(The Center Square) – A Republican state senator from Galveston has filed a bill for the fourth time to end taxpayer-funded lobbying in Texas. The bill is a legislative priority of the Texas Senate.
State Sen. Mayes Middleton filed SB 19, which would amend government code to restrict political subdivisions from lobbying. It would prohibit political subdivisions from spending public funds to hire registered lobbyists to lobby the state legislature. It also would prohibit political subdivisions from paying a nonprofit state association or organization that primarily represents political subdivisions, including hiring or contracting with registered lobbyists, to lobby on their behalf.
The bill would apply to political subdivisions that currently spend a combined $70 million on lobbying. Among them are organizations like the Texas Municipal League and Texas Association of School Boards.
The bill woudn’t prohibit employees of political subdivisions or elected officials from testifying about bills before the legislature or advocating for or against legislation, provided “those actions would not require a person to register as a lobbyist under Chapter 305,” according to the bill language.
If a political subdivision engages in taxpayer funded lobbying, the bill would allow taxpayers or residents to sue.
“For too long, taxpayers’ and parents’ own tax dollars have been used to lobby against them in Austin,” Middleton said. “These taxpayer-funded lobbyists have squandered millions of dollars of your 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.
“There is a mandate for DOGE in Texas, and taxpayers are sick and tired of government waste, fraud and abuse. Now is the time to end this unethical practice of taxpayer dollars being used to lobby against taxpayers.”
The Texas Municipal League argues it’s been advocating on behalf of its member cities since 1913 “because many significant decisions affecting Texas cities are made by the Texas Legislature, not by municipal officials.”
Its efforts have paid off, it argues. During the 2023 legislative session, of the more than 8,000 bills or resolutions introduced, more than 1,800 affected Texas cities in a substantial way. Due to the league’s efforts, of the more than 1,200 bills or resolutions that passed and were signed into law, only 230 impacted cities in some way.
The number of bills related to regulating cities as a percentage of total bills filed increases every year, the league notes. Twenty years ago, roughly 17% of bills filed affected cities in some way compared to 23 percent in 2023. “In other words, almost a quarter of the legislature’s work is directed at cities, and much of that work aims to limit municipal authority,” it notes.
The league vigorously opposes any legislation that erodes “the authority of Texas cities to govern their own local affairs,” arguing that “cities represent the level of government closest to the people. They bear primary responsibility for the provision of capital infrastructure and for ensuring our citizens’ health and safety. Thus, cities must be assured of a predictable and sufficient level of revenue and must resist efforts to diminish that revenue.” It also opposes state government imposed unfunded mandates on local jurisdictions.
Middleton has filed the bill four times, with it passing the Senate each time and failing in the House each time for different reasons.
In 2019, House members added an amendment to remove a provision related to the bill’s applicability depending on county population, resulting in its death. In 2021, the bill died after then-state Rep. Chris Paddie, R-Marshall, watered it down. In 2023, the bill went nowhere in the Texas House State Affairs Committee and died.
House Speaker Dustin Burrows, R-Lubbock, has long supported the ban. State Rep. Ken King, R-Canadian, who chairs the House State Affairs Committee, opposes it.
The bill is expected to again pass the Senate. It remains unclear how far it will go in the House.