The "grassroots" lobbying disclosure provisions for registered professional lobbyists, and for commercial direct mail or public relations firms on behalf of outside clients ("grass roots lobbying firms"), which had been originally included in S. 1 , 110 th Congress, were struck from the Senate bill by a floor amendment, and the lobby reform legislation, the "Honest Leadership and Open Government Act of 2007" ( P.L. 110-81 , 121 Stat. The question and issue of whether paid efforts to stimulate grassroots lobbying should, at some point, be required to be publicly disclosed as part of a transparency and "open government" scheme, where the paid influences and pressures upon Members of Congress may be analyzed and reviewed by the electorate, continues to be of some import to certain government reform groups and persons both inside and outside of Congress. However, it has been noted as a general principle that although First Amendment rights "are fundamental, they are not in their nature absolute"; and the federal courts have increasingly upheld statutory regulation in the area of lobbying and campaign disclosures against facial challenges when, on balance, the governmental interest asserted in the regulation is significant, when possible limitations on First Amendment rights are only indirect (as in disclosure statutes), and where the statute in question is drawn with sufficient precision so as to promote and be relevant to the interests asserted as the statute's justification. The Government's asserted interests in preserving the integrity of fundamental governmental processes, such as the legislative process, and protecting such proceedings from corruption and undue influences from those who are paid specifically to influence them has been long recognized as a significant, important and compelling governmental interest. upheld the constitutionality of that Act. Judicial Decisions and State Grassroots Lobbying Disclosure

The clear trend in federal case law concerning constitutional challenges to lobbying statutes in the states has been to uphold against facial challenges provisions of state law which require the disclosure of "indirect" lobbying campaigns which involve "grassroots" lobbying of the nature generally covered in the legislative proposals discussed. Additionally, the courts have seemed to recognize the growth of importance of such "grassroots" lobbying efforts in the legislative process, and the increased need for legislators and others to be able to identify and assess the pressures on legislators being stimulated (and financed) by interest groups by such methods. Under the analysis applied in these cases, it would appear that a federal statute which requires only disclosure and reporting, and does not prohibit any activity, and which reaches only those who are compensated to engage in a certain amount of the covered activity (leaving volunteer organizations, volunteers, and individuals who engage in such activities on their own accord out of the coverage and sweep of the provisions), would appear to fit within those types of provisions which have been upheld in judicial decisions when the statute is drafted in such a manner so as not to be susceptible to an overly broad sweep bringing in groups, organizations and other citizens who do no more than advocate, analyze and discuss public policy issues and/or legislation. Even with the probability of such a crafted disclosure statute withstanding a facial challenge, the law could still at some point be subject to an "as applied" challenge if a particular group or organization could show a reasonable probability that the disclosures required would result in harassment or reprisals against it or its member or contributors.
The disclosure by professional lobbyists and commercial lobbying firms of expenditures or payments for "grassroots" lobbying campaigns continues to be an issue of importance to reformers both inside and outside of Congress. Legislative proposals, such as S. 1, 110th Congress and H.R. 4682, 109th Congress, had originally sought to extend public reporting requirements for some paid activities intended to stimulate "grassroots" lobbying. The lobbying and ethics reform legislation eventually enacted into law in 2007, the "Honest Leadership and Open Government Act of 2007" (P.L. 110-81,121 Stat. 735 [S. 1, 110th Congress]) did not, however, include "grassroots" lobbying disclosure requirements.
As to the constitutionality of requiring such disclosures, it should be noted that the activities involved in "lobbying," including the stimulation of "grassroots" lobbying, clearly implicate and involve freedoms protected by the First Amendment, including speech, associational rights, and the right to petition the government. The courts have long found, however, that some burden on these fundamental rights may be tolerated when a law promotes significant governmental interests, when the burdens on such activities are, at the most, indirect (such as in disclosure laws), and when the statute is drawn with enough precision so that a correlation exists between the information required to be disclosed and the achievement of the interests asserted as the law's justification. Under such standards, the courts have upheld against facial First Amendment challenges required disclosures in the areas of lobbying activities and campaign financing to promote the interests of preventing corruption and limiting the undue influences of monied and powerful interests, as well as preventing merely the "appearance" of such influence, in basic governmental and democratic processes. The apparent trend in more recent judicial decisions seems to allow the legislatures some leeway in determining which activities are relevant to the goals of preserving the integrity of, for example, their own legislative process, and so to include also in required disclosures some activities that are more on the periphery and not necessarily themselves directly involved in such process, but are intended to result in direct contacts and to significantly influence a legislator.
In both state and federal courts, state provisions that reach "indirect" or "grassroots" lobbying have increasingly been upheld against facial constitutional challenges. Courts have recognized the growth of importance of these efforts in the legislative process, and the increased need for legislators and others to be able to identify and assess pressures on legislators. Under the analysis applied in these cases, it would appear that a federal statute that requires only disclosure and reporting, and does not prohibit activity, and that reaches only those who are compensated to engage in a certain amount of the covered activity, would appear to fit within those types of provisions upheld in past cases when the statute is narrowly drafted to exclude groups, organizations, and citizens who do no more than advocate, analyze, and discuss public policy. Even with the probability of such a crafted statute withstanding a "facial" challenge, the law might still be subject to an "as applied" challenge if a particular group could show a reasonable probability that the disclosures required would result in harassment or reprisals against members.