§1603 Registration of lobbyists

Summary

Register with the Secretary of the Senate and the Clerk of the House within 45 days after you first contact an official to lobby or after you are hired to lobby, whichever comes first. If an employer has one or more employees who lobby, the employer can file one registration for its employees for each client. You do not have to register for a client if a lobbying firm’s income for that client is $2,500 or less, or an organization’s lobbying expenses for itself are $10,000 or less in the relevant quarter. Those dollar limits were set to change on January 1, 1997 and every fourth year after based on the Consumer Price Index. The registration must give the registrant’s and the client’s name, address, phone, main business location, and a short description of their activities. It must list any outside group that gives more than $5,000 in the quarter and helps plan or control the lobbying. It must name any foreign entity that owns 20 percent or more, or that controls or funds the client or those outside groups, and show that entity’s contribution over $5,000 and approximate ownership. The filing must say the general issue areas and, if possible, specific issues to be lobbied. It must name employees who are lobbyists and, if any served as a covered executive or legislative official in the last 20 years, give that position. For any listed lobbyist convicted of bribery, extortion, embezzlement, illegal kickbacks, tax evasion, fraud, conflict of interest, false statements, perjury, or money laundering, give the conviction date and a short description. File a separate registration for each different client, but one registration covers multiple contacts for the same client.