GAO) report issued in April as evidence that DOJ needs to ramp up enforcement of the LDA. According to GAO, the DOJ has received thousands of referrals of potential LDA violators from congressional officials in charge of administering the lobbying disclosure law, but no criminal or civil suits have ever been filed by DOJ to enforce the 15-year-old LDA.
The GAO report also showed, however, that the vast majority of lobbyists are able to provide documentation to support items in their disclosure reports. GAO estimated that lobbyists could provide written documentation for income and expenses for approximately 89 percent of their disclosure reports. For political contribution reports, GAO estimated that 82 percent of the reports could be supported by FEC data or documentation provided by lobbyists.
