2017 Lobbying Disclosure: Observations on Lobbyists' Compliance with Disclosure Requirements

The LDA, as amended, requires lobbyists to file quarterly disclosure reports and semiannual reports on certain political contributions. The law also includes a provision for GAO to annually audit lobbyists' compliance with the LDA. GAO's objectives were to (1) determine the extent to which lobbyists can demonstrate compliance with disclosure requirements, (2) identify challenges to compliance that lobbyists report, and (3) describe the resources and authorities available to USAO in its role in enforcing LDA compliance, and the efforts USAO has made to improve enforcement. This is GAO's 11th report under the provision.

GAO reviewed a stratified random sample of 98 quarterly disclosure LD-2 reports filed for the third and fourth quarters of calendar year 2016 and the first and second quarters of calendar year 2017. GAO also reviewed two random samples totaling 160 LD-203 reports from year-end 2016 and midyear 2017. This methodology allowed GAO to generalize to the population of 45,818 disclosure reports with $5,000 or more in lobbying activity, and 30,594 reports of federal political campaign contributions. GAO also met with officials from USAO to obtain status updates on its efforts to focus resources on lobbyists who fail to comply.

GAO is not making any recommendations in this report. GAO provided a draft of this report to the Department of Justice for review and comment. The Department of Justice provided technical comments, which GAO incorporated as appropriate.

For the 2017 reporting period, most lobbyists provided documentation for key elements of their disclosure reports to demonstrate compliance with the Lobbying Disclosure Act of 1995, as amended (LDA). For lobbying disclosure (LD-2) reports and political contributions (LD-203) reports filed during the third and fourth quarter of 2016 and the first and second quarter of 2017, GAO estimates that

87 percent of lobbyists filed reports as required for the quarter in which they first registered; the figure below describes the filing process and enforcement;

99 percent of all lobbyists who filed (up from 83 percent in 2016) could provide documentation for income and expenses; and

93 percent filed year-end 2016 LD-203 reports as required.

These findings are generally consistent with prior reports GAO issued for the 2010 through 2016 reporting periods. However, in recent years GAO's findings showed some variation in the estimated percentage of reports with supporting documentation. For example, an estimated increase in lobbyists who could document expenses is notable in 2017 and represents a statistically significant increase from 2016.

As in GAO's other reports, some lobbyists were still unclear about the need to disclose certain previously held covered positions, such as paid congressional internships or certain executive agency positions. GAO estimates that 15 percent of all LD-2 reports may not have properly disclosed previously held covered positions. On the other hand, over the past several years of reporting on lobbying disclosure, GAO found that most lobbyists in the sample rated the terms associated with LD-2 reporting as “very easy” or “somewhat easy” to understand.

The U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Columbia (USAO) stated it has sufficient resources and authority to enforce compliance with the LDA. USAO continued its efforts to bring lobbyists into compliance by reminding them to file reports or by applying civil penalties.

The Honest Leadership and Open Government Act of 2007 (HLOGA)  amended the Lobbying Disclosure Act of 1995 to require lobbyists to file  quarterly lobbying disclosure reports and semiannual reports on certain  political contributions. HLGOA also increased civil penalties and added  criminal penalties for failure to comply with lobbying disclosure  requirements. In addition, HLOGA includes a provision for us to annually  audit the extent of lobbyists’ compliance with the Lobbying Disclosure Act  of 1995, as amended (LDA) by reviewing publicly available lobbying  registrations and other matters. This is our 11th report under this  provision.

As with our prior reports, our objectives were to (1) determine the extent  to which lobbyists can demonstrate compliance with the requirements for  registrations and reports filed under the LDA; (2) identify any challenges  and potential improvements to compliance by lobbyists, lobbying firms,  and registrants; and (3) describe the resources and authorities available  to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia (USAO) in its role  in enforcing LDA compliance and the efforts it has made to improve that  enforcement.

To determine the extent to which lobbyists can demonstrate compliance,  we examined a stratified random sample of 98 quarterly lobbying  disclosure (LD-2) reports with income and expenses of $5,000 or more  filed during the third and fourth quarters of calendar year 2016, and the  first and second quarters of calendar year 2017. We selected the  randomly sampled reports from the publicly downloadable database  maintained by the Clerk of the House of Representatives (Clerk of the  House). This methodology allows us to generalize some elements to the  population of LD-2 reports. We then contacted each lobbyist or lobbying  firm in our sample. We asked them to provide written documentation for  key elements of their LD-2 reports. This documentation included the  amount of income reported for lobbying activities, the amount of  expenses reported, the houses of Congress or federal agencies lobbied,  lobbying issue areas, and the names of lobbyists listed in the report. We  also reviewed whether lobbyists listed on the LD-2 reports properly  disclosed prior covered official positions, and whether the lobbyists filed  the semiannual report of federal political contributions. Two lobbying firms  in our sample, Fierce Government Relations and Cardinal Infrastructure,  declined to meet with us following our initial letter, sent in September  2017. After multiple follow up contacts in October and November 2017,  we informed both firms that because they declined to meet, we would  supply their names to Congress, as provided for in HLOGA. Both  acknowledged understanding this provision. A complete description of our  methodology can be found in appendix I. Appendix II contains a list of  lobbyists and clients whose LD-2 reports we randomly selected for our  review.

To determine whether lobbyists reported their federal political  contributions as required by the LDA, we analyzed stratified random  samples of year-end 2016 and midyear 2017 semiannual political  contributions (LD-203) reports. The samples contain 80 LD-203 reports  that have contributions listed and 80 LD-203 reports that list no  contributions. We selected the randomly sampled reports from the  publicly downloadable contributions database maintained by the Clerk of  the House (see appendix III for a list of lobbyists and lobbying firms  randomly selected for our review of LD-203 reports). We then checked  the contributions reported in the Federal Election Commission’s (FEC)  database against the contributions identified in our sample. This helped  us determine whether all contributions reported in the FEC database were  also reported on the LD-203s as required. We contacted lobbyists and  asked them to provide documentation to clarify differences we observed.  This methodology allows us to generalize to the population of LD-203  reports both with and without contributions.

To determine whether lobbyists were meeting the requirement to file an  LD-2 report for the quarter in which they registered, we compared new  registrations (LD-1) filed in the third and fourth quarters of 2016, and the  first and second quarters of 2017 to the corresponding LD-2 reports on  file with the Clerk of the House.

To assess the reliability of the data used, we reviewed available  documentation and interviewed knowledgeable officials. We found the  data to be sufficiently reliable for our purposes. The details of the data  reliability assessments are in appendix I.

To identify challenges and potential improvements to compliance, we  used a structured web-based survey to obtain views from lobbyists  included in our sample of reports.

To describe the resources and authorities available to USAO and its  efforts to improve LDA enforcement, we interviewed USAO officials and  obtained information about their system’s capabilities to track  enforcement and compliance trends and referral data that it receives from  the Secretary of the Senate and the Clerk of the House.

The mandate does not require us to identify lobbyist organizations that  failed to register and report in accordance with LDA requirements. The  mandate also does not require us to determine whether reported lobbying  activity or political contributions represented the full extent of lobbying  activities that took place.

We conducted this performance audit from April 2017 to March 2018 in  accordance with generally accepted government auditing standards.  Those standards require that we plan and perform the audit to obtain  sufficient, appropriate evidence to provide a reasonable basis for our  findings and conclusions based on our audit objectives. We believe that  the evidence obtained provides a reasonable basis for our findings and  conclusions based on our audit objectives.

The LDA requires lobbyists to register with the Secretary of the Senate  and the Clerk of the House and to file quarterly reports disclosing their  respective lobbying activities. Lobbyists are required to file their  registrations and reports electronically with the Secretary of the Senate  and the Clerk of the House through a single entry point. Registrations and  reports must be publicly available in downloadable, searchable databases  from the Secretary of the Senate and the Clerk of the House. No specific  statutory requirements exist for lobbyists to generate or maintain  documentation in support of the information disclosed in the reports they  file. However, guidance issued by the Secretary of the Senate and the  Clerk of the House recommends that lobbyists retain copies of their filings  and documentation supporting reported income and expenses for at least  6 years after they file their reports.

The LDA requires that the Secretary of the Senate and the Clerk of the  House guide and assist lobbyists with the registration and reporting  requirements and develop common standards, rules, and procedures for  LDA compliance. The Secretary of the Senate and the Clerk of the House  review the guidance semiannually. It was last revised January 31, 2017,  to (among other issues) update the registration threshold to reflect  changes in the Consumer Price Index, and clarify the identification of  clients and covered officials and issues related to rounding income and  expenses. The guidance provides definitions of LDA terms, elaborates on registration and reporting requirements, includes specific examples of  different scenarios, and provides explanations of why certain scenarios  prompt or do not prompt disclosure under the LDA. The offices of the  Secretary of the Senate and the Clerk of the House told us they continue  to consider information we report on lobbying disclosure compliance  when they periodically update the guidance. In addition, they told us they  e-mail registered lobbyists quarterly on common compliance issues and  reminders to file reports by the due dates.

The LDA defines a lobbyist as an individual who is employed or retained  by a client for compensation, who has made more than one lobbying  contact (written or oral communication to covered officials, such as a high  ranking agency official or a Member of Congress made on behalf of a  client), and whose lobbying activities represent at least 20 percent of the  time that he or she spends on behalf of the client during the quarter.  Lobbying firms are persons or entities that have one or more employees  who lobby on behalf of a client other than that person or entity. Figure 1  provides an overview of the registration and filing process.

Lobbying firms are required to register with the Secretary of the Senate  and the Clerk of the House for each client if the firms receive or expect to  receive more than $3,000 in income from that client for lobbying  activities. Lobbyists are also required to submit an LD-2 quarterly report  for each registration filed. The LD-2s contain information that includes:  the name of the lobbyist reporting on quarterly lobbying activities;  the name of the client for whom the lobbyist lobbied; a list of individuals who acted as lobbyists on behalf of the client  during the reporting period; whether any lobbyists served in covered positions in the executive or  legislative branch such as high-ranking agency officials or  congressional staff positions, in the previous 20 years;  codes describing general issue areas, such as agriculture and  education; a description of the specific lobbying issues; houses of Congress and federal agencies lobbied during the reporting  reported income (or expenses for organizations with in-house  lobbyists) related to lobbying activities during the quarter (rounded to  the nearest $10,000).

The LDA also requires lobbyists to report certain political contributions  semiannually in the LD-203 report. These reports must be filed 30 days  after the end of a semiannual period by each lobbying firm registered to  lobby and by each individual listed as a lobbyist on a firm’s lobbying  report. The lobbyists or lobbying firms must:  list the name of each federal candidate or officeholder, leadership  political action committee, or political party committee to which he or  she contributed at least $200 in the aggregate during the semiannual  period;  report contributions made to presidential library foundations and  presidential inaugural committees;  report funds contributed to pay the cost of an event to honor or  recognize an official who was previously in a covered position, funds  paid to an entity named for or controlled by a covered official, and  contributions to a person or entity in recognition of an official, or to pay  the costs of a meeting or other event held by or in the name of a  covered official; and  certify that they have read and are familiar with the gift and travel  rules of the Senate and House and that they have not provided,  requested, or directed a gift or travel to a member, officer, or  employee of Congress that would violate those rules.

The Secretary of the Senate and the Clerk of the House, along with  USAO, are responsible for ensuring LDA compliance. The Secretary of  the Senate and the Clerk of the House notify lobbyists or lobbying firms in  writing that they are not complying with the LDA reporting. Subsequently,  they refer those lobbyists who fail to provide an appropriate response to  USAO. USAO researches these referrals and sends additional  noncompliance notices to the lobbyists or lobbying firms, requesting that  they file reports or terminate their registration. If USAO does not receive a  response after 60 days, it decides whether to pursue a civil or criminal  case against each noncompliant lobbyist. A civil case could lead to  penalties up to $200,000 for each violation, while a criminal case—usually  pursued if a lobbyist’s noncompliance is found to be knowing and  corrupt—could lead to a maximum of 5 years in prison.

Lobbyists Filed Disclosure Reports as Required for Most New Lobbying Registrations

Generally, under the LDA, within 45 days of being employed or retained  to make a lobbying contact on behalf of a client, the lobbyist must register  by filing an LD-1 form with the Secretary of the Senate and the Clerk of  the House. Thereafter, the lobbyist must file quarterly disclosure (LD-2)  reports detailing the lobbying activities. Of the 3,433 new registrations we  identified for the third and fourth quarters of 2016 and the first and second  quarters of 2017, we matched 2,995 of them (87.2 percent) to  corresponding LD-2 reports filed within the same quarter as the  registration. These results are consistent with the findings we have  reported in prior reviews. We used the House lobbyists’ disclosure  database as the source of the reports. We also used an electronic  matching algorithm that allows for misspellings and other minor  inconsistencies between the registrations and reports. Figure 2 shows  lobbyists filed disclosure reports as required for most new lobbying  registrations from 2010 through 2017.

For Most LD-2 Reports, Lobbyists Provided Documentation for Key Elements, Including Documentation for Their Income and Expenses

For selected elements of lobbyists’ LD-2 reports that can be generalized  to the population of lobbying reports, our findings have generally been  consistent from year to year. Most lobbyists reporting $5,000 or more in  income or expenses provided written documentation to varying degrees  for the reporting elements in their disclosure reports. Figure 3 shows that  for most LD-2 reports, lobbyists provided documentation for income and  expenses for sampled reports from 2010 through 2017. However, in  recent years our findings showed some variation in the estimated  percentage of lobbyists who have reports with documentation for income  and expense supporting lobbying activities. Specifically, our estimate for  2017 (99 percent) represents a statistically significant increase from  2016.

Figure 4 shows that for some LD-2 reports, lobbyists did not round their  income or expenses as the guidance requires. In 2017, we estimate 25  percent of reports did not round reported income or expenses according  to the guidance. We have found that rounding difficulties have been a  recurring issue on LD-2 reports from 2010 through 2017. As we  previously reported, several lobbyists who listed expenses told us that  based on their reading of the LD-2 form they believed they were required  to report the exact amount. While this is not consistent with the LDA and  the guidance, this may be a source of some of the confusion regarding  rounding errors. In 2016, the guidance was updated to include an  additional example about rounding expenses to the nearest $10,000. In  2017, 11 percent of lobbyists reported $10,000 or more in income or  expenses.

The LDA requires lobbyists to disclose lobbying contacts made with  federal agencies on behalf of the client for the reporting period. This year,  of the 98 LD-2 reports in our sample, 51 reports disclosed lobbying  activities at federal agencies. Of those, lobbyists provided documentation  for all lobbying activities at executive branch agencies for 34 LD-2  reports. Figures 5 through 8 show that lobbyists for most LD-2 reports  provided documentation for selected elements of their LD-2 reports from  2010 through 2017.

For Most Lobbying Disclosure Reports (LD-2), Lobbyists Filed Political Contribution Reports (LD- 203) for All Listed Lobbyists

Lobbyists for an estimated 93 percent of LD-2 reports filed year-end 2016  for all lobbyists listed political contributions on the report as required.  Figure 9 shows that lobbyists for most lobbying firms filed contribution  reports as required in our sample from 2010 through 2017. All individual  lobbyists and lobbying firms reporting lobbying activity are required to file  LD-203 reports semiannually, even if they have no contributions to report,  because they must certify compliance with the gift and travel rules.

For Some LD-2 Reports, Lobbyists May Have Failed to Disclose Their Previously Held Covered Positions

The LDA requires a lobbyist to disclose previously held covered positions  in the executive or legislative branch, such as high ranking agency  officials and congressional staff, when first registering as a lobbyist for a  new client. This can be done either on a new LD-1 or on the quarterly LD- 2 filing when added as a new lobbyist. This year, we estimate that 15  percent of all LD-2 reports may not have properly disclosed previously  held covered positions as required. As in our other reports, some  lobbyists were still unclear about the need to disclose certain covered  positions, such as paid congressional internships or certain executive  agency positions. Figure 10 shows the extent to which lobbyists may not  have properly disclosed one or more covered positions as required from  2010 through 2017.

Some Lobbyists Amended Their Disclosure Reports after We Contacted Them

Lobbyists amended 15 of the 98 LD-2 disclosure reports in our original  sample to change previously reported information after we contacted  them. Of the 15 reports, 7 were amended after we notified the lobbyists of  our review, but before we met with them. An additional 8 of the 15 reports  were amended after we met with the lobbyists to review their  documentation. We consistently find a notable number of amended LD-2  reports in our sample each year following notification of our review. This  suggests that sometimes our contact spurs lobbyists to more closely  scrutinize their reports than they would have without our review. Table 1  lists reasons lobbying firms in our sample amended their LD-1 or LD-2  reports.

Most LD-203 Contribution Reports Disclosed Political Contributions Listed in the Federal Election Commission Database

As part of our review, we compared contributions listed on lobbyists’ and  lobbying firms’ LD-203 reports against those political contributions  reported in the Federal Election Commission (FEC) database to identify  whether political contributions were omitted on LD-203 reports in our  sample. The sample of LD-203 reports we reviewed contained 80 reports  with contributions and 80 reports without contributions. We estimate that  overall for 2017, lobbyists failed to disclose one or more reportable  contributions on 12 percent of reports. Additionally, ten LD-203 reports  were amended in response to our review. For this element in prior  reports, we reported an estimated minimum percentage of reports based  on a one-sided 95 percent confidence interval rather than the estimated  proportion as shown here. Estimates in the table have a maximum margin  of error of 11 percentage points. The year to year differences are not  statistically significant.

Table 2 illustrates that from 2010 through 2017 most lobbyists disclosed  FEC reportable contributions on their LD-203 reports as required.

Most Lobbying Firms Found it Easy to Comply with Disclosure Requirements and Understood Lobbying Terms

As part of our review, 88 different lobbying firms were included in our  2017 sample of LD-2 disclosure reports. Consistent with prior reviews,  most lobbying firms reported that they found it “very easy” or “somewhat  easy” to comply with reporting requirements. Of the 88 different lobbying  firms in our sample, 34 reported that the disclosure requirements were  “very easy,” 40 reported them “somewhat easy,” and 13 reported them  “somewhat difficult” or “very difficult” (see figure 11).

Most lobbying firms we surveyed rated the definitions of terms used in  LD-2 reporting as “very easy” or “somewhat easy” to understand with  regard to meeting their reporting requirements. This is consistent with  prior reviews. Figures 12 through 16 show what lobbyists reported as  their ease of understanding the terms associated with LD-2 reporting  requirements from 2012 through 2017.

U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia Actions to Enforce the LDA

U.S. Attorney’s Office’s Resources and Authorities to Enforce LDA Compliance

U.S. Attorney’s Office (USAO) officials stated that they continue to have  sufficient personnel resources and authority under the LDA to enforce  reporting requirements. This includes imposing civil or criminal penalties  for noncompliance. Noncompliance refers to a lobbyist’s or lobbying firm’s  failure to comply with the LDA. However, USAO noted that the number of  assigned personnel has decreased due to attrition.

USAO officials stated that lobbyists resolve their noncompliance issues  by filing LD-2, LD-203, or LD-2 amendments, or by terminating their  registration, depending on the issue. Resolving referrals can take  anywhere from a few days to years, depending on the circumstances.  During this time, USAO creates summary reports from its database to  track the overall number of referrals that are pending or become  compliant as a result of the lobbyist receiving an e-mail, phone call, or  noncompliance letter. Referrals remain in the pending category until they  are resolved. The pending category is divided into the following areas:  “initial research for referral,” “responded but not compliant,” “no  response/waiting for a response,” “bad address,” and “unable to locate.”  The USAO attempts to review and update all pending cases every six  months.

USAO focuses its enforcement efforts primarily on the “responded but not  compliant” and the “no response/waiting for a response” groups. Officials  told us that, if the USAO, after several unsuccessful attempts, has been  unsuccessful in contacting the non-compliant firm or its lobbyist, USAO  confers with both the Secretary of the Senate and the Clerk of the House  to determine whether further action is needed.

In the cases where the lobbying firm is repeatedly referred for not filing  disclosure reports but does not appear to be actively lobbying, USAO  suspends enforcement actions. USAO officials reported they will continue  to monitor these firms and will resume enforcement actions if required.

USAO received 3,213 referrals from both the Secretary of the Senate and  the Clerk of the House for failure to comply with LD-2 reporting  requirements cumulatively for filing years 2009 through 2015. Table 4  shows the number and status of the referrals received and the number of  enforcement actions taken by USAO to bring lobbying firms into  compliance. Enforcement actions include USAO attempts to bring  lobbyists into compliance through letters, e-mails, and calls. About 45  percent (1,450 of 3,213) of the total referrals received are now compliant  because lobbying firms either filed their reports or terminated their  registrations. In addition, some of the referrals were found to be compliant  when USAO received the referral. Therefore, no action was taken. This  may occur when lobbying firms respond to the contact letters from the  Secretary of the Senate and the Clerk of the House after USAO received  the referrals. About 55 percent (1,752 of 3,213) of referrals are pending  further action because USAO could not locate the lobbying firm, did not  receive a response from the firm after an enforcement action, or plans to  conduct additional research to determine if it can locate the lobbying firm.  The remaining 11 referrals did not require action or were suspended  because the lobbyist or client was no longer in business or the lobbyist  was deceased.

LD-203 referrals consist of two types: (1) LD-203(R) referrals represent  lobbying firms that have failed to file LD-203 reports for their lobbying firm  and (2) LD-203 referrals represent the lobbyists at the lobbying firm who  have failed to file their individual LD-203 reports as required. USAO  received 2,255 LD-203(R) referrals (cumulatively from 2009 through  2015) and 3,716 LD-203 referrals (cumulatively from 2009 through 2014  from the Secretary of the Senate and the Clerk of the House for lobbying  firms and lobbyists for noncompliance with reporting requirements). LD- 203 referrals are more complicated than LD-2 referrals because both the  lobbying firm and the individual lobbyists within the firm are each required  to file a LD-203. Lobbyists employed by a lobbying firm typically use the  firm’s contact information and not the lobbyists’ personal contact  information. This makes it difficult to locate a lobbyist who is not in  compliance and may have left the firm.

USAO officials reported that, while many firms have assisted USAO by  providing contact information for lobbyists, they are not required to do so.  According to officials, USAO has difficulty pursuing LD-203 referrals for  lobbyists who have departed a firm without leaving forwarding contact  information with the firm. While USAO utilizes web searches and online  databases, including social media, to find these missing lobbyists, it is not  always successful. Table 5 shows the status of LD-203 (R) referrals  received and the number of enforcement actions taken by USAO to bring  lobbying firms into compliance. A little more than 44 percent (998 of  2,255) of the lobbying firms referred by the Secretary of the Senate and  Clerk of the House for noncompliance from calendar years 2009 through  2015 are now considered compliant because firms either filed their  reports or terminated their registrations. About 56 percent (1,251 of  2,255) of the referrals are pending further action.

Table 6 shows that USAO received 3,716 LD-203 referrals from the  Secretary of the Senate and Clerk of the House for lobbyists who failed to  comply with LD-203 reporting requirements for calendar years 2009  through 2014. It also shows the status of the referrals received and the  number of enforcement actions taken by USAO to bring lobbyists into  compliance. In addition, table 6 shows that about 47 percent (1,741 of  3,716) of the lobbyists had come into compliance by filing their reports or  are no longer registered as a lobbyist. About 53 percent (1,966 of 3,716)  of the referrals are pending further action because USAO could not locate  the lobbyist, did not receive a response from the lobbyist, or plans to  conduct additional research to determine if it can locate the lobbyist.

Table 7 shows that USAO received LD-203 referrals from the Secretary of  the Senate and the Clerk of the House for 4,991 lobbyists who failed to  comply with LD-203 reporting requirements for any filing year from 2009  through 2014. It also shows the status of compliance for individual  lobbyists listed on referrals to USAO. About 51 percent (2,526 of 4,991) of  the lobbyists had come into compliance by filing their reports or are no  longer registered as a lobbyist. About 50 percent (2,465 of 4,991) of the  referrals are pending action because USAO could not locate the  lobbyists, did not receive a response from the lobbyists, or plans to  conduct additional research to determine if it can locate the lobbyists.

USAO officials said that many of the pending LD-203 referrals represent  lobbyists who no longer lobby for the lobbying firms affiliated with the  referrals, even though these lobbying firms may be listed on the lobbyist’s  LD-203 report.

Status of Enforcement Settlement Actions

According to USAO officials, lobbyists and lobbying firms who repeatedly  fail to file reports are labeled chronic offenders and referred to one of the  assigned attorneys for follow-up. USAO also receives complaints  regarding lobbyists who are allegedly lobbying but never filed an LD-203.  USAO officials added that USAO monitors and investigates chronic  offenders to ultimately determine the appropriate enforcement actions,  which may include settlement or other civil actions.

In regards to the four active cases involving chronic offenders they  reported to us in 2016, USAO officials noted that the agency is  investigating one case, negotiating a resolution that will include a civil  penalty in another case, and closing two other investigations without  further action. In addition, USAO is reviewing its records to identify  additional chronic offenders for further action due to noncompliance.

We provided a draft of this report to the Department of Justice for review  and comment. The Department of Justice provided technical comments,  which we incorporated as appropriate.

We are sending copies of this report to the Attorney General, Secretary of  the Senate, Clerk of the House of Representatives, and interested  congressional committees and members. In addition, this report is  available at no charge on the GAO website at http://www.gao.gov.

If you or your staff have any questions about this report, please contact  me at (202) 512-2717 or jonesy@gao.gov. Contact points for our Offices  of Congressional Relations and Public Affairs may be found on the last  page of this report. GAO staff who made major contributions to this report  are listed in appendix IV.

Appendix I: Objectives, Scope and Methodology

Our objectives were to determine the extent to which lobbyists are able to  demonstrate compliance with the Lobbying Disclosure Act of 1995, as  amended (LDA) by providing documentation to support information  contained on registrations and reports filed under the LDA; to identify  challenges and potential improvements to compliance, if any; and to  describe the resources and authorities available to the U.S. Attorney’s  Office for the District of Columbia (USAO), its role in enforcing LDA  compliance, and the efforts it has made to improve LDA enforcement.

We used information in the lobbying disclosure database maintained by  the Clerk of the House of Representatives (Clerk of the House). To  assess whether these disclosure data were sufficiently reliable for the  purposes of this report, we reviewed relevant documentation and  consulted with knowledgeable officials. Although registrations and reports  are filed through a single web portal, each chamber subsequently  receives copies of the data and follows different data-cleaning,  processing, and editing procedures before storing the data in either  individual files (in the House) or databases (in the Senate). Currently,  there is no means of reconciling discrepancies between the two  databases caused by the differences in data processing. For example,  Senate staff told us during previous reviews they set aside a greater  proportion of registration and report submissions than the House for  manual review before entering the information into the database. As a  result, the Senate database would be slightly less current than the House  database on any given day pending review and clearance.

House staff told us during previous reviews that they rely heavily on  automated processing. In addition, while they manually review reports  that do not perfectly match information on file for a given lobbyist or client,  staff members approve and upload such reports as originally filed by each  lobbyist, even if the reports contain errors or discrepancies (such as a  variant on how a name is spelled). Nevertheless, we do not have reasons  to believe that the content of the Senate and House systems would vary  substantially. Based on interviews with knowledgeable officials and a  review of documentation, we determined that House disclosure data were  sufficiently reliable for identifying a sample of quarterly disclosure reports  (LD-2) and for assessing whether newly filed lobbyists also filed required  reports. We used the House database for sampling LD-2 reports from the  third and fourth quarters of 2016 and the first and second quarters of  2017, as well as for sampling year-end 2016 and midyear 2017 political  contributions reports (LD-203). We also used the database for matching  quarterly registrations with filed reports. We did not evaluate the Offices  of the Secretary of the Senate or the Clerk of the House, both of which  have key roles in the lobbying disclosure process. However, we did  consult with officials from each office. They provided us with general  background information at our request.

To assess the extent to which lobbyists could provide evidence of their  compliance with reporting requirements, we examined a stratified random  sample of 98 LD-2 reports from the third and fourth quarters of 2016 and  the first and second quarters of 2017. The sample size of 98 LD-2  reports for this year’s review represents an increase from the sample size  selected for the 2015 and 2016 reviews, and is a return to the sample  size selected in reviews prior to 2015. We increased the sample size  because, in 2016, we observed a change in the estimate of the  percentage of reports that had documentation of income and expenses  (83 percent down from 92 percent in 2015). At that time, we were unable  to state that this was a statistically significant change because, in part, the  reduced sample size of 80 did not give us enough power to detect and  report on the change of that size. We excluded reports with no lobbying  activity or with income or expenses of less than $5,000 from our sampling  frame. We drew our sample from 45,818 activity reports filed for the third  and fourth quarters of 2016 and the first and second quarters of 2017  available in the public House database, as of our final download date for  each quarter.

Our sample of LD-2 reports was not designed to detect differences over  time. However, we conducted tests of significance for changes from 2010  to 2017 for the generalizable elements of our review. We found that  results were generally consistent from year to year and there were few  statistically significant changes after using a Bonferroni adjustment to  account for multiple comparisons. For this year’s review, we identified  that the estimated change in the percent of LD-2 reports that provided  written documentation for the income and expenses from 2016 to 2017 is  notable. In recent years, our findings show some variation in the estimate  percentage of reports with documentation. Specifically, our estimate for  2017 (99 percent) represents a statistically significant increase from 2016.  These changes are identified in the report. The inability to detect  significant differences from year to year in our results may be related to  sampling error alone or the nature of our sample, which was relatively  small and was designed only for cross-sectional analysis.

Our sample is based on a stratified random selection and is only one of a  large number of samples that we may have drawn. Because each sample  could have provided different estimates, we express our confidence in the  precision of our particular sample’s results as a 95 percent confidence  interval. This interval would contain the actual population value for 95  percent of the samples that we could have drawn. The percentage  estimates for LD-2 reports have 95 percent confidence intervals of within  plus or minus 12 percentage points or fewer of the estimate itself.

We contacted all the lobbyists and lobbying firms in our sample and,  using a structured web-based survey, asked them to confirm key  elements of the LD-2 and whether they could provide written  documentation for key elements in their reports, including  the amount of income reported for lobbying activities;  the amount of expenses reported on lobbying activities;  the names of those lobbyists listed in the report;  the houses of Congress and federal agencies that they lobbied, and  the issue codes listed to describe their lobbying activity.

After reviewing the survey results for completeness, we interviewed  lobbyists and lobbying firms to review the documentation they reported as  having on their online survey for selected elements of their respective LD- 2 report.

Prior to each interview, we conducted a search to determine whether  lobbyists properly disclosed their covered position as required by the  LDA. We reviewed the lobbyists’ previous work histories by searching  lobbying firms’ websites, LinkedIn, Leadership Directories, Legistorm, and  Google. Prior to 2008, lobbyists were only required to disclose covered  official positions held within 2 years of registering as a lobbyist for the  client. The Honest Leadership and Open Government Act of 2007  amended that time frame to require disclosure of positions held 20 years  before the date the lobbyists first lobbied on behalf of the client. Lobbyists  are required to disclose previously held covered official positions either on  the client registration (LD-1) or on an LD-2 report. Consequently, those  who held covered official positions may have disclosed the information on  the LD-1 or a LD-2 report filed prior to the report we examined as part of  our random sample. Therefore, where we found evidence that a lobbyist  previously held a covered official position, and that information was not  disclosed on the LD-2 report under review, we conducted an additional  review of the publicly available Secretary of the Senate or Clerk of the  House database to determine whether the lobbyist properly disclosed the  covered official position on a prior report or LD-1. Finally, if a lobbyist  appeared to hold a covered position that was not disclosed, we asked for  an explanation at the interview with the lobbying firm to ensure that our  research was accurate.

In previous reports, we reported the lower bound of a 90 percent  confidence interval to provide a minimum estimate of omitted covered  positions and omitted contributions with a 95 percent confidence level.  We did so to account for the possibility that our searches may have failed  to identify all possible omitted covered positions and contributions. As we  have developed our methodology over time, we are more confident in the  comprehensiveness of our searches for these items. Accordingly, this  report presents the estimated percentages for omitted contributions and  omitted covered positions, rather than the minimum estimates. As a  result, percentage estimates for these items will differ slightly from the  minimum percentage estimates presented in prior reports.

In addition to examining the content of the LD-2 reports, we confirmed  whether the most recent LD-203 reports had been filed for each firm and  lobbyist listed on the LD-2 reports in our random sample. Although this  review represents a random selection of lobbyists and firms, it is not a  direct probability sample of firms filing LD-2 reports or lobbyists listed on  LD-2 reports. As such, we did not estimate the likelihood that LD-203  reports were appropriately filed for the population of firms or lobbyists  listed on LD-2 reports.

To determine if the LDA’s requirement for lobbyists to file a report in the  quarter of registration was met for the third and fourth quarters of 2016  and the first and second quarters of 2017, we used data filed with the  Clerk of the House to match newly filed registrations with corresponding  disclosure reports. Using an electronic matching algorithm that includes  strict and loose text matching procedures, we identified matching  disclosure reports for 2,995, or 87.2 percent, of the 3,433 newly filed  registrations. We began by standardizing client and lobbyist names in  both the report and registration files (including removing punctuation and  standardizing words and abbreviations, such as “company” and “CO”).  We then matched reports and registrations using the House identification  number (which is linked to a unique lobbyist-client pair), as well as the  names of the lobbyist and client.

For reports we could not match by identification number and standardized  name, we also attempted to match reports and registrations by client and  lobbyist name, allowing for variations in the names to accommodate  minor misspellings or typos. For these cases, we used professional  judgment to determine whether cases with typos were sufficiently similar  to consider as matches. We could not readily identify matches in the  report database for the remaining registrations using electronic means.

To assess the accuracy of the LD-203 reports, we analyzed stratified  random samples of LD-203 reports from the 30,594 total LD-203 reports.  The first sample contains 80 reports of the 9,474 reports with political  contributions and the second contains 80 reports of the 20,335 reports  listing no contributions. Each sample contains 40 reports from the year- end 2016 filing period and 40 reports from the midyear 2017 filing period.  The samples from 2017 allow us to generalize estimates in this report to  either the population of LD-203 reports with contributions or the reports  without contributions to within a 95 percent confidence interval of within  plus or minus 11 percentage points or fewer. Although our sample of LD- 203 reports was not designed to detect differences over time, we  conducted tests of significance for changes from 2010 to 2017 and found  no statistically significant differences after adjusting for multiple  comparisons.

While the results provide some confidence that apparent fluctuations in  our results across years are likely attributable to sampling error, the  inability to detect significant differences may also be related to the nature  of our sample, which was relatively small and designed only for cross- sectional analysis. We analyzed the contents of the LD-203 reports and  compared them to contribution data found in the publicly available  Federal Elections Commission’s (FEC) political contribution database. We  consulted with staff at FEC responsible for administering the database.  We determined that the data are sufficiently reliable for the purposes of  our reporting objectives.

We compared the FEC-reportable contributions on the LD-203 reports  with information in the FEC database. The verification process required  text and pattern matching procedures so we used professional judgment  when assessing whether an individual listed is the same individual filing  an LD-203. For contributions reported in the FEC database and not on  the LD-203 report, we asked the lobbyists or organizations to explain why  the contribution was not listed on the LD-203 report or to provide  documentation of those contributions. As with covered positions on LD-2  disclosure reports, we cannot be certain that our review identified all  cases of FEC-reportable contributions that were inappropriately omitted  from a lobbyist’s LD-203 report. We did not estimate the percentage of  other non-FEC political contributions that were omitted because they tend  to constitute a small minority of all listed contributions and cannot be  verified against an external source.

To identify challenges to compliance, we used a structured web-based  survey and obtained the views from 88 different lobbying firms included in  our sample on any challenges to compliance. The number of different  lobbying firms is 88, which is less than our original sample of 98 reports  because some lobbying firms had more than one LD-2 report included in  our sample. We calculated responses based on the number of different  lobbying firms that we contacted rather than the number of interviews.  Prior to our calculations, we removed the duplicate lobbying firms based  on the most recent date of their responses. For those cases with the  same response date, the decision rule was to keep the cases with the  smallest assigned case identification number. To obtain their views, we  asked them to rate their ease with complying with the LD-2 disclosure  requirements using a scale of “very easy,” “somewhat easy,” “somewhat  difficult,” or “very difficult.” In addition, using the same scale we asked  them to rate the ease of understanding the terms associated with LD-2  reporting requirements.

To describe the resources and authorities available to the U.S. Attorney’s  Office for the District of Columbia (USAO) and its efforts to improve its  LDA enforcement, we interviewed USAO officials. We obtained  information on the capabilities of the system officials established to track  and report compliance trends and referrals and on other practices  established to focus resources on LDA enforcement. USAO provided us  with reports from the tracking system on the number and status of  referrals and chronically noncompliant lobbyists and lobbying firms.

The mandate does not require us to identify lobbyists who failed to  register and report in accordance with the LDA requirements, or  determine for those lobbyists who did register and report whether all  lobbying activity or contributions were disclosed. Therefore, this was  outside the scope of our audit.

Appendix II: List of Lobbyists and Clients for Sampled Lobbying Disclosure Reports

The random sample of lobbying disclosure reports we selected was  based on unique combination of House ID, lobbyist, and client names  (see table 8).

Appendix III: List of Sampled Lobbying Contribution Reports with and without Contributions Listed

See table 9 for a list of the lobbyists and lobbying firms from our random  sample of lobbying contribution reports with contributions. See table 10  for a list of the lobbyists and lobbying firms from our random sample of  lobbying contribution reports without contributions.

In addition to the contact named above, Clifton G. Douglas Jr. (Assistant  Director), Shirley Jones (Assistant General Counsel) and Ulyana  Panchishin (Analyst-In-Charge) supervised the development of this  report. James Ashley, Ann Czapiewski, Krista Loose, Kathleen Jones,  Amanda Miller, Sharon Miller, Stewart W. Small, and Kayla L. Robinson  made key contributions to this report.

Assisting with lobbyist file reviews were Justine Augeri, Matthew Bond,  James A. Howard, Jesse Jordan, Sherrice Kerns, Dalton Matthew  Lauderback, Alexandria Palmer, Alan Rozzi, Shane Spencer, Jessica  Walker, Ralanda Winborn, and Kate Wulff.

Lobbying Disclosure: Observations on Lobbyists’ Compliance with New  Disclosure Requirements. GAO-08-1099. Washington, D.C: September  30, 2008.  2008 Lobbying Disclosure: Observations on Lobbyists’ Compliance with  Disclosure Requirements. GAO-09-487. Washington, D.C: April 1, 2009.  2009 Lobbying Disclosure: Observations on Lobbyists’ Compliance with  Disclosure Requirements. GAO-10-499. Washington, D.C: April 1, 2010.  2010 Lobbying Disclosure: Observations on Lobbyists’ Compliance with  Disclosure Requirements. GAO-11-452. Washington, D.C: April 1, 2011.  2011 Lobbying Disclosure: Observations on Lobbyists’ Compliance with  Disclosure Requirements. GAO-12-492. Washington, D.C: March 30,  2012.  2012 Lobbying Disclosure: Observations on Lobbyists’ Compliance with  Disclosure Requirements. GAO-13-437. Washington, D.C: April 1, 2013.  2013 Lobbying Disclosure: Observations on Lobbyists’ Compliance with  Disclosure Requirements. GAO-14-485. Washington, D.C: May 28, 2014.  2014 Lobbying Disclosure: Observations on Lobbyists’ Compliance with  Disclosure Requirements. GAO-15-310. Washington, D.C.: March 26,  2015.  2015 Lobbying Disclosure: Observations on Lobbyists’ Compliance with  Disclosure Requirements. GAO-16-320. Washington, D.C.: March 24,  2016.  2016 Lobbying Disclosure: Observations on Lobbyists’ Compliance with  Disclosure Requirements. GAO-17-385. Washington, D.C.: March 31,  2017.

The Lobbying Disclosure Act requires lobbyists to regularly file reports on their activities, which must be available for public review. GAO audits compliance.

Lobbyists are required to disclose certain previously held covered positions, such as certain executive agency and congressional staff posts. We estimate 15 percent of the reports may not have properly disclosed this information.

We reviewed a sample of 98 of the 45,818 quarterly reports filed in the last half of 2016 and first half of 2017 with expenses of $5,000 or more. We then contacted those who filed the reports. Lobbyists amended these forms in 15 cases after we contacted them.