New rules on lobbying have been announced for those working on President-elect Barack Obama's transition team. For example, lobbyists can serve in the transition as long as their activities do not involve areas of policy they have tried to influence in the past year. Federal lobbyists will be prohibited from any lobbying while they are at work on the transition. The rules also prohibit people from lobbying the Obama administration for a year on any matters in which they worked while on the transition team.

Democracy 21, the Brennan Center for Justice, the Campaign Legal Center, Common Cause, the League of Women Voters, Public Citizen, and U.S. PIRG have released a reform agenda for the 111th Congress. Their top priority is to reform the presidential campaign financing system and create a new public financing system for congressional elections.

According to a report released Sept. 30 by the Government Accountability Office (GAO), "lobbyists could provide accurate supporting information—in either written or verbal form—on income or expenses for at least 95 percent of all first quarter reports filed that required this information." This was based on a random sampling of 100 clients chosen from the first-quarter reports. The report, Observations on Lobbyists' Compliance with New Disclosure Requirements," was required by the Honest Leadership and Open Government Act.

On September 12, 2008, the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals heard oral argument in National Association of Manufacturers (NAM) v. Taylor. NAM is challenging a provision (Section 207) in the Honest Leadership and Open Government Act (HLOGA) that requires a lobbying coalition to disclose members that fund and actively participate in the coalition's lobbying efforts. NAM's argues that the HLOGA provision violates the First Amendment and is unconstitutionally vague.