WASHINGTON / CATHERINE COLLINS : Senators Take a Fresh Look at Rules for Lobbyists and Foreign Agents

There are growing concerns in Congress that the laws and regulations governing lobbying, both foreign and domestic, are in need of a major overhaul.

The Senate Governmental Affairs subcommittee on oversight of government management is in the midst of a series of hearings and an investigation aimed at recommending across-the-board changes in lobbying laws.

“The purpose of the hearings,” said Sen. Carl Levin (D-Mich.), chairman of the subcommittee, “is to determine whether the statutes are serving their intended purpose of ensuring public disclosure of useful and appropriate information about lobbying activities.”

The first hearing, held June 20, focused on the disclosure of foreign lobbying under the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA).

“We need foreign investment, but we do not want foreign investors to begin setting the rules and policies which govern our country,” said Rep. Dan Glickman (D-Kan.) at the hearing before the Senate subcommittee.

Already, on the basis of the hearing testimony and a report by the General Accounting Office, the subcommittee has concluded that FARA is not working.

FARA requires lobbyists who act on behalf of foreign companies to register with the Justice Department. But the GAO reported that half of the registered lobbyists surveyed had not disclosed fully activities they conducted on behalf of foreign clients.

The study found that lobbyists either don’t understand the wording of the act or they ignore it. And sometimes they claim an exemption from it. FARA exempts attorneys who represent foreign principals in the course of “established agency proceedings, whether formal or informal.” It also exempts agents working for domestic subsidiaries of foreign companies.

For example, in a 1989 battle over whether foreign sport-utility vehicles would be classified as trucks and escape millions of dollars in import tariffs, the subcommittee found that virtually none of the lobbying by foreign interests had been disclosed.

Glickman has already introduced the Foreign Interests Representation Act (HR 1725), which would eliminate the lawyers’ exemption and establish a clear definition of foreign ownership. Under the bill, entities that are more than 50% owned by a foreign company would be presumed to be foreign-controlled and those lobbying on their behalf would be required to register. Entities with between 20% and 50% foreign ownership could contest the classification with evidence to the contrary. Less than 20% foreign ownership would not require registration.

The bill would also establish civil penalties, in addition to the already harsh criminal penalties, making it more likely that the Justice Department would pursue such cases.

Lobbyists have fought past efforts to restrict their work or require disclosure. “The way FARA currently operates ignores the globally interdependent marketplace,” said Denis M. Neill, president of Neill & Co., a Washington-based lobbying group.

The subcommittee will continue its look at the lobbying process in both the legislative and executive branches with other hearings this month and in September.

Conclusions Differ on Parental Leave

Two recent studies tell very different stories about the impact of parental-leave legislation that both the Senate and the House are expected to vote on soon.

A survey by the National Federation of Independent Business said women of child-bearing age and low-skilled workers would be among those hardest hit if employers are required to offer family and medical leave.

In asking how small-business owners would react to a law requiring them to provide up to 90 days of unpaid family leave, the NFIB’s survey found that 45% would be less likely to hire young women. Forty-six percent would reduce low-skilled jobs, 55% would cut other benefits and 76% would establish stricter personnel policies.

But another new study by the Familes and Work Institute shows that the availability of unpaid leaves has virtually no impact on the length of time that working mothers take at childbirth and only a slight impact on the length of leave that fathers take. According to the New York-based nonprofit research group, unpaid leave for new parents has proven easy and inexpensive to implement.

“So often when there is a new labor standard, there are all kinds of dire predictions,” said Ellen Galinsky, co-president of the institute. “For example, child labor laws. In fact, most employers already are negotiating standards that are the same as this (parental-leave) legislation would implement. But that is not to say that the bill would not have an impact; it seems to make it easier for employees to take the medically advised six weeks off. That’s why 91% of the randomly sampled businesses found it easy to implement.”

Rep. Patricia Schroeder (D-Colo.), the original sponsor of the Family and Medical Leave Act (HR 2) in the House, called the NFIB’s study and any fears from the business community ridiculous.

“If we were the first country trying this out, I might be skittish, but every other industrialized country already has established this policy and found that employers do not discriminate,” she said.

A Plan to Boost School Resources

A bill proposed by Rep. Fred Grandy (R-Iowa) would increase resources for public high schools and community colleges by encouraging private sector investment through a 20% credit for gifts.

“There is an educational bias in this country toward people who follow an education system from kindergarten through college: Sixty percent of federal education funds are spent on higher education--but only 30% of high school students go to college,” Grandy said.

“The lack of attention given to the other 70% has surfaced in the decline of individual income, lagging productivity and an under-educated and noncompetitive work force,” he said. “My bill corrects these problems by empowering that 70% who chose a different, but no less legitimate, track to the workplace.”

The Leading Employers Into Apprenticeship Partnerships Act (HR 2550) would create a nonprofit organization to foster partnerships between businesses and schools with apprenticeship programs.