April 2006

Legislation aimed at overhauling lobbying and ethics law is now moving through Congress, and several proposals being debated by the Senate and House will directly affect nonprofit organizations engaged in advocacy at the federal level. The Senate has already approved a bill, and in the House, legislation is still pending, with committee action expected very soon.

The two main bills under consideration (S. 2349, the Legislative Transparency and Accountability Act, and H.R. 4975, Lobbying Accountability and Transparency Act) would, among other things, amend the Lobbying Disclosure Act of 1995 (LDA), which requires organizations and individuals that lobby at the federal level to register with the Senate and the House. The LDA also requires these organizations and individuals to file reports on their activities and sets forth what information must be contained in these reports. This article serves to highlight a few of the proposals that are likely to affect nonprofits that lobby.

Disclosure of Coalition Members. The Senate bill requires public disclosure (by the lobbyist) of organizations that contribute $10,000 or more to a coalition or association that registers under the LDA and plans, supervises, or controls in a substantial way the management of lobbying activities. Such disclosure, however, would not be required for organizations for which the affiliation or funding of the coalition is "publicly available knowledge." There is no provision on disclosure of coalition members in the House bill.

Grassroots Lobbying. The Senate bill also requires—for the first time ever—disclosure of certain grassroots lobbying activities. These activities only include "paid efforts to stimulate grassroots lobbying" at the federal level, and organizations would have to spend more than $25,000 over three months to require registration. In order for nonprofits to determine how much money they are spending on grassroots lobbying, they would be allowed to use the tax code definitions, which some already use to calculate lobbying expenditures for their Forms 990, in place of the new LDA definitions. The House is not likely to include grassroots lobbying disclosure in its bill.

Disclosure of Campaign Contributions. The Senate bill would require any person who registers as a lobbyist to report annually to the secretary of the Senate's office all political contributions they make over $200. The House is considering a similar proposal.

Travel. Under the Senate bill, privately funded travel (such as travel paid for by a nonprofit) would still be permitted but will be subject to new requirements. For example, itineraries would have to be pre-approved by a Senate Committee, and a report on the trip would be required within 30 days of the lawmaker's return and would be posted on the Internet. The House proposal places a moratorium on such travel for the remainder of 2006 while a review is conducted.

Additional provisions specifically targeting nonprofits were also considered in the Senate but ultimately not included in the Senate-passed bill. As a result, the nonprofit sector must stay engaged as a final bill emerges from a Senate-House conference in the coming weeks.

© 2006, The Vivero Group

The Vivero Group is a Washington, D.C.-based government relations and communication firm representing GuideStar and other nonprofits on federal public policy issues. For more information, please visit www.viverogroup.com.