The House has begun working on its own piece of lobby reform legislation, and on Thursday the House Judiciary Committee will begin with a hearing focused on the provisions passed by the Senate in S. 1. Hopefully the lobby law changes approved in the Senate will remain intact in the House, along with some important measures left out of the Senate version such as grassroots lobbying disclosure.

Rick Hasen and three others have written an amicus brief supporting the Federal Election Commission (FEC) in the Wisconsin Right to Life case urging the Supreme Court to reverse the lower court ruling.

This noteworthy blog posting at "The Questionable Authority," addresses the notion that the grassroots lobbying provision stripped from S.1 would have included bloggers. It clarifies that any blogger advocating federal legislation would not have to register and report under the Lobby Disclosure Act (LDA).

This week the House ethics committee issued guidelines concerning the process to obtain pre-approval of privately sponsored travel. Forms will have to be filled out explaining how each trip is considered to be official business. The sponsor paying for the trip will have to confirm that expenses are not related to personal activities. The new rules touted as strict, are now expanded once more in these new guidelines. A second night's stay is allowed in some cases if found necessary depending on practicality or transportation availability.