On August 11, a bipartisan bill to amend the federal lobbying law was introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives.

Submitted by Republican Rep. Ben Cline and Democratic Rep. Dean Phillips, the Lobbying Disclosure Reform Act would require registration with both the Clerk of the House of Representatives and the Secretary of the Senate, move enforcement of the lobbying laws to the U.S. Office of the Attorney General, amend registration and reporting thresholds, and assign a unique identification number to each individual registering as a federal lobbyist and to each client of that lobbyist.

H.R. 8022 would also require the disclosure of any persons providing strategic lobbying services in support of a registered lobbyist, who would then also be assigned unique identification numbers.

The Clerk of the House of Representatives and the Secretary of the Senate would have the responsibility of assigning the unique identification numbers.

The measure creates the Lobbying Disclosure Act Enforcement Task Force inside the Department of Justice. The new task force will be charged with enforcing the disclosure provisions of the Lobbying Disclosure Act of 1995.

Further, the bill amends existing federal lobbying law by making public the names of registered lobbyists and firms who violate disclosure regulations. The bill now heads to the Senate.

Update 8-2-2010: Here is an article from The Hill giving K Street’s reaction to the Lobbying Disclosure Enhancement Act: “K Street feels it’s being unfairly targeted by bill disclosing lobbying violators“