Last week, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) released its 2013 report on compliance with the Lobbying Disclosure Act of 1995 (LDA), summarizing the audits of 104 lobbyist reports and information from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia.

We see several trends in this year’s report.  First, registrants are reporting more difficulties complying with the LDA.  Second, enforcement has remained static, with civil complaints and settlements remaining a small but important part of the enforcement picture.  Finally, the report highlights chronic recordkeeping problems among registrants and makes recommendations to combat those problems.

As part of the review, lobbying firms reported on the “ease of complying” with the LDA’s disclosure requirements.  This number was down again this year – only about 20% said that compliance was “very easy” (nearly 70% said it was “easy” in 2010).  Given that there have been no recent changes in the LDA’s requirements, this trend is puzzling.  A possible explanation is the rise of “unlobbyists,” who avoid LDA registration through careful application of the law’s definitions and exceptions.  Compliance is indeed more difficult for firms that employ “unlobbyists,” because they must closely parse the meaning of a “lobbying contact” and time spent on “lobbying activities.”  It is also possible that increased attention on lobbyists and marginally increased enforcement have combined to create more concern about accurate reporting.

On the enforcement front, the report shows that civil complaints and settlements remain a part of the U.S. Attorney’s enforcement toolkit, but that enforcement overall has remained static.  The U.S. Attorney won a default judgment for $200,000 in December 2013 against a chronic offender, and filed a civil complaint against another offender in March 2014.  This rate of one or two settlements or complaints each year has held constant since 2012.

Finally, the report shows that the same problems arise year after year, including failures in identifying a lobbyist’s prior government positions; failure to provide records to support lobbying certain entities or on certain issues; and incorrect rounding of expense or income totals.  Perhaps because of this and the decrease in ease of compliance, the agency closes the report by calling for some sort of clearinghouse that could provide lobbying compliance training and best practices, an idea that it first proposed in the 2008 disclosure report.

The compliance landscape is becoming more complex and the lobbying industry increasingly relies on close and even narrow readings of the LDA statute.  In this situation, all LDA registrants should seek counsel on these important legal requirements.

Print:
Email this postTweet this postLike this postShare this post on LinkedIn
Photo of Brian D. Smith Brian D. Smith

Brian Smith provides strategic and legal advice on matters that require substantial political, reputational, or government relations considerations.  He represents companies and individuals in high-profile or high-risk investigations, particularly congressional investigations, criminal investigations with political implications, and investigations related to political law compliance. …

Brian Smith provides strategic and legal advice on matters that require substantial political, reputational, or government relations considerations.  He represents companies and individuals in high-profile or high-risk investigations, particularly congressional investigations, criminal investigations with political implications, and investigations related to political law compliance.  He has significant experience in crisis management, where he advises clients facing combined legal, political, and media relations risks.  His practice also includes the development and execution of government relations initiatives, including securing the U.S. government’s political support on behalf of U.S. companies facing international legal issues.

Photo of Zachary G. Parks Zachary G. Parks

Zachary Park advises a wide range of corporate and political clients on federal and state campaign finance, lobbying disclosure, pay to play, and government ethics laws. Mr. Parks regularly advises corporations and corporate executives on instituting political law compliance programs and conducts compliance…

Zachary Park advises a wide range of corporate and political clients on federal and state campaign finance, lobbying disclosure, pay to play, and government ethics laws. Mr. Parks regularly advises corporations and corporate executives on instituting political law compliance programs and conducts compliance training for senior corporate executives and lobbyists. He also has extensive experience conducting corporate internal investigations concerning campaign finance and lobbying law compliance and has defended clients in investigations by the Federal Election Commission, the U.S. Department of Justice, and the House Oversight & Government Reform Committee.

Photo of Andrew Garrahan Andrew Garrahan

Andrew Garrahan represents and counsels clients at the intersection of law and politics. He guides them through both regulatory compliance issues and government investigations on matters including state and federal campaign finance, ethics, lobbying, and corruption.

Mr. Garrahan’s prior career in political fundraising…

Andrew Garrahan represents and counsels clients at the intersection of law and politics. He guides them through both regulatory compliance issues and government investigations on matters including state and federal campaign finance, ethics, lobbying, and corruption.

Mr. Garrahan’s prior career in political fundraising gives him a unique perspective on the challenges faced by his clients, which include corporations, candidates, government officials, political and nonprofit organizations, and private individuals.

Mr. Garrahan is a member of the Virginia and District of Columbia bars.