For LDA nerds, that is. The Government Accountability Office has released its annual report on Lobbying Disclosure Act compliance. Once each year, the GAO randomly audits several dozen LDA registrants’ reports, attempting to determine if the registrants’ records line up with their reports. Of note, over 85% of audited lobbyists responded that they thought it was easy to understand and comply with the LDA–and yet, over 30% failed to comply with one of the LDA’s easiest directives, to report lobbying expenditures rounded to the nearest $10,000. More importantly, after a period of years in which it seemed regulators had no interest in enforcing the LDA, the report notes a continued uptick in DOJ referrals and criminal prosecutions for registration and reporting failures.
+ Observations on Lobbyists’ Compliance with Disclosure Requirements | Government Accountability Office – March 2016