House and Senate Issue LDA Guidance

On December 11, 2007, the Clerk of the U.S. House of Representatives and the Secretary of the United States Senate issued guidance as to the application of the Lobbying Disclosure Act (LDA) as amended by the Honest Leadership and Open Government Act of 2007. Since Congress does not promulgate regulations, this document is of particular importance. The guidance can be found at
www.senate.gov/legislative/resources/pdf/S1guidance.pdf (rev. December 20, 2007).

The year-end semi-annual LDA report for 2007 is due under the old rules on February 14, 2008. This report covers federal lobbying activity from July 1 to December 31, 2007. The forms for this report are available on the Clerk's and Secretary's web pages. After February 14, the Clerk and Secretary are anticipated to issue the new LDA forms for the first quarterly LDA report of 2008, which is due April 21, 2008. Forms for the new Section 203 filings, due for the first time on July 30, 2008, should be available by the end of March or in early April.