GRASSROOTS LOBBYING OFF THE RADAR SCREEN IN AMERICA

Grassroots Activities in the United States which are generally described as efforts to stimulate “grassroots” lobbying are communications which are directed at members of the general public, or at more selected persons on mailing lists of organizations or other entities, which take specific positions on legislative matters pending before or public policy issues to be considered by the legislature, and which contain a so-called ‘call to action”.

For purposes of the Internal Revenue Code, not all public “advocacy” activities are considered “ grassroots lobbying”. As noted expressly by the IRS: “…clear advocacy of specific legislation is not grassroots lobbying at all unless it contains an encouragement to action.

A communication encourages a recipient to take action when it:

1. states that the recipient should contact legislators;

2. states a legislators’ address, phone number or similar information;

3. provides a petition , tear-off card, or similar material for the recipient to send to a legislator or

4. specifically identifies one or more legislators who

a. will vote on the legislation

b. opposes the communication’s view on the legislation

c. is undecided about the legislation;

d. is the recipient’s representative in the legislature or

e. is a member of a legislative committee that will consider the legislation.

Currently, under federal law (the Lobbying Disclosure Act of 1995 [LDA] as amended), registrations and disclosures by professional lobbyists are triggered and related only to so-called “direct” lobbying contacts with covered Government officials, and those activities which support those direct contacts. The current law’s registration and reporting requirements are not separately triggered by “grassroots” lobbying activities. That is, an organization which engages only in grassroots lobbying, regardless of the extent of such “grassroots” lobbying activities is not required to register its members, officers or employees, who engage in those activities, and a lobbying firm or other outside lobbyist which conducts only “grassroots” lobbying campaigns on behalf of a client, regardless of the amount of compensation from the client or the amount of grassroots activities engaged in, does not need to register and report such activities or relationships under the LDA. Once an organization has met the threshold requirements for “direct” lobbying and is registered, certain background activities and efforts “in support of “ its direct “lobbying contacts”, which may include activities, which also support other activities or communications which are not lobbying contacts such as, in theory, “grassroots” lobbying efforts, may need to be disclosed generally as “lobbying activities”.