[Senate Report 118-12]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
Calendar No. 36
118th Congress} { Report
SENATE
1st Session } { 118-12
======================================================================
LOBBYING DISCLOSURE IMPROVEMENT ACT
__________
R E P O R T
OF THE
COMMITTEE ON HOMELAND SECURITY AND
GOVERNMENTAL AFFAIRS
UNITED STATES SENATE
TO ACCOMPANY
S. 264
TO AMEND THE LOBBYING DISCLOSURE ACT OF 1995
TO REQUIRE CERTAIN DISCLOSURES BY REGISTRANTS
REGARDING EXEMPTIONS UNDER THE FOREIGN AGENTS
REGISTRATION ACT OF 1938, AS AMENDED
[GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
April 19, 2023.--Ordered to be printed
__________
U.S. GOVERNMENT PUBLISHING OFFICE
WASHINGTON : 2023
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
COMMITTEE ON HOMELAND SECURITY AND GOVERNMENTAL AFFAIRS
GARY C. PETERS, Michigan, Chairman
THOMAS R. CARPER, Delaware RAND PAUL, Kentucky
MAGGIE HASSAN, New Hampshire RON JOHNSON, Wisconsin
KYRSTEN SINEMA, Arizona JAMES LANKFORD, Oklahoma
JACKY ROSEN, Nevada MITT ROMNEY, Utah
ALEX PADILLA, California RICK SCOTT, Florida
JON OSSOFF, Georgia JOSH HAWLEY, Missouri
RICHARD BLUMENTHAL, Connecticut ROGER MARSHALL, Kansas
David M. Weinberg, Staff Director
Zachary I. Schram, Chief Counsel
Lena C. Chang, Director of Governmental Affairs
Emily I. Manna, Professional Staff Member
William E. Henderson III, Minority Staff Director
Christina N. Salazar, Minority Chief Counsel
L. Margaret Harker, Minority Senior Investigative Counsel
Laura W. Kilbride, Chief Clerk
Calendar No. 36
118th Congress} { Report
SENATE
1st Session } { 118-12
======================================================================
LOBBYING DISCLOSURE IMPROVEMENT ACT
_______
April 19, 2023.--Ordered to be printed
_______
Mr. Peters, from the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental
Affairs, submitted the following
R E P O R T
[To accompany S. 264]
[Including cost estimate of the Congressional Budget Office]
The Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental
Affairs, to which was referred the bill (S. 264), to amend the
Lobbying Disclosure Act of 1995 to require certain disclosures
by registrants regarding exemptions under the Foreign Agents
Registration Act of 1938, as amended, having considered the
same, reports favorably thereon without amendment and
recommends that the bill do pass.
CONTENTS
Page
I. Purpose and Summary..............................................1
II. Background and Need for the Legislation..........................2
III. Legislative History..............................................2
IV. Section-by-Section Analysis of the Bill, as Reported.............2
V. Evaluation of Regulatory Impact..................................3
VI. Congressional Budget Office Cost Estimate........................3
VII. Changes in Existing Law Made by the Bill, as Reported............4
I. Purpose and Summary
S. 264, the Lobbying Disclosure Improvement Act, amends the
Lobbying Disclosure Act (LDA) of 1995. It would improve
oversight of lobbyists for foreign persons and entities by
requiring LDA registrants to indicate whether they believe a
Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) provision exempts them
from registering under FARA.\1\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\1\On September 28, 2022, the Committee approved S. 4893, the
Lobbying Disclosure Improvement Act. That bill is substantially similar
to S. 264. Accordingly, this committee report is, in many respects,
similar to the committee report for S. 4893. See S. Rept. 117-212.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
II. Background and the Need for Legislation
FARA exempts lobbyists who are agents of foreign persons or
organizations (but not foreign governments or political
parties, or the equivalent) from registering under that law if
they are properly registered under the LDA.\2\ However, the
standard by which the Department of Justice (DOJ) applies the
exemption has often lacked clarity, particularly the threshold
by which it is determined whether lobbying activities primarily
benefit a foreign government as opposed to a foreign individual
or organization.\3\ Additionally, some lobbyists for whom the
exemption should not apply are incentivized to improperly claim
the exemption because the requirements for LDA registration are
much less stringent than those for FARA.\4\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\2\22 U.S.C. Sec. 613(h)
\3\Enhancing the Foreign Agents Registration Act of 1938: Hearing
before the House Committee on the Judiciary Subcommittee on the
Constitution, Civil Rights, and Civil Liberties, 117th Cong. (April 5,
2022) (Testimony of Dylan Hedtler-Gaudette, Government Affairs Manager,
Project On Government Oversight), available at https://docs.house.gov/
meetings/JU/JU10/20220405/114580/HHRG-117-JU10-Wstate-Hedtler-
GaudetteD-20220405.pdf.
\4\Congressional Research Service, The Foreign Agents Registration
Act (FARA): A Legal Overview (Dec. 4, 2017).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Currently, there is no way for FARA enforcement officials
to easily identify LDA registrants who believe the exemption
applies to them.\5\ The bill would simply require LDA
registrants to indicate, as part of their registration, whether
they believe the FARA exemption applies. This would help DOJ
officials narrow the pool of LDA registrants they examine for
potential violations, while not imposing any meaningful
additional burden on registrants.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\5\Project on Government Oversight, Loopholes, Filing Failures, and
Lax Enforcement: How the Foreign Agents Registration Act Falls Short.
(Dec. 16, 2014) available at https://docs.pogo.org/report/2014/pogo-
fara-report-20141216.pdf?_ga=2.243251271.49320974.1668452543-
1746055107.166845254.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
III. Legislative History
Chairman Gary Peters (D-MI) introduced S. 264, the Lobbying
Disclosure Improvement Act, on February 2, 2023, with Senator
Chuck Grassley (R-IA). The bill was referred to the Committee
on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs.
The Committee considered S. 264 at a business meeting on
March 29, 2023. During the business meeting. S. 933 was ordered
reported favorably by a roll call vote of 12 yeas and 0 nays
with Senators Peters, Hassan, Sinema, Rosen, Padilla, Ossoff,
Blumenthal, Paul, Lankford, Romney, Scott, and Hawley voting in
the affirmative, and with Senators Carper, Johnson, and
Marshall voting yea by proxy, for the record only.
IV. Section-by-Section Analysis of the Bill, as Reported
Section 1. Short title
This section provides that the Act may be cited as the
``Lobbying Disclosure Improvement Act.''
Section 2. Registrant disclosure regarding foreign agent registration
exemption
This section amends the LDA by adding a new requirement
that LDA registrants indicate whether they believe section 3(h)
of FARA exempts them from registering under FARA.
V. Evaluation of Regulatory Impact
Pursuant to the requirements of paragraph 11(b) of rule
XXVI of the Standing Rules of the Senate, the Committee has
considered the regulatory impact of this bill and determined
that the bill will have no regulatory impact within the meaning
of the rules. The Committee agrees with the Congressional
Budget Office`s statement that the bill contains no
intergovernmental or private-sector mandates as defined in the
Unfunded Mandates Reform Act (UMRA) and would impose no costs
on state, local, or tribal governments.
VI. Congressional Budget Office Cost Estimate
April 5, 2023.
[GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
S. 264 would require lobbyists to disclose whether they are
claiming an exemption from the Foreign Agents Registration Act.
CBO estimates that implementing the bill would not
significantly increase the administrative costs of the House of
Representatives or the Senate over the 2023-2028 period. Any
spending would be subject to the availability of appropriated
funds.
Failure to disclose the newly required information could
increase collections of civil fines, which are recorded in the
budget as revenues. CBO estimates that those collections would
not be significant in any year or over the 2023-2033 period
because of the relatively small number of cases likely to be
affected.
S. 264 would impose a private-sector mandate as defined in
the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act (UMRA) by requiring
registrants under the Lobbying Disclosure Act to indicate
whether they are claiming an exemption under the Foreign Agents
Registration Act. CBO estimates that the cost of the mandate
would not exceed the private-sector threshold established in
UMRA ($198 million in 2022, adjusted annually for inflation).
S. 264 contains no intergovernmental mandates as defined in
UMRA.
The CBO staff contacts for this estimate are Matthew
Pickford (for federal costs) and Andrew Laughlin (for
mandates). The estimate was reviewed by H. Samuel Papenfuss,
Deputy Director of Budget Analysis.
Phillip L. Swagel,
Director, Congressional Budget Office.
VII. Changes in Existing Law Made by the Bill, as Reported
In compliance with paragraph 12 of rule XXVI of the
Standing Rules of the Senate, changes in existing law made by
the bill, as reported, are shown as follows (existing law
proposed to be omitted is enclosed in brackets, new matter is
printed in italic, and existing law in which no change is
proposed is shown in roman):
UNITED STATES CODE
* * * * * * *
TITLE 2--ORGANIZATION OF CONGRESS
* * * * * * *
CHAPTER 26--DISCLOSURE OF LOBBYING ACTIVITIES
* * * * * * *
SEC. 1603--REGISTRATION OF LOBBYISTS
(a) * * *
(b) Contents of registration
Each registration under this section shall contain--
(1) * * *
* * * * * * *
(6) the name of each employee of the registrant who
has acted or whom the registrant expects to act as a
lobbyist on behalf of the client and, if any such
employee has served as a covered executive branch
official or a covered legislative branch official in
the 20 years before the date on which the employee
first acted as a lobbyist on behalf of the client, the
position in which such employee served; [and]
(7) for any listed lobbyist who was convicted in a
Federal or State court of an offense involving bribery,
extortion, embezzlement, an illegal kickback, tax
evasion, fraud, a conflict of interest, making a false
statement, perjury, or money laundering, the date of
the conviction and a description of the offense.
No disclosure is required under paragraph (3)(B) if the
organization that would be identified as affiliated with the
client is listed on the client's publicly accessible Internet
website as being a member of or contributor to the client,
unless the organization in whole or in major part plans,
supervises, or controls such lobbying activities. If a
registrant relies upon the preceding sentence, the registrant
must disclose the specific Internet address of the web page
containing the information relied upon. Nothing in paragraph
(3)(B) shall be construed to require the disclosure of any
information about individuals who are members of, or donors to,
an entity treated as a client by this chapter or an
organization identified under that paragraph[.]; and
(8) a statement as to whether the registrant is
exempt under section 3(h) of the Foreign Agents
Registration Act of 1938, as amended (22 U.S.C.
613(h)).
* * * * * * *
[all]