I was recently asked about how one may trace legislative advocacy (lobbyist) dollars to a particular regulatory activity. This quick guide offers some examples for learning about who, for example, is paying to minimize proxy access in publicly traded US companies.
Legislation
Investigate two important US statutes on transparency in lobby giving:
Honest Leadership and Open Government Act and Lobbying Disclosure Act of 1995.
Regulation
One way to know who is advocating for or against particular regulation is to check out the names of those who comment to proposed rules. One way to search for comments is at Regulations.gov. Search by agency and type of document: public comment.
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The Senate Office of Public Records’ Lobbying Disclosure Act Database provides useful tools for searching through federal lobbyist filings (from 1999). Learn which companies and organizations have contracted lobbyists to advance their legislative interests or seek federal funding.
Several possible searches include: all forms filed in a given time period, all activity by an individual lobbyist or lobbying firm, or all lobbying activity that was hired by a given client or firm.
Search the Lobbying Database (LD-1, LD-2)
Download a Lobbying Documents Database
Search the Contributions Database (LD-203)
Downloadable Contributions Databases
For enhanced searching of government information, check out the Lobbying Disclosure database in Knowledge Mosaic.
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The American League of Lobbyists is a nonprofit organization committed to enforcing ethical practices among lobbyists. Get an overview of the lobbying process in Resources for the Public.
OpenSecrets.org reveals how much money individual corporations and labor unions have spent on lobbying every year since 1998.
The Center for Public Integrity provides investigative journalism that exposes the realities of politics and policy. Keep track of bills and their supporters, or politicians and their supporters.
Journals
National Journal is Washington’s premier source of nonpartisan insight on politics.
Roll Call covers House and Senate activity and the people involved in the Congressional arena.
Research Help
For other sources of information on this or any other research topic, contact the HLS Library Reference Desk or make a time to meet with a librarian: http://asklib.law.harvard.edu/.