Here something that’s hard to believe: In many states, taxpayers pay lobbyists’ salaries. So-called “public lobbying” is a common practice whereby one government entity uses taxpayer money to hire lobbyists who then lobby another government entity—even within the same state.
But that won’t happen in Arizona anymore. Governor Doug Ducey recently issued an executive order that will prevent many state government entities from hiring lobbyists.
In a statement, Ducey’s office said it “identified approximately $1 million in public funds spent on professional lobbyists since Fiscal Year 2015,” but suggests the real total may be higher, as “inconsistent reporting practices and a lack of accountability may shield additional dollars of public spending on lobbyists.”
Arizona now joins other states that limit or prohibit government entities from hiring lobbyists. According to the National Conference of State Legislatures, as of February 2015, ten states prohibited state agencies from using public funds to hire lobbyists.
Americans for Prosperity estimated that in Texas, “well over $50 million was spent on lobbying by local taxing entities,” as of a few years ago. According to Texas Public Policy Foundation Vice President Chuck DeVore, Austin spends about $1 million every year to lobby, and “Texas school districts and special districts spent about $344 million in the 2009 legislative session.” DeVore asks, “[s]hould a city have the right to use city taxpayer dollars to ask for more taxpayer money from the state?”
DeVore also explained that, “[i]n fiscal year 2007, California counties and cities spent $40 million of taxpayer money on lobbyists to influence the state legislature.”
DeVore also noted that, in the most recent legislative session in California, local government spent $110 million on lobbying expenses—more than double that spent by the oil and gas industry.
In Missouri, meanwhile, a report from the Show-Me Institute estimated that, in 2012, $2.7 million of taxpayer dollars was spent on intergovernmental lobbying, including $432,569 from Kansas City residents.
That same report details problems with this specific type of lobbying. Among the most obvious is the feeling you may have while reading this—you didn’t know that this kind of lobbying existed. The report notes that “[m]ost citizens are unaware of the existence of taxpayer-funded lobbying and those who are often have little information pertaining to which institutions lobby and to what extent.” This problem can be attributed to “weak disclosure requirement laws and results in little or non-existent citizen oversight of public lobbying activities.”
The report also explains how taxpayer-funded lobbyists can crowd out voices of Americans. In particular, “taxpayer-funded lobbying competes with citizen participation in government.”
Opponents of taxpayer-funded lobbying argue that lobbying from public agency associations is a big part of the problem, because they’re not elected and not accountable to taxpayers.
Former AFP Texas Policy Director and Senior States Policy Advisor Peggy Venable told THE WEEKLY STANDARD that “the associations are the most problematic.”
DeVore also explains how the process works.
The problem is that associations like these are “not accountable to voters.”
If you hadn’t already guessed, some public lobbyists are former legislators. In other words, not only do state government officials hire lobbyists to lobby government—when some officials leave government, they can get hired by other officials to lobby government.
A 2009 report revealed that former Texas Legislator Fred Hill represented “a handful of north Texas city and town governments in Austin this year, work for which he would be paid between $395,000-$699,990.”
Venable says efforts to stop taxpayer-funded lobbying are alive and well. There will be legislation put forth in Texas and other states next year. However, she explains that part of the challenge is that “any efforts meet resistance from the lobby we are funding and are working to defund.”
In Arizona, however, resistance was futile.
