Finally, in 2007, Congress amended the 1995 act to further enhance disclosure and reporting requirements for lobbyists and lobbying firms. The Lobbying Disclosure Act (LDA) of 1995 provided specific thresholds and definitions of lobbyists, lobbying activities, and lobbying contacts, compared to the 1946 act. The most recent amendments to the LDA, the Honest Leadership and Open Government Act of 2007 (HLOGA), mandated additional and more frequent disclosures. Pursuant to the 1946 act, the 1995 LDA, as amended by the 1998 act, and the HLOGA, the Clerk of the House and the Secretary of the Senate have had joint responsibility for implementing systems to register lobbyists. In addition to collecting registration and disclosure documents from lobbyists the Clerk and the Secretary are required to
1. provide guidance and assistance on the registration and reporting requirements of this Act and develop common standards, rules, and procedures for compliance with this Act; 2. review, and, where necessary, verify and inquire to ensure the accuracy, completeness, and timeliness of registration and reports; 3. develop filing, coding, and cross-indexing systems to carry out the purpose of this Act, including— a. a publicly available list of all registered lobbyists, lobbying firms, and their clients; and b. computerized systems designed to minimize the burden of filing and maximize public access to materials filed under this Act; 4. make available for public inspection and copying at reasonable times the registrations and reports filed under this Act; 5. retain registrations for a period of at least 6 years after they are terminated and reports for a period of at least 6 years after they are filed; 6. compile and summarize, with respect to each semi-annual period, the information contained in registrations and reports filed with respect to such period in a clear and complete manner; 7. notify any lobbyist or lobbying firm in writing that may be in noncompliance with this Act; and 8. notify the United States Attorney for the District of Columbia that a lobbyist or lobbying firm may be in noncompliance with this Act, if the registrant has been notified in writing and has failed to provide an appropriate response within 60 days after notice was given under paragraph (7). Pursuant to these responsibilities, the Clerk and the Secretary have chosen to use a single electronic filing system, whereby lobbyists and lobbying firms register once and documents are automatically transmitted to both the Clerk and the Secretary. Role of Clerk of the House and Secretary of the Senate

The Clerk of the House and the Secretary of the Senate are responsible for implementing lobbyist registration and disclosure provisions of the LDA, as amended by the HLOGA, for the House of Representatives and the Senate, respectively. Publicly Available Registration and Disclosure Data

2 U.S.C. As required by Section 6 of the LDA, the Clerk and the Secretary on December 10, 2007, issued a joint guidance document. The guidance document was most recently updated on January 31, 2017. The guidance document is posted on both the Clerk's and Secretary's lobbying websites. Provides background information on the LDA and the responsibilities of the Clerk of the House and the Secretary of the Senate in providing guidance to the lobbying community. Identifies changes made to the guidance since the last update. The monetary thresholds are updated periodically to reflect changes in the Consumer Price Index (CPI).
On September 14, 2007, President George W. Bush signed S. 1, the Honest Leadership and Open Government Act of 2007 (P.L. 110-81), into law. The Honest Leadership and Open Government Act (HLOGA) amended the Lobbying Disclosure Act (LDA) of 1995 (P.L. 104-65, as amended) to provide, among other changes to federal law and House and Senate rules, additional and more frequent disclosures of lobbying contacts and activities. This report explains the role of the Clerk of the House of Representatives and the Secretary of the Senate in implementing lobbying registration and disclosure requirements and summarizes the guidance documents they have jointly issued.
Under the HLOGA and predecessor lobbying laws, the Clerk of the House and the Secretary of the Senate manage the registration, filing, and the collection of documents submitted by the lobbyists and lobbying firms. Prior to the HLOGA, lobbyists were required to file paper documents with both the Clerk and the Secretary. These forms are now filed electronically and jointly with the Clerk and the Secretary. In addition, the Clerk and the Secretary are responsible for making documents publicly available and reporting incorrect or false filings to the U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia.
Beginning in December 2007, the Clerk of the House and the Secretary of the Senate issued joint guidance documents for HLOGA implementation. The guidance document identified eight substantive changes to the 1995 Lobbying Disclosure Act, and discussed how the Clerk and Secretary interpret and implement the HLOGA's provisions. In addition, the guidance document provided direction on successful completion of quarterly registration and disclosure documents, the new semi-annual reporting requirement, and interpretation of the Clerk and Secretary's role in referring non-compliance to the U.S. attorney.
Since issuing an initial guidance document in 2007, the Clerk of the House and Secretary of the Senate, pursuant to 2 U.S.C. §1605, have conducted periodic reviews of existing guidance and have issued multiple updates. Most recently, the document was updated on January 31, 2017, to update registration thresholds pursuant to changes in the Consumer Price Index; provide additional clarifications on identifying clients and covered officials; provide additional examples for filing by outside lobbyists; clarify that all income and expenditure reporting should be rounded to the nearest $10,000; clarify that all "sole proprietors" are required to file two LD-203 disclosure forms—one for the registrant [firm] and one for the individual lobbyist; and encourage filers to use the online public database for compliance purposes.
For further analysis on the Honest Leadership and Open Government Act and the Lobbying Disclosure Act, see CRS Report R40245, Lobbying Registration and Disclosure: Before and After the Enactment of the Honest Leadership and Open Government Act of 2007, by [author name scrubbed]; and CRS Report R44292, The Lobbying Disclosure Act at 20: Analysis and Issues for Congress, by [author name scrubbed].