Lobbying Disclosure Enhancement Act
Latest action. Read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary.
Lobbying Disclosure Enhancement Act - Directs the Attorney General to establish the Lobbying Disclosure Act Enforcement Task Force, which shall: (1) have primary responsibility for investigating and prosecuting each case referred to the Attorney General involving a lobbyist or lobbying firm that has been notified that it may be in noncompliance with the Lobbying Disclosure Act of 1995 and that has failed to provide an appropriate response within 60 days; and (2) collect and disseminate information regarding enforcement of such Act. Authorizes appropriations.
Amends such Act to: (1) provide for referral of cases to the Attorney General (current law provides for referrals to the United States Attorney for the District of Columbia); and (2) require the Attorney General's enforcement report to specified congressional committees to include the name of the individual lobbyists or lobbying firms involved in each case.
Authorizes the Attorney General to make recommendations to Congress regarding: (1) the enforcement of and compliance with such Act; and (2) the need for resources available for the enhanced enforcement of such Act.
Written by analysts at the Congressional Research Service and published on Congress.gov, not by Civibrief. Summarized at the "Passed House amended" stage on July 28, 2010. It describes the bill, it is not the legal text.
Where is it in the process, and what happens next?
4 steps remain before this bill could become law.
The record's latest action, on August 5, 2010: Read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary.
- Clearing the committees it was referred to, and being scheduled for a floor vote
- Passage by the House
- Passage by the Senate
- The President's signature. If the President vetoes it, two-thirds of both chambers must vote to override.
How likely is it to become law?
Civibrief does not forecast outcomes and this page has no opinion about this one. What the record supports is a base rate, which is a fact about the whole pile, not a prediction about this measure.
In the 111th Congress (2009-10), 383 of the 10,778 bills and joint resolutions introduced became law, about 3.6 percent. That count covers every measure at every stage, including the many that never left committee.
This one is not there yet: 4 steps are still outstanding, listed above.
Has anyone actually voted on it?
No. No roll call in this Congress cites this measure. That is the ordinary outcome: most measures never reach a recorded floor vote, and a committee ends most of them simply by not acting.
A vote is not the only thing that happens to a measure. Hearings, markups, and referrals are all recorded actions, and none of them is a vote of the full chamber.
Who is behind it?
Mary Jo Kilroy (D-OH) introduced it on July 15, 2010. No cosponsors are recorded.
Cosponsoring is a formal signature on the text. It is not a commitment to vote for the measure, it does not bind anyone's party, and a long list of cosponsors is a measure of attention rather than of prospects.
How long has it been in play?
It was introduced on July 15, 2010, 5901 days ago. The most recent recorded action was 5880 days ago, on August 5, 2010.
Measures do not carry over. Anything the 111th Congress has not finished by January 3, 2011 dies when the term ends, and has to be introduced again from the start in the next Congress.
Every answer above is assembled from this measure's own record on Congress.gov and from published counts of what Congress has passed before. Civibrief does not predict outcomes and takes no position on any measure.
Vote history
- HouseIn committee, no floor vote yet
- SenateAwaits House passage
- PresidentAwaits both chambers