Lobbying is advocacy of a
point of view, either by groups or individuals. A special interest is an
identified group expressing a point of view. Examples are businesses, colleges
and universities, churches, charities, public interest or environmental groups,
senior citizens organizations, state, local or foreign governments.
Lobbying involves
persuading legislators, researching and analyzing legislation or regulatory
proposals, monitoring and reporting on developments, attending congressional or
regulatory hearings, working with coalitions interested in the issues and then
educating not only government officials but also employees and corporate
officers as to the implications of various changes.
Lobbying, the actual communication with
government officials, represents a small portion of a lobbyist's time. Most of a
lobbyist time is devoted to the other aspects of preparation, information and
communication.
Lobbyists register with the Senate Office of
Public Records. The Office of Public Records maintains for public inspection
information on each lobbyist.
Today there are about 30,000 registered lobbyists.
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