NAM’s website has the latest on the lawsuit challenging a provision of HLOGA.

On February 6, 2008, the NAM filed suit to declare unconstitutional a provision of the Lobbying Disclosure Act that requires the disclosure of members of the association that actively participate in lobbying activities. The provision, Section 207 of the Honest Leadership and Open Government Act of 2007 (HLOGA), requires registered lobbying organizations like the NAM to disclose the names of any corporate members that contribute more than $5,000 to the lobbying of the organization and that “actively participate[] in the planning, supervision, or control of such lobbying activities.” The provision was nominally targeted at “stealth coalitions,” whatever they are, but missed that mark and hit legitimate, long-standing and well-known organizations like the NAM that have corporate members. Coalitions with individual members are exempted from the provision.