Texas local governments use taxpayer dollars to hire lobbyists to influence state legislation—creating conflicts of interest, distorting democratic accountability, and undermining the interests of Texas taxpayers.
Key points:
- Taxpayer-funded lobbying expenditures more than doubled from the 85th to the 89th Legislature, now reaching as high as $111.5 million.
- Taxpayer-funded lobbyists consistently opposed legislation involving property tax reform, local regulatory preemption, and school choice.
- Taxpayer-funded lobbyists also engaged on highly controversial social issues such as abortion, gun control, and men’s and women’s private spaces.
- The Texas Legislature should amend Government Code §556.005 to prohibit political subdivisions from using public funds to hire registered lobbyists or pay dues to associations that employ lobbyists, extending existing state-agency restrictions to local governments.
