H.R. 7231

[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 7231 Introduced in House (IH)]

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119th CONGRESS
2d Session
H. R. 7231

To amend the Lobbying Disclosure Act of 1995 to expand the scope of 
individuals and activities which are subject to the requirements of 
such Act, and for other purposes.

_______________________________________________________________________

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

January 22, 2026

Mrs. Ramirez (for herself, Ms. Williams of Georgia, Mr. Mullin, and Ms. 
Simon) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
Committee on the Judiciary

_______________________________________________________________________

A BILL

To amend the Lobbying Disclosure Act of 1995 to expand the scope of 
individuals and activities which are subject to the requirements of 
such Act, and for other purposes.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

This Act may be cited as the ``Lobbyist Loophole Closure Act''.

SEC. 2. EXPANDING SCOPE OF INDIVIDUALS AND ACTIVITIES SUBJECT TO 
REQUIREMENTS OF LOBBYING DISCLOSURE ACT OF 1995.

(a) Coverage of Individuals Providing Legislative, Political, and 
Strategic Counseling Services.--
(1) Treatment of legislative, political, and strategic 
counseling services in support of lobbying contacts as lobbying 
activity.--Section 3(7) of the Lobbying Disclosure Act of 1995 
(2 U.S.C. 1602(7)) is amended--
(A) by striking ``efforts'' and inserting ``any 
efforts''; and
(B) by striking ``research and other background 
work'' and inserting the following: ``counseling in 
support of such preparation and planning activities, 
research, and other background work''.
(2) Treatment of lobbying contact made with support of 
counseling services as lobbying contact made by individual 
providing services.--Section 3(8) of such Act (2 U.S.C. 
1602(8)) is amended by adding at the end the following new 
subparagraph:
``(C) Treatment of providers of counseling 
services.--Any individual, with authority to director 
or substantially influence any lobbying contact made by 
another individual, and for financial or other 
compensation provides counseling services in support of 
preparation and planning activities which are treated 
as lobbying activities under paragraph (7) for that 
other individual's lobbying contact and who has 
knowledge that the specific lobbying contact was made, 
shall be considered to have made the same lobbying 
contact at the same time in the same manner to the 
covered executive branch official or covered 
legislative branch official involved.''.
(b) Reduction of Percentage Exemption for Determination of 
Threshold of Lobbying Contacts Required for Individuals To Register as 
Lobbyists.--Section 3(10) of such Act (2 U.S.C. 1602(10)) is amended by 
striking ``less than 20 percent'' and inserting ``less than 10 
percent''.
(c) Effective Date.--The amendments made by this section shall 
apply with respect to lobbying contacts made on or after the date of 
the enactment of this Act.
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