Sponsors (2)
The bill increases transparency about claimed FARA §3(h) exemptions to help oversight and public evaluation, at the cost of some added compliance burden and potential reputational or chilling effects for registrants.
Congressional staff, federal employees, and the public: registrants must now disclose whether they claim the FARA §3(h) exemption, improving transparency and making it easier to evaluate foreign-affiliated lobbying activity and disclosures.
Small firms and individual registrants: the added disclosure requirement increases reporting and compliance burden, producing marginal additional costs and administrative effort.
Registrants claiming or failing to claim the exemption: heightened scrutiny and reputational risk may discourage some from registering or complicate legal positions under FARA, potentially chilling participation or transparency.
Based on analysis of 2 sections of legislative text.
Requires Lobbying Disclosure Act registrants to state whether they claim the FARA §613(h) exemption on their registrations.
Official title: To amend the Lobbying Disclosure Act of 1995 to require certain disclosures by registrants regarding exemptions under the Foreign Agents Registration Act of 1938, as amended.
Introduced March 5, 2025 by Joseph Neguse · Last progress March 5, 2025
Requires entities that register under the Lobbying Disclosure Act to state on their registration whether they claim the specific Foreign Agents Registration Act exemption found at 22 U.S.C. §613(h). It is a short, targeted change that adds one required affirmative disclosure to the list of information lobbying registrants must provide.