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RESTRICTIONS ON LOBBYING for UM Personnel
Regulations issued by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), bar recipients of federal funds from using such funds to lobby agency officials or members of Congress for a grant, contract, or other award. Under these rules, the University must certify when applying for or receiving $100,000 or more in federal funds ($150,000 in the case of a loan) that federally appropriated dollars have not and will not be used to lobby in connection with an award.
DRDA is responsible for ensuring compliance with these OMB requirements as they relate to sponsored projects. Certifications for major construction projects, student guaranteed loan programs, and other large-scale program funding that do not flow through DRDA are handled by the Office of the Vice President and Chief Financial Officer.
The OMB regulations explicitly allow a grantee's employees to carry out regular grant-related duties--for example, DRDA staff and faculty activities involved in identifying and pursuing sources of funds. Legislative liaison activities, providing information necessary for an agency to make an award decision, and holding technical discussions about an application or proposal are also permitted. Applicants may also hire outside professional and technical assistance for grant preparation and to smooth out the logistics of a grant or proposal submission or contract negotiation. Communications with the intent to influence the selection process made by such professional or technical consultants is not allowable under these regulations.
Under the OMB regulations, a disclosure form (Standard Form-LLL) also must be filed if the University "has made or has agreed to make payment using nonappropriated funds (to include profits from any covered Federal action)" which would be prohibited under the OMB regulations if paid for with federally appropriated funds. All disclosures about such activities covered by nonappropriated funds must be updated quarterly by submission of a report to the federal funding agency.
The Lobbying Disclosure Act of 1995 (Public Law 104-65) took effect on January 1, 1996. This Act requires the disclosure of efforts by paid lobbyists to affect decisions in the executive and legislative branches of the federal government. Under this Act, a lobbyist is defined as any individual employed or retained by a client for financial or other compensation for services whose lobbying activities constitute twenty percent or more of the total time over a six-month period in which the services of individual are engaged by the client. Lobbying contacts are defined as any oral or written communications to federal officials in the executive or legislative branches who are covered by this Act with regard to the formulation, modification, or adoption of federal legislation (including legislative proposals); federal rules, regulations, executive orders, or any other program, policy, or position of the U.S. government; the administration or execution of a federal program or policy (including the negotiation, award, or administration of a federal contract, grant, loan, permit, or license); and the nomination or confirmationof a person for a position subject to the confirmation by the Senate.
The key to this very broad definition of lobbying contacts is the term "covered officials". In the legislative branch, covered officials include all members of congress and their staffs, as well as committee staffs. In the executive branch, the definition of covered officials is drawn fairly narrowly to include only those individuals in the highest or most politically sensitive positions. For example, any officer or employee in the Executive Office of the President, including all employees of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and the Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) is included. However, the only employees of the National Institutes of Health and the National Science Foundation who qualify as "covered executive branch officials" are the NIH Director and the NSF Director and Deputy Director.
The Act also identifies specific contacts that may be made by University personnel which are not considered to be "lobbying contacts." This list of exceptions includes: testimony given before a congressional committee or submitted for the public record of a congressional hearing; communications made in response to a notice in the Federal Register, Commerce Business Daily, or other similar publications soliciting public communications; communications made as a participant in an advisory committee subject to the Federal Advisory Committee Act; and routine requests for meetings or for the status of an action on a specific program or piece of legislation.
The University is required to register all of its lobbyists and to file semi-annual reports regarding lobbying activities that took place during the six-month period, including details regarding the specific issues lobbied and a good faith estimate of the total expenses incurred in connection with the lobbying activities. If a faculty or staff member makes a lobbying contact at the direction of the University or at the suggestion of the University's lobbyist, then that contact should be reported for purposes of estimating the total lobbying expenditures of the University. Accordingly, it is recommended that anyone who lobbies on behalf of the University, whether or not they spend 20 percent or more of their time doing so, maintain a federal lobbying record.
Anyone having questions regarding the applicability of the Lobbying Disclosure Act to their activities should contact: Cindy Bank in the UM Washington Office, 202-554-0578 (bankc@umich.edu). The appropriate forms for reporting lobbying contacts can be obtained from Susan Fielder in University Relations, 763-5554 (sfielder@umich.edu).