Section 1 Short title
This Act may be cited as the “Closing Loopholes, Ending Anonymous Revolving Doors Act” or the “CLEAR Doors Act”.
Closing Loopholes, Ending Anonymous Revolving Doors Act
A BILL
To amend the Lobbying Disclosure Act of 1995 to require certain lobbyists to report certain contacts with agencies within 48 hours, and for other purposes.
Sec. 2 Reporting requirements
by redesignating subsection (e) as subsection (f); and
by inserting after subsection (d) the following new subsection:
“(e) 48-Hour reports
“(1) In general—No later than 48 hours after a lobbyist engages in special lobbying activities, the registrant involved shall file a report with the Secretary of the Senate and the Clerk of the House of Representatives on such activities.
“(2) Contents of report—Each report filed under paragraph (1) shall contain the following items:
“(A) The name of the registrant.
“(B) The name of the client.
“(C) The name of the covered executive branch official of the agency.
“(D) A description of the issue discussed before such agency official.
“(E) The date on which such lobbying activities occurred.
“(3) Special rule for new registrants—If a lobbyist engages in special lobbying activities prior to the registration of the lobbyist (or, if applicable, the organization employing such lobbyist) with the Secretary of the Senate and the Clerk of the House of Representatives under section 4(a), the lobbyist or organization shall register with the Secretary and the Clerk under such section not later than 48 hours after the lobbyist or organization engages in such activities.
“(4) Special lobbying activities defined—In this subsection, the term special lobbying activities means any lobbying activity consisting of a lobbying contact made by an employee of a client with a covered executive branch official of an agency of which such lobbyist was formerly employed during the 4–year period that ends on the date of such contact.”
Lobbyist definition— Section 3(10) of the Lobbying Disclosure Act of 1995 (2 U.S.C. 1602(10)) is amended to read as follows:
“(10) Lobbyist
“(A) In general—Except as provided in subparagraph (B), term “lobbyist” means any individual who is employed or retained by a client for financial or other compensation for services that include more than one lobbying contact.
“(B) Exception
“(i) 20 percent rule—Except as provided in clause (ii), subparagraph (A) does not apply to an individual with respect to a client if the individual’s lobbying activities constitute less than 20 percent of the time engaged in the services provided by such individual to that client over a 3–month period.
“(ii) Special lobbying activities exception—Clause (i) does not apply to special lobbying activities under section 5(e).”
Conforming and technical amendments—
Lobbyist registration— Section 4(a)(1) of the Lobbying Disclosure Act of 1995 (2 U.S.C. 1603(a)(1)) is amended by striking “No later than” and inserting “Except as provided in section 5(e)(3), no later than”.
Cross-reference— Section 6(a)(4) of the Lobbying Disclosure Act of 1995 (2 U.S.C. 1605(a)(4)) is amended by striking “section 5(e)” and inserting “section 5(f)”.
Effective date— The amendments made by this section shall apply to lobbying activities occurring on or after the date of the enactment of this Act.