LOBBYING DISCLOSURE 101

Definitions

The term ‘‘lobbyist’’ should refer to any individual who, as a part of his or her employment or for other compensation, engages in more than one lobbying contact (oral and written communication, including electronic communication) with an elected official, his or her staff, or high and mid-ranking government employee, for the purpose of influencing the formulation, modification, adoption, or administration of legislation, rules, spending decisions, or any other government programme, policy, or position. Defining who constitutes a lobbyist, what is considered lobbying activity, and who might be a target of lobbying are critical components of an effective lobbying transparency regulation. The definition above is relatively broad so as to capture all who lobby professionally, but narrow enough to avoid other actors who wish to influence public policy but are not compensated for direct lobbying or not contacting elected officials. Activities related to the influence industry such as PR, grassroot activism  should be disclosed in lobbying reports as expenditures when they are related to lobbying campaigns.

Effective laws or regulations also need to clearly define what constitutes lobbying activity, e.g. lobbying activity is any contact (written or oral communication, including electronic communication) with lobbying targets for the purpose of influencing the formulation, modification, adoption, or administration of legislation, rules, spending decisions, or any other government program, policy, or position. Lobbying disclosure legislation should cover, but should not be limited to, all elected officials, their staff, high ranking government employees who exercise public power or public authority, and high ranking members of the armed services.

2. Lobbyist Registration and Reporting

All lobbyists and organizations that lobby (whether by employing in-house or outside lobbyists) should be required to register and report on their activities in a timely manner. All disclosed lobbying information should be made publicly available.

A lobbyist registry is a repository of lobbying information maintained and managed by a government entity. Public access to a lobbyist registry is critical to provide citizens with a more complete picture of the public policy process and the avenues of influence that shape how governments act.

For lobbying transparency to be meaningful, registration and reporting must be mandatory for all lobbyists and organizations that lobby.

Lobbyists should report their significant contacts with decision-makers in as near to real time as technologically possible. Given the speed at which government decisions can be made, near to real time reporting ensures that other interested parties have the information and time needed to respond before a decision is made. It is important to note that registration should not be a hurdle for lobbyists to overcome or a burden designed to suppress their ability to work. Countries should strive to find innovative ways to simplify the registration process, which would also increase compliance.

III. WHAT DATA NEEDS TO BE DISCLOSED

3. Information about Organizations that Lobby

When registering, organizations that lobby should be required to include the following information:

• Name of the organization;
• Address and contact information; (linking it to existing company registry data is highly recommended);
• Names of all active lobbyists working on behalf of the organization;
• Lobbying goals and objectives and issues or legislation lobbied on;
• Lobbying expenditure on a per client basis, including spending on efforts to support lobbying.

Registration should be mandatory for organizations that hire consultant or contract lobbyists or have employees in-house for whom lobbying constitutes part of their job. In most cases, a vast majority of lobbying happens on behalf of organizations or companies, so a complete picture of the lobbying landscape requires that organizations active in lobbying disclose information about themselves, their efforts, the lobbyists who represent them, and the money they spend to achieve their goals.

4. Personal and Employment Information of Lobbyists

When registering, lobbyist should be required to include the following personal and employment information:

• Name and contact information;
• Date of registration and termination;
• Employer’s name and contact information;
• Prior employment;
• Political contributions made by the lobbyist, including a description of fundraisers sponsored or hosted by the lobbyists.

Most countries with lobbying disclosure regimes require basic personal and employment information to be disclosed. Personal information allows interested parties to identify who is an active lobbyist and how long they have been lobbying. Disclosure of the lobbyist’s employer helps gauge the influence of outside lobbying firms, especially those who employ more than one lobbyist. Prior government employment is also important to establish the extent to which lobbyists cycle through the revolving door of public service and influence peddling, and to begin to uncover potential conflicts of interest.

5. Lobbying Objectives and Clients

Lobbyists should disclose information about their lobbying objectives and who they represent, including:

• Name of the persons or organizations paying for the lobbying activities;
• Names of the lobbyists’ clients and contact information;
• Lobbying goals and objectives or issues or legislation lobbied on. Linking those to other existing datasets related to legislative activity is highly recommend.

To effectively track the influence industry, the public must know on whose behalf a lobbyist is working and what they are lobbying about. This includes information on specific bills lobbied on, positions taken, and objectives of lobbying activity. Decision-makers and the public must have access to detailed information about who the lobbyist is, what he or she seeks, who he or she represents and who is paying for the message to be able to properly evaluate the lobbyist’s message. In addition, lobbyist disclosures can only lead to improved debate and better decision making when all sides on an issue understand whether their position is being adequately presented to decision-makers.

6. Information about Lobbying Contacts

Lobbyists should be required to disclose information about who they are lobbying and what they are requesting, including:

• Name of the high ranking official, or in the case of mid-level employees, the name office lobbied;
• Date of the lobbying contact (whether oral written, including electronic communication);
• Legislation, policies, or issues discussed;
• Specific action requested;
• Name of client on whose behalf the contact was made

Contact between lobbyists and the government officials is a key indicator of influence. For this reason, it is essential that lobbyists disclose information about all substantive oral or written (including electronic) communications they have with government officials, including their objectives, the name and position of the official in question, and the date of the contact. Lobbyists should also report the name of the client on whose behalf the contact was made.

7. Lobbying Expenditures

Lobbyists and lobbying organizations should be required to disclose all expenditures on lobbying, including efforts to support lobbying and political contributions. Linking those to other existing datasets related to political contributions is highly recommended.

While the frequency with which lobbyists contact government officials provides evidence of the influence they wield, it still gives an incomplete picture. The expenditures of the lobbying activity help determining a lobbyist’s real clout. Lobbying disclosure reports should, therefore, include money spent in support of lobbying efforts and any political or campaign contributions.

Often, today’s lobbyists gain influence from the perception that the public supports the lobbyist’s position. To build that support, lobbyists and lobbying organizations in many countries make large expenditures to influence public opinion. Disclosure of expenditures for items such as paid media, third party advocacy (such as think tanks) and polling that is related to bills or issues the lobbyist is lobbying on is fundamental to the public’s understanding of the influence industry.

Similarly, lobbyists’ political contributions to parties or candidates may impact their ability to influence officials. Lobbying expenditures are important ways to gauge influence, and disclosing this information may contribute to the public’s understanding of what may motivate government decision-making.

III. HOW DATA SHOULD BE COLLECTED AND DISCLOSED

Data about lobbying, whether reported on registration forms or contact reports, should be collected and released in a way that lowers the barriers to use and reuse -- not in a format that locks up the information and requires reformatting and scraping before it can be analyzed. 

8. Timely and Online Reporting and Disclosure

Lobbyists should be required to file their reports online as close to real time as possible. Information about lobbying should be disclosed online, in a timely manner.

Where technology allows, lobbying information that is disclosed should be posted online. This provides access to important government information in the place where the public is looking for it, rather than burdening individuals with the time and costs associated with making records requests, which also saves government officials time by posting information proactively rather than delivering it on an as-requested basis.

Electronic filing of lobbying reports simplifies the disclosure and retrieval process. It allows for data to be collected electronically, from the source, rather than requiring human capital to enter data by hand (a time consuming task that can result in inaccuracies). It's easier for lobbyists to have a consistent, online, easy-to-access interface for their required filings. And, it's easier -- and often cheaper -- for the government to provide the data in an open, structured format to the public. Lobbying reports should be filed as close to real time as possible. The more timely lobbying reports are submitted, the more valuable and meaningful they will be. Countries that require reports typically do so on a quarterly or annual basis. This schedule allows lobbyists to game the system, by, for example, making a contribution or contacting a government official after a reporting deadline has past. The lag in disclosure creates the risk that the public would not be aware of lobbying activities until after the legislative or government action in questions has taken place. Timely disclosure also allows for instant fact-checking and counter lobbying -- a real debate that has the potential to expose factual errors or other incorrect information.

9. Free, Open, and Reusable Data

In order to make information about lobbying meaningful, it should be available free of charge and published in an open format. Data should also be available for bulk download.

For lobbying disclosure to have its intended impact, all lobbying information must be public and freely accessible. Barring technological limitations, lobbying information should be published online in open formats free of charge. Publishing information in an open format means sharing it in a way that is machine-readable, or structured, and is easy to search and sort. This increases the opportunity for the public to reuse the data. Allowing the public to download lobbying data in bulk will help maximize the opportunities for finding narratives in the disclosures. Bulk downloads work with open, structured formats to allow for easy analysis and reuse of data.

Nearly all countries that maintain lobbying registries make all lobbying information available to the public for free. In most countries, however, lobbying registries and activity reports are available in closed formats.

10. Unique Identifiers

Unique identifiers should be assigned to all registered lobbyists and organizations. Assigning unique identifiers to lobbyists and lobbying organizations increases the accuracy of the associated data and makes it easier to use lobbying information. For lobbying disclosure to be meaningful, it should be simple to track the activities of a lobbyist and turn this data into a narrative of all the lobbying activities. In many cases, businesses and other organizations have a unique identifier associated with them while individual lobbyists do not.

The EU Transparency Register, provide the best example here. Each registrant -- both individuals and organizations -- are given a unique registration number. This number can be used to search the database for all information related to the individual or organization.

IV. ENFORCEMENT AND OVERSIGHT

11. Independent Oversight Body

Lobbying disclosure, reporting, registration, and publication of information should be overseen by an independent government entity. To be effective, the government entity responsible for collecting and publishing lobbying information must be independent from the parliament or the executive branch. Independence helps prevent actual or perceived conflicts of interest, ensure the integrity of lobbying regulation and keep such laws from being abused by those in power.

12. Data Checking and Random Audits

To ensure that lobbying data is accurate and complete, an independent government entity with strong investigative powers should be responsible for checking and randomly auditing the data. For lobbying disclosure to be meaningful, data checking and random audits should be used to ensure reports are complete and accurate. A well-designed electronic reporting system leaves no space for leaving entire sessions blank, however the accuracy and completeness of information need to be checked manually.

In some cases, the government entity that oversees lobbying registration and disclosure has the right to conduct investigations and audits, but it is not mandated to do so. Oversight bodies should be statutorily required to conduct investigations into potential noncompliance and audit data regularly.

13. Sanctions

To ensure compliance with lobbying disclosure rules or legislation, sanctions must be used to penalize individuals or organizations that fail to comply. A range of sanctions can enforce lobbying disclosure. Some countries, such as Canada and the United States employ both civil penalties and criminal penalties. Most countries, employ only civil penalties and fines to enforce lobbying disclosure. Disclosing the names of violators is another essential component of effective enforcement. Most countries, however, do not have a clear statutory requirement to disclose the names of violators. Oversight bodies should always be required to disclose the names of all individuals or organizations found to have violated lobbying rules or regulations.

14. Public Oversight and Whistleblower Provisions

Governments should establish, publicize, and operate a mechanism for the public to report suspected noncompliance with lobbying disclosure regulations. The public has a very important and valuable watchdog role by monitoring and reporting suspected inaccuracies and noncompliance. To encourage and institutionalize contribution from citizens, governments should maintain a system for receiving and processing public complaints about suspected noncompliance. At the same time, strong whistleblower provisions should be enacted to protect individuals who identify noncompliance with lobbying disclosure laws.