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Proposed Reforms Regarding the Disclosure and Regulation of Federal Lobbying (summary)
The disclosure and conduct of lobbying the federal government are governed by the Lobbying Disclosure Act of 1995, the Ethics Reform Act of 1989 and congressional and executive regulations addressing travel, gifts and ethics. But recent lobbying abuses and scandals have highlighted fundamental problems with the nation’s lobbying laws. These problems include an inadequate system of disclosure; a revolving door that is spinning out of control between public service and the private sector; and excessive influence peddling by special interests and their lobbyists. Public Citizen recommends the following legislative and regulatory reforms for enhancing the disclosure and conduct of lobbying activities.
Section I: Limiting Influence Peddling by Lobbyists
- Prohibit registered lobbyists from soliciting or arranging for campaign contributions to lawmakers and political parties, and severely restrict the campaign contributions that lobbyists may give from their own pockets to those whom they lobby.
- Prohibit privately-sponsored travel for government officials and their staff.
- Restore the “no-cup-of-coffee” gift ban.
- Establish a central ethics agency for Congress to monitor and enforce federal lobbying, travel, gift and ethics laws.
- Strengthen the Office of Government Ethics to monitor and enforce federal travel, gift, and ethics laws and regulations for the executive branch.
Section II: Slowing the Revolving Door
- Extend the revolving door “cooling off” period to two years and include a prohibition on all lobbying activity during that period.
- Temporarily suspend special privileges of members of Congress who became lobbyists.
- Improve scrutiny and disclosure of waivers from conflicts of interest granted to executive branch officials seeking private-sector employment.
- Apply the same executive branch conflict of interest restrictions to future employment to members of Congress and their senior staff seeking private employment.
Section III: Improving Lobbying Disclosure
- Require quarterly electronic filing for all lobbyists and lobbying firms and establish a searchable, sortable and downloadable Web-based database that includes separate electronic fields for each record required to be disclosed, especially bill numbers and issue areas lobbied.Require quarterly filing.
- Require lobbyists to report the frequency and subject of each “in-person” lobbying contact and record the names of authors of legislative provisions.
- Require disclosure of paid grassroots lobbying activities directed at the general public through mass communications (rather than at an organization’s members, employees, officers or shareholders).
- Require corporations, unions and organizations that are members of a lobbying coalition to disclose their involvement.
- Require lobbyists to disclose previous federal government employment.
- Designate a single reporting method for lobbying expenditures.
Political Reform Division

The Political Reform Division administers provisions of California's Political Reform Act, including the law's most fundamental purpose of ensuring that "receipts and expenditures in election campaigns should be fully and truthfully disclosed in order that the voters may be fully informed and the activities of lobbyists should be regulated and their finances disclosed..."
The Political Reform Act was adopted as a statewide initiative (Proposition 9) by an overwhelming vote of the electorate in 1974. The law requires detailed disclosure of the role of money in California politics. This includes the disclosure of contributions and expenditures in connection with campaigns supporting or opposing state and local candidates and ballot measures as well as the disclosure of expenditures made in connection with lobbying the State Legislature and attempting to influence administrative decisions of state government.
The Political Reform Division, Secretary of State, is located at 1500 - 11th Street, Room 495, Sacramento, CA 95814, phone (916) 653-6224. For more detailed information on directions or office hours, visit our Contact Information page.
Responsibilities of the Political Reform Division
The Secretary of State's Political Reform Division administers provisions of California's Political Reform Act of 1974 which requires the disclosure of financial activities related to political campaigns and lobbying.
Specific activities of the Political Reform Division include:
Campaign
- Register and issue identification numbers for all state and local campaign committees that raise funds in connection with elections (non-federal) throughout California.
- Receive notices from all state candidates of their intentions to seek a specific office and whether they intend to abide by voluntary spending limits.
- Receive campaign disclosure statements (itemizing contributions received and expenditures made) filed by individuals and committees raising or spending campaign funds to support or oppose state candidates or ballot measures. (Local campaign committees file their itemized disclosure statements with local filing officers.
- Post electronically filed campaign statements on the Secretary of State's Cal-Access website.
- Provide technical assistance regarding campaign disclosure provisions of the Political Reform Act to state and local candidates and elected officials, treasurers of campaign committees, and the general public.
- Review campaign documents to ensure compliance with reporting requirements.
- Provide public access to all campaign disclosure documents.
- Determine if campaign documents have been filed on time and impose and collect fines for late filings.
Lobbying
- Register lobbying firms and lobbyist employers that make expenditures to lobby California State government.
- Receive lobbying disclosure statements filed by lobbyists, employers of lobbyists, and lobbying firms. Post statements filed electronically or online on the Secretary of State's Cal-Access website.
- Provide technical assistance regarding lobbying disclosure provisions of the Political Reform Act to lobbyists, lobbying firms, lobbyist employers, and the general public.
- Review lobbying documents to ensure compliance with reporting requirements.
- Provide public access to all lobbying disclosure filings.
- Publish online The Lobbying Directory at the start of every two-year legislative session. Produce monthly Directory updates on the Internet.
- Determine if lobbying documents have been filed on time and impose and collect fines for late filings.
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