Today marks the first day for the 113th Congress.  In addition to holding leadership elections, Members of the new Congress this evening voted to approve rules which, among other things, allow House Members to fly on corporate jets.  Previously, House Members were generally barred by House gift rules from accepting free flights on private aircraft and by other provisions of the House rules from using personal or official funds to pay for such flights unless the Member or a family member owned or leased the plane.  Under the new rules, Members (like their Senate counterparts) will be able to fly on these jets if they use personal or official funds to pay the pro rata share of the usual charter rate for a comparable plane.  The rules also authorize the chair and ranking minority member of the House Ethics Committees to grant waivers to this private aircraft rule.

Don’t expect to see a sudden drop-off in sightings of House Members at Reagan National Airport, however.  The high cost of corporate jet flights makes it impractical for the vast majority of House Members to ditch their usual commercial flights home.  In addition, Federal Election Commission rules still generally prohibit House candidates from flying on private aircraft for campaign-related purposes.

Tags: aircraft, corporate jets, gift rules
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Photo of Zachary G. Parks Zachary G. Parks

Zachary Parks advises corporations, trade associations, campaigns, and high-net worth individuals on their most important and challenging political law problems.

Chambers USA describes Zachary as “highly regarded by his clients in the political law arena,” noting that clients praised him as their “go-to outside…

Zachary Parks advises corporations, trade associations, campaigns, and high-net worth individuals on their most important and challenging political law problems.

Chambers USA describes Zachary as “highly regarded by his clients in the political law arena,” noting that clients praised him as their “go-to outside attorney for election law, campaign finance, pay-to-play and PAC issues.” Zachary is also a leading lawyer in the emerging corporate political disclosure field, regularly advising corporations on these issues.

Zachary’s expertise includes the Federal Election Campaign Act, the Lobbying Disclosure Act, the Ethics in Government Act, the Foreign Agents Registration Act, and the Securities and Exchange Commission’s pay-to-play rules. He has also helped clients comply with the election and political laws of all 50 states. Zachary also frequently leads political law due diligence for investment firms and corporations during mergers and acquisitions.

He routinely advises corporations and corporate executives on instituting political law compliance programs and conducts compliance training for senior corporate executives and lobbyists. He also has extensive experience conducting corporate internal investigations concerning campaign finance and lobbying law compliance and has defended his political law clients in investigations by the Federal Election Commission, the U.S. Department of Justice, Congressional committees, and in litigation.

Zachary is also the founder and chair of the J. Reuben Clark Law Society’s Political and Election Law Section.

Zachary also has extensive complex litigation experience, having litigated major environmental claims, class actions, and multi-district proceedings for financial institutions, corporations, and public entities.

From 2005 to 2006, Zachary was a law clerk for Judge Thomas B. Griffith on the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia.

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