The U.S. House passed a bill by voice vote before they left for summer recess to establish a new Justice Department task force to investigate and prosecute violations of the Lobbying Disclosure Act (LDA).

The bill, introduced by Rep. Mary Jo Kilroy (D-OH), had originally included a registration fee of $50 for federally registered lobbyists along with a $500 fine for late disclosure filings, but that language was removed from the bill after congressional officials said they could not effectively administer a new registration program at this time.

Kilroy cited a General Accountability Office (GAO) report issued in April as evidence that enforcement of the Act needs to be strengthened. According to GAO, the Department of Justice has received thousands of referrals of potential LDA violators from congressional officials in charge of administering the lobbying disclosure law, but no criminal or civil suits have ever been filed by DOJ. The GAO report also showed, however, that the vast majority of lobbyists are able to provide documentation to support items in their disclosure reports. GAO estimated that lobbyists could provide written documentation for income and expenses for approximately 89 percent of their disclosure reports. For political contribution reports, GAO estimated that 82 percent of the reports could be supported by FEC data or documentation provided by lobbyists.