Sunlight Reform Agenda (Top 4 Priorities)

Background

It is time for Congress to enter the Information Age - time to combine the nearly century old wisdom of Justice Louis Brandeis, that "Sunlight is said to be the best of disinfectants; electric light the most efficient policeman" - with modern technology. An effective commitment by Congress to the transparency that current technology makes possible would be a valuable first step towards restoring public trust, which is at a particularly low point. Providing timely online access to information about the Congress and its members will enable citizens and the press to better understand the activities of their lawmakers and the institution, to monitor the interplay between lawmakers and lobbyists, and enable Congress to better police itself.

Some information about political contributions, registered lobbyists and legislators' financial interests and holdings is now required. But none of the laws and rules requiring these disclosures fulfills their potential. Generally, they are not filed as timely as is reasonable, or in as adequate detail, nor are they readily accessible. Most of these filings are made and maintained in formats that seem antiquated given the 24/7 world of the Internet. No reports are filed in real time; most are filed quarterly or less frequently, all after the fact. Many of them are available only in Washington. And important information remains unreported, particularly about the dates and purposes of contacts between lawmakers and congressional staff with lobbyists, and what lawmakers and staff do on their behalf.

Four Simple Principles

Current reporting requirements for members of Congress should be updated and expanded. Members are now required to disclose campaign receipts and expenditures, personal financial disclosure, trips, gifts and travel. These reports should be improved in several respects. All reports should be required to be filed electronically and be downloadable. All reports, with the exception of annual Personal Financial Disclosure reports, should be filed monthly, in a uniform electronic format, and made available online in searchable format within 24 hours of their filing. Personal Financial Disclosure reports should be amended to require disclosure of (i) the affiliations of members (and their spouses and their adult children) with political action committees and other political organizations such as "Leadership" PACs, whether registered at the federal or state level, as well as with any 501(c)(3) or 501(c)(4) organizations, and (ii) the employment or other economic relationships with entities, of the spouse, siblings and adult children of members of Congress.

Current reporting requirements for lobbyists should be updated and expanded. Not all of those who lobby are required to register as lobbyists. And even those who register as lobbyists are now required to report only minimal information about their fees and contact with lawmakers. These disclosures should also be amended so that lobbyists file monthly reports, in a uniform electronic format, and made available online in searchable format within 24 hours of their filing. In addition, lobbyists should disclose the names of congressional members, staff, and executive branch officials met with, the legislation/regulation discussed by name and/or number, and all contributions made and coordinated to that member. Ideally, these disclosures would be filed within 24 hours of any meeting or contribution, but should, at a minimum, be reported on a monthly basis. Lobbyists should disclose whether their clients opposed or supported the measure.

There should be greater transparency of legislative activity. When a member of Congress requests an earmark, all information required to be reported, including the name of the member, the name and location of the intended or likely beneficiary, the purpose of the earmark and a certification that the member has no pecuniary interest in the earmark should be publicly disclosed online in a timely fashion. All legislation should be posted online for a minimum of 72 hours before voting can take place, and that requirement must not be routinely waived.

Expansion of requirements that would enhance the openness of congressional activity would include the online posting of the official lawmakers' and senior staff daily schedules, including all appointments with lobbyists and fundraisers. This important step toward transparency can be implemented without endangering security or privacy by posting that information the day after the close of each reported business day, preferably on each member of Congress' Web site, or on a site maintained by the Clerk of the House or Secretary of the Senate. All votes in committees and on the floor should be recorded votes, posted on line immediately after the votes.

There should be greater transparency for correspondence with regulatory agencies. The Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) should be amended to apply to Congress. Consistent with the principles reflected in FOIA, correspondence and memoranda of communications between a member or staff of a member, and an executive branch agency or regulatory agency, excepting communications concerning the eligibility of an individual constituent of the communicating member for a personal benefit authorized by an existing federal statute or regulation, should become part of a public record, accessible and maintained online, in searchable text format.

Success Stories

At the beginning of the 110th Congress, Sunlight identified specific legislative priorities based on these overarching principles. Sunlight successfully lobbied for a number of provisions that were ultimately included in the Honest Leadership and Open Government Act, which was signed into law on September 14, 2007. These new rules and laws are a fist step towards improved congressional transparency.

While lobbying for better transparency, one of Sunlight's simplest yet most important messages was that information that is already supposed to be public should be accessible on the Web. On that front, we had two victories. The bill included a Sunlight amendment to create a congressional travel Web site, providing the public with access to information about where its representatives are going. Sunlight also took the lead in ensuring that the bill included a provision requiring House members to post their personal financial information online in a searchable format. Unfortunately, senators did not agree to post their personal financial statements.

Sunlight also made it a priority to end secret legislation, focusing on earmark disclosure and a ban on secret holds. Both the Senate and the House now have rules on the disclosure of earmarks. Each chamber's rules are slightly different, and it remains to be seen whether there will be true transparency on the issue. Sunlight will monitor whether the new provisions provide adequate public information on earmarks or whether the reporting and disclosure requirements need to be strengthened further.

Our efforts to end "secret holds" in the Senate were immediately effective and the practice that had allowed senators to anonymously block legislation seems to have come to an end.

We also focused on creating meaningful lobbyist disclosure, and again, our efforts and those of a coalition of reform and transparency organizations met with some success. The new law provides for quarterly lobbyist reports as well as new, semi-annual reports on certain contributions lobbyists make to federal candidates, including contributions of more than $200 and contributions to presidential libraries and inaugural committees. Bundled contributions provided to candidates by lobbyists must now be reported to the Federal Election Commission, albeit by the candidate and not the lobbyist. Lobbyists are also required to report all executive and legislative branch employment for 20 years after such employment ends. Lobbyists must now file their general reports electronically with the Secretary of the Senate and the Clerk of the House on a quarterly basis.

Despite the successes, creating a truly transparent Congress will take even more work. Lobbyist disclosure must be expanded to address who lobbyists are meeting with on Capitol Hill and what they are discussing; the content of most bills remains hidden until after the legislation has been voted on; and public reports still languish in filing cabinets for too long before they are posted online. In addition, there is still a wealth of research and other information that only members of Congress, and not the public, can access.

Sunlight's Reform Priorities

Sunlight has updated and refined our legislative priorities in order to generate greater change and a more transparent Congress. In addition to the legislative changes outlined below, we hope to create a transparency caucus advisory committee that will further the transparency conversation on Capitol Hill.

1.) Meaningful lobbyist disclosure. All who are paid to engage in direct issue advocacy with lawmakers and their staff should be required to register, and all registered lobbyists should disclose all legislative contacts, all legislation and regulations discussed, and any relationship to a current member of Congress, staff member, or executive branch employee. Ideally, lobbyist reports should be filed online within 24 hours of any meeting or contribution. At a minimum, timely disclosure would require monthly reporting Bundled contributions from any source should be disclosed.

2.) Contemporaneous online filing. The public reports currently required of lawmakers should be filed electronically and shared online in a downloadable, searchable, sortable format within 24 hours of their filing. The Senate should follow the House's lead and make Personal Financial Disclosure reports available online, and both bodies should ensure that online disclosure of any public report is not delayed beyond 24 hours of filing. Likewise, campaign finance reports should be electronically filed in the Senate as they are in the House, and should be publicly available within 24 hours. Personal Financial Disclosure reports should be amended to require disclosure of the affiliations of Members (and their spouses and their adult children) with political action committees, "Leadership" PACs, and any 501(c)(3) or 501(c)(4) organizations. They should also disclose immediate family members' employment or other economic relationships with for profit and not-for-profit entities.

3.) Ending secret legislation. All non-emergency legislation should be posted online, in its final form, at least 72 hours before a vote. The spirit of recently enacted rules changes on earmark disclosure should be upheld by ensuring that all information related to earmarks, including the purpose of the earmarks as well as identification of the beneficiaries should be made available online 72 hours before a vote on the legislation containing the earmarks.

4.) Make congressional research, databases and other information publicly accessible. Congressional Research Service reports, Legislative Information System documents and other non-classified research or information available to members of Congress and their staff should be made available, online and free of charge, to the public.