On Jan. 18, the Senate passed its first major piece of legislation, S. 1, the Legislative Transparency and Accountability Act of 2007. The sweeping measure covers congressional travel, gifts, and lobbying activity and increases disclosure. However, senators rejected proposals to create an independent ethics panel and to require big dollar grassroots lobbying campaigns to disclose their spending. Grassroots lobbying disclosure and other proposals now move to the House, which has passed its own ethics rules, but has yet to act on amending the Lobbying Disclosure Act. Travel and Gifts Congressional travel reform followed last year's revelations of lavish trips and "junkets" that allowed lobbyists undue influence with lawmakers. S. 1 prohibits organizations that employ lobbyists from arranging or paying for congressional travel, but charities and religious organizations are allowed to pay for travel with approval from the Senate Ethics Committee, which will determine whether the trip is educational and whether the funding comes from a lobbying firm. Travel on corporate aircraft is still allowed under the legislation, but it will now become more expensive as Senators will have to pay the full charter rate. One-day trips and travel paid by universities are permitted. Members will also be required to file travel gift reports, which will be available in an online database by the beginning of 2008. Gifts from lobbyists and organizations that hire lobbyists are strictly banned, and gifts of event tickets from non-lobbyists must be reported at their full value. Lobbying Changes S. 1 contains important measures that change lobbying rules and provide more transparency in the system. It increases the frequency of reporting from semi-annually to quarterly and lowers the threshold of expenditures for reporting. In addition, current paper reports will be replaced with electronic reports, which will be publicly available on an Internet database. Other changes to the Lobbying Disclosure Act include:

• All campaign fundraising activity by lobbyists, including bundling (contributions from their clients and others) must be disclosed. According to the New York Times, "Of all the bill's provisions, it was the disclosure requirements for bundled checks that met the stiffest resistance behind the scenes in the Democratic caucus because of the potential to make it harder for incumbent lawmakers to tap K Street lobbyists as surrogate fund-raisers, aides involved in negotiations over the bill said, speaking anonymously because the talks were confidential."
• Lobbyists cannot host events that pay tribute to members of Congress, even at party conventions.
• The revolving door prohibition, which bars former members of Congress from lobbying during a "cooling off period," will be extended from one year to two and will be broadened to include "lobbying activity," not just direct lobbying contacts. As Sen. Russell Feingold (D-WI) said on the Senate floor, "They must refrain from running the show behind the scenes. They won't be able to strategize with and coordinate the lobbying activities of others who are trying to influence the Congress. Members who have just left Congress should not be capitalizing on the clout, access, and experience they gained here to lobby their colleagues, whether they are doing the lobbying themselves or instructing others."
• Members of Congress will not be allowed to negotiate employment involving lobbying while they are in Congress, and senior congressional staff will be required to notify the Senate Ethics Committee within three days of negotiating for future employment. Spouses of members of Congress will be prohibited from lobbying, unless they were registered lobbyists prior to their spouse's election or more than one year prior to marrying the Member.
• S. 1 increases the penalty for government officials who falsify their personal financial disclosure forms, from $10,000 to $50,000, and establishes a maximum one-year prison sentence. The penalty for failing to comply with lobbying disclosure laws is also increased, from $100,000 to $200,000.

It was disappointing that senators voted to strip a provision that would have required grassroots lobbying disclosure, which was aimed at big money grassroots lobbying campaigns, and the Senate missed an opportunity for greater accountability by not adding a requirement for independent enforcement of ethics violations. These and other reform proposals now move to the House, which will be taking up legislative changes on lobbying reforms, possibly in February. The two versions of this legislation will then need to be reconciled through a House-Senate conference committee.