March 1, 2007, brought important changes under the new House gift and lobbying reforms. These rules apply only to the House of Representatives. The following was reviewed by Ken Gross, a Partner in the firm Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher and Flom and Public Affairs Council legal advisor.

TRAVEL

• Registered lobbyists may not pay for expenses related to Member travel, nor may one accompany a Member or staffer on travel that relates to the Member or staffer's official duties. It is still not clear what it means for a lobbyist to accompany a Member or staffer. In any event, a lobbyist should avoid traveling with a Member or staffer on a fact-finding until the rules are further clarified.
• Registered lobbyists are prohibited from arranging an exempt fact-finding trip. They may have de minimis involvement in arranging or organizing a fact-finding trip for his or her employer if travel is limited to a one day event, excluding travel time and overnight stay. Also, the Committee on Standards of Official Conduct ("Committee on Standards") defined de minimis as "negligible or otherwise inconsequential in terms of time and expense to the overall planning and purpose of the trip." The Committee on Standards may issue rules allowing a two day trip on a case-by-case basis.

APPROVAL & DISCLOSURE

• Members must receive pre-approval from the Committee on Standards for any travel that may fall under the fact-finding trip exemption. Approval must be based on the connection between the event and the official purpose, and the relationship between the person providing the trip and the event.
• Pre-existing rules stated that members had 30 days to disclose a good-faith estimate of the expenses he or she incurred on a fact-finding trip. Now, Members will only be granted 15 days to disclose a description of events attended during the fact-finding trip.
• A private sponsor offering officially connected travel to a Member or staffer must complete and sign a Private Sponsor Certification Form and provide a copy of that form to the invitee(s). The sponsor should not submit that form directly to the Committee on Standards. Private sponsors should submit the form to the invitee(s) at least 30 days before the travel is scheduled to begin. Then, a Member must submit to the Committee on Standards a completed and signed Privately Sponsored Travel Approval Form that attaches or includes the Private Sponsor Certification Form, and for staffer travel, a copy of the Advance Authorization of Employee Travel Form.

For full details on the new rules plus additional resources, please visit the Public Affairs Council's ethics page at http://www.pac.org/ethics or http://www.house.gov/ethics.