Features of regulation of lobbyism at the regional level in America

The term "lobbyism" comes from the English word "lobby" meaning a narrow corridor in English Parliament (building) where deputies could communicate in an informal situation. The political shade got this term only at the end of the XVIII century in the United States of America. At the beginning of the 1820th years the term "lobbyism" was used for definition of local groups, influencing the authorities of the country for the purpose of advance of own interests. Nowadays the USA is the only state in the world that secures lobbying constitutionally and regulates it by means of various federal laws. At the same time each US state has its own regulations establishing the rules for lobbying activities. Despite the federal law lobbying is still banned in some states. This is not surprising since the USA has fifty governments, various political subcultures and levels of political and economic development, so in each state the experience of lobbying regulation has its own characteristics. It is also important to note that the state supervision of lobbying is limited by four fundamental functions: 1) establishing general requirements for registration; 2) establishing criteria for defining a professional lobbyist; 3) establishing of common reporting mechanisms. American states oversight of lobbying generally takes four forms. States establish registration requirements by defining what lobbying is and who is a lobbyist; they require lobbyists or the interests that hire them to periodically disclose their expenditures and earnings; they regulate the ‘revolving door’ between government and the private sector by establishing a cooling-off period during which ex-government officials are prohibited from lobbying the government they once served and they define the range of permissible lobbying activities, such as providing free gifts or meals. As we can see, there are substantial differences across the varying American States when it comes to regulating lobbyists and lobbying behavior. Moreover because of the importance of State government in the United States, regulations at the state level are in many ways equally if not more important than the federal regulations.

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