States progress in reform of lobbying laws

Leah Rush and David Jimenez of The Center for Public Integrity report that 24 states have worked to strengthen or improve electronic disclosure systems since the Center's 2003 report, "Hired Guns." Meanwhile, federal lobbying disclosure laws have not changed in the past eight years. Political scandals, in many cases, were the catalyst for changes in state lobbying laws. The Center "evaluated the strength of lobbying disclosure laws nationwide found the federal law to be weaker than those of 47 of the 50 states."