H.R. 3078, The Federal Agency Anti-Lobbying Act

T-OGC-96-18: Published: May 15, 1996. Publicly Released: May 15, 1996.

Additional Materials:

Contact:

Office of Public Affairs
(202) 512-4800
youngc1@gao.gov

GAO provided information on the proposed Federal Agency Anti-Lobbying Act, focusing on: (1) the role that the legislation would play in investigating alleged anti-lobbying restrictions; (2) the lobbying activities that H.R. 3078 would restrict; and (3) the potential impact of H.R. 3078 on the GAO workload. GAO noted that: (1) the legislation would not affect its role in investigating anti-lobbying restrictions and reporting suspicious activity to Congress; (2) the language of H.R. 3078 would be similar to the anti-lobbying restrictions in the Department of the Interior appropriation acts, but would restrict the use of public funds to agencies with appropriations; (3) H.R. 3078 gives examples of prohibited lobbying activities drawn from provisions of the Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education appropriation acts; (4) H.R. 3078 would prohibit the use of appropriated funds to promote public support or opposition to a pending legislative proposal; (5) it has found statutory restriction violations in two separate cases, but in a third case it concluded that the behavior was strictly informational; (6) an agency's intent is an important element when determining if a lobbying violation has occurred; and (7) initial enactment of H.R. 3078 would increase the number of requests for investigations, but it would also authorize the Comptroller General to obtain assistance from various Inspectors General.

Sep 20, 2018

Sep 17, 2018

Sep 12, 2018

Sep 6, 2018

Sep 5, 2018

Aug 30, 2018

Aug 27, 2018

Aug 15, 2018

Jul 30, 2018

Jul 26, 2018

Looking for more? Browse all our products here