BLAST Act

I 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 1145 To amend title 18, United States Code, to prohibit former Members and elected officers of Congress from lobbying Congress at any time after leaving office. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES FEBRUARY 11, 2019 Mr. HOLLINGSWORTH introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary A BILL To amend title 18, United States Code, to prohibit former Members and elected officers of Congress from lobbying Congress at any time after leaving office. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Banning Lobbying and 4 Safeguarding Trust Act’’ or the ‘‘BLAST Act’’. 5 SEC. 2. PROHIBITING FORMER MEMBERS AND OFFICERS 6 OF CONGRESS FROM LOBBYING CONGRESS. 7 (a) PROHIBITION.—Section 207(e)(1) of title 18, 8 United States Code, is amended to read as follows: 9 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:42 Feb 21, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1145.IH H1145 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 2 •HR 1145 IH ‘‘(1) MEMBERS AND ELECTED OFFICERS OF 1 CONGRESS.—Any person who is a Senator, a Mem- 2 ber of the House of Representatives, or an elected 3 officer of the Senate or the House of Representa- 4 tives and who, after that person leaves office, know- 5 ingly makes, with the intent to influence, any com- 6 munication to or appearance before any Member, of- 7 ficer, or employee of either House of Congress or 8 any employee of any other legislative office of the 9 Congress, on behalf of any other person (except the 10 United States) in connection with any matter on 11 which such former Senator, Member, or elected offi- 12 cial seeks action by a Member, officer, or employee 13 of either House of Congress, in his or her official ca- 14 pacity, shall be punished as provided in section 216 15 of this title.’’. 16 (b) CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.—Section 207(e)(2) 17 of such title is amended— 18 (1) in the heading, by striking ‘‘OFFICERS AND 19 STAFF’’ and inserting ‘‘STAFF’’; 20 (2) by striking ‘‘an elected officer of the Senate, 21 or’’; 22 (3) by striking ‘‘leaves office or employment’’ 23 and inserting ‘‘leaves employment’’; and 24 (4) by striking ‘‘former elected officer or’’. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:42 Feb 21, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1145.IH H1145 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 3 •HR 1145 IH (c) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by 1 this section shall apply with respect to an individual who 2 leaves office on or after the date of the enactment of this 3 Act. 4 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:42 Feb 21, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H1145.IH H1145 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS