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GAO-26-108486 1 (June 30, 2026)

handle is hein.gao/lbbyn0001 and id is 1 raw text is: AO U.S. GOVERNMENT ACCOUNTABILITY OFFICE 441 G St. N.W. Washington, DC 20548 June 30, 2026 Congressional Committees 2025 LOBBYING DISCLOSURE: Observations on Compliance with Requirements Lobbyists are paid to influence the public decision-making process. Over time, questions about lobbyists' influence have led to calls for more transparency in lobbying activities. To increase awareness of these activities, Congress passed legislation to require lobbyists to publicly disclose certain activities. The Lobbying Disclosure Act of 1995, as amended (LDA), requires lobbyists to file quarterly lobbying disclosure (LD-2) reports and semiannual contribution (LD- 203) reports.1 Lobbyists are required to disclose lobbying income, certain criminal convictions, and political contributions in these reports, among other requirements. The LDA includes a provision for us to annually audit the extent of lobbyists' compliance with requirements under the act. This 19th annual review responds to that statutory provision. As with our prior reviews, this report (1) determines the extent to which lobbyists demonstrated compliance with federal lobbying reporting requirements, (2) identifies lobbyists' perspectives on challenges or potential improvements to compliance with quarterly reporting requirements, and (3) describes the resources and authorities available to the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Columbia (USAO) and efforts the office has made to improve enforcement.3 To determine the extent to which lobbyists demonstrated compliance with reporting requirements, we analyzed a stratified random sample of 101 quarterly lobbying disclosure reports filed for the third and fourth quarters of calendar year 2024 and the first and second quarters of calendar year 2025. We interviewed each sampled lobbyist to (1) confirm key 1Lobbying Disclosure Act of 1995 (LDA), Pub. L. No. 104-65 (1995), 109 State. 691, codified at 2 U.S.C. §§ 1601- 1614; Honest Leadership and Open Government Act of 2007, Pub. L. No. 110-81, 121 Stat. 735 (2007); and Justice Against Corruption on K Street Act of 2018, Pub. L. No. 115-418, 132 Stat. 5440 (2019). The Justice Against Corruption on K Street Act of 2018 amended the LDA and requires that lobbyists disclose in their registrations and quarterly disclosure reports whether individual lobbyists have been convicted of certain criminal acts at the federal or state level. Committee reports indicate that the LDA was intended to promote transparency and accountability in the federal lobbying industry. See H. Rpt. 110-161, § 501 (2007); S. Rpt. 115-317 (2018). 22 U.S.C. § 1614. The provision does not require us to identify lobbyist organizations that failed to register and report in accordance with LDA requirements. The provision also does not require us to determine whether reported lobbying activity or political contributions represented the full extent of lobbying activities that took place. 3For the purposes of this report, lobbying refers to lobbying at the federal government level. Under the LDA, a lobbyist is an individual who is employed or retained by a client for financial or other compensation for services that include more than one lobbying contact, other than an individual whose lobbying activities constitute less than 20 percent of the time engaged in the services provided by such individual to that client over a 3-month period. For ease of reporting, we also use the term lobbyist to include lobbying firms (including self-employed individuals who are lobbyists), organizations with in-house lobbyists, or lobbyists' representatives who met with us during our review, unless noted otherwise. GAO-26-108486 2025 Lobbying Disclosure Page 1