Reference

Glossary

These definitions describe how terms are used on Gov Influence. An official source may use more detailed classifications.

Reviewed Sep 5, 2026

Lobbying Disclosure Act records

LD-1 registration: A registration that identifies a registrant, client, and covered lobbying issues; it is distinct from a quarterly activity report.
LD-2 report: A quarterly report of lobbying activity and the applicable income or expense disclosure.
Amendment: A later filing version that corrects or changes an earlier registration or report.
Reporting quarter: The three-month period covered by an LD-2 activity report.
Issue code: A broad official LDA subject category such as DEF, HCR, or TAX.
Specific lobbying issue: The filer's original narrative describing the activity reported under an issue code.
Government entity: An office, agency, or chamber listed by the filer as contacted or expected to be contacted.
Client: The organization on whose behalf lobbying is reported.
Registrant: The person or organization that files the registration or activity report.
In-house filer: An organization acting as its own registrant and reporting applicable lobbying expenses.
Outside registrant: A separate firm or person filing for a client and reporting applicable client income.
Listed lobbyist: A person named in a filing's lobbyist field; the name alone is not a reviewed identity match or proof of a particular contact.

Canonical name: The reviewed name Gov Influence uses for the entity.
Source-record name: The name exactly as supplied by an official record.
Alias: A complete name variant approved for a specific matching rule.
Former name: A prior name supported by dated evidence; it does not automatically merge other entities.
Affiliate: A related organization that remains separate unless an official identity basis supports a link.
Subsidiary: A separately named controlled entity that is not automatically included in a parent's totals.
Match basis: The identifier, exact alias, or official record used to support an identity or relationship decision.
Review status: The editorial state that determines whether a candidate match is approved, held, or not published.

Congress: The numbered two-year meeting of the U.S. House and Senate in which a measure is introduced.
Bill type: The chamber and measure prefix, such as H.R. for a House bill or S. for a Senate bill.
Sponsor: The member who formally introduces a measure; sponsorship does not show another entity's position.
Cosponsor: A member formally listed in support of a measure after or at introduction.
Committee of referral: A committee to which the chamber refers a measure for consideration.
Legislative action: A dated procedural event recorded in the official bill history.
Policy area: A broad Congress.gov classification assigned to a measure.
Subject: A more specific Congress.gov indexing term attached to a measure.
Companion measure: A related measure in the other chamber; similarity does not mean the texts or status are identical.
Enactment: The recorded point at which a measure becomes law; introduction, referral, or passage by one chamber is not enactment.

FEC committee: A political committee registered with the Federal Election Commission and identified by an official committee ID.
Affiliated organization: An organization relationship reported in committee records; it is separate from lobbying and requires identity review.
Receipts: Money received by a committee under FEC reporting definitions.
Disbursements: Money spent by a committee under FEC reporting definitions.
Election cycle: The two-year period used to organize federal campaign-finance reporting.
Aggregate: A committee-level total for a stated period; Gov Influence does not publish individual contributor records.

Federal award: A contract, grant, or other assistance record published in the federal spending system.
Recipient: The entity named by the award record; identity must be reviewed before linking it to a profile.
Awarding agency: The federal department or agency responsible for the award record.
Obligation: A legally binding government commitment of funds, not necessarily cash already paid.
Contract: An award used to acquire goods or services for the government.
Grant: An assistance award supporting a public purpose under its stated terms.
Period of performance: The recorded start and end dates for award work or assistance.
Award ID: The source-system identifier used to locate a specific award record.

Reporting period: The quarter, cycle, Congress, or other span to which a record applies.
Retrieval date: When Gov Influence obtained the source record.
Review date: When the normalized record or editorial decision was last checked.
Documented fact: A statement directly supported by a cited source record.
Site calculation: A reproducible calculation over identified source inputs with a stated method.
Verified relationship: A cross-record link with an approved identity and evidence basis.
Contextual association: Records shown together for a stated, limited reason without a causal claim.
Unknown or ambiguous: The available reviewed evidence does not support a reliable identity or factual conclusion.
Insufficient evidence: The reviewed packet does not support the requested conclusion; it is not proof of the opposite conclusion.