Alex Langton

In 2025, Texas, Nebraska, Louisiana, Arkansas and Oklahoma enacted state-level foreign agent registration and disclosure regimes that were loosely modeled on the federal Foreign Agents Registration Act. And in the first few months of 2026, several states — Alabama, Florida, Iowa, Missouri and West Virginia, to name a few — have already introduced similar bills. The practice of requiring disclosure of efforts to influence state policy is nothing new.

Shortly before adjourning for 2025, the Senate passed two bills to broaden disclosure and registration requirements related to the regulation of foreign agents under the Foreign Agents Registration Act (“FARA”) and the Lobbying Disclosure Act (“LDA”): the Disclosing Foreign Influence in Lobbying Act (S. 856 / H.R. 1883) and the Lobbying Disclosure Improvement Act (S. 865 / H.R. 1887).