Lobbying Reform bill

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IntroducedPassed one chamberPassed both chambersBecame law (gold)Resolution agreed to (full, dark)Failed or vetoed (gray)

Under the number: the Yea · Nay count of its final (or latest) recorded vote. On a member's page, the small badge is how that member voted: Y Yea / Aye, N Nay / No, P Present, – Not voting.

Gold and violet are only for Yea and Nay; they never mean a party. A member's party is the letter on their photo.

Never voted on. It didn't reach a floor vote before the 109th Congress ended, so it expired. A bill has to be introduced again to be considered in a new Congress.

MMD MeehanSponsor

85 cosponsors · 84 D, 1 I

D Wasserman Schultz TA

68 signed on when it was introduced; the rest joined later. Cosponsors who withdrew aren't shown.

What it does: CRS summary · Introduced in House · May 17, 2005

Special Interest Lobbying and Ethics Accountability Act of 2005 - Amends the Lobbying Disclosure Act of 1995 to require: (1) quarterly instead of semiannual filing of lobbying disclosures reports; (2) electronic filing; (3) maintenance of certain lobbying disclosure information in an electronic data base, available to the public free of charge over the Internet; (4) identification of each executive official and Member of Congress with whom lobbying contacts are made; (5) disclosure by registered lobbyists of all past executive and congressional employment; and (6) disclosure of grassroots lobbying communications by paid lobbyists.

Extends from one to two years the ban on lobbying contacts by former senior and very senior executive personnel, former Members of Congress, and officers and employees of the legislative branch with any officer or employee of the entity in which such person served before his or her tenure terminated.

Requires public disclosure by Members of Congress of employment negotiations.

Subjects to fines and penalties a Member of Congress or an employee of the House who wrongfully influences, on a partisan basis, an entity's employment decisions or practices.

Amends the Code of Official Conduct in the House to prohibit favoritism.

Requires certification that congressional travel meets certain conditions, and establishes civil fines for false certifications.

Requires the Committee on Standards of Official Conduct to develop and revise guidelines on reasonable expenses or expenditures for official government travel.

Calls for reviews and semiannual reports by the Comptroller General on activities carried out by the Clerk of the House and the Secretary of the Senate under the Act, subject to congressional committee hearings.

Increases the penalty for failure to comply with lobbying disclosure requirements.

Requires appointment of a bipartisan ethics task force to make recommendations on: (1) strengthening ethics oversight and enforcement in the House; and (2) providing the resources necessary to accomplish this goal.

Written by the nonpartisan Congressional Research Service. All summary versions on Congress.gov

About this bill and sources

Official title: Special Interest Lobbying and Ethics Accountability Act of 2005

Latest action (May 17, 2005): Referred to the Committee on the Judiciary, and in addition to the Committees on Standards of Official Conduct, and Rules, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned.

Policy area: Government Operations and Politics · Origin: House · Introduced: May 17, 2005

Official page on Congress.gov · Bill text (GovInfo) · Status record (XML) · Embed in your story

No recorded floor vote found.