(Texas Scorecard) – A new measure to ban taxpayer-funded lobbying has been filed in the Texas Senate.
State Sen. Mayes Middleton (R-Galveston) filed the act on Thursday, asserting that utilizing public funds for lobbying efforts is unethical and needs to end.
“For too long, taxpayers’ and parents’ own tax dollars have been used to lobby against them in Austin,” Middleton said.
He asserted that taxpayer-funded lobbyists have squandered millions of hard-earned dollars “to lobby against border security, election integrity, parental choice in education, teacher pay raises, and even fought against property tax relief and reform.”
Middleton explained that lobbying groups, like the Texas Association of School Boards, operate on public funds and have been using school tax dollars to lobby against legislation banning boys from entering girls’ restrooms and locker rooms.
TASB also reportedly spent taxpayer money to host pronoun usage trainings for school board members, according to the senator.
The new legislation aims to restrict political subdivisions from using public funds to hire individuals required to register as lobbyists. The ban would be extended to nonprofit organizations “that primarily represents political subdivisions” such as cities, counties, and school districts.
“Nearly $70 million per year is spent on taxpayer-funded lobbying,” Middleton continued. “We don’t need an Austin lobbyist middleman between state and local elected officials. We are elected to represent our constituents directly.”
The lawmaker thanked Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick for naming Senate Bill 19 as one of his top priorities for the 89th legislative session.
Texans for Fiscal Responsibility President Andrew McVeigh told Texas Scorecard that he commends Middleton for filing Senate Bill 19.
“Taxpayer-funded lobbying is a terrible practice in which local governments use taxpayer money to hire lobbyists and send them to Austin to lobby the legislature for things that may not align with taxpayer interests or desires,” McVeigh explained.
“This practice has been allowed to go on for far too long, with tens of millions of dollars being spent on taxpayer-funded lobbying each legislative session,” he added. “TFR looks forward to working with legislators to end this once and for all.”
The 89th legislative session will end on June 2.