The Texas Senate has approved legislation that would restrict how local governments could fund lobbyists to help them influence proposed state laws and policies moving through the Legislature.
Senate Bill 175, which passed from the chamber on a 19-12 party line vote last Thursday, would ban cities, counties and school districts from spending public funds to hire registered lobbyists tasked with pressing lawmakers for political action.
The bill from freshman Sen. Mayes Middleton, R-Galveston, also prohibits political subdivisions from using public funds to pay nonprofit state associations or organizations, such as the Texas Municipal League, that contract registered lobbyists.
Middleton’s proposal has been a priority issue for the Texas GOP in previous sessions. He points to lobbyists possibly working against the best interests of those they are meant to represent, referencing past lobby opposition to certain tax proposals and against a school voucher program.
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“Elected officials are supposed to directly represent their communities whether at the state level or the local level,” Middleton said while laying out the bill on the Senate floor on April 6. “And better than an Austin lobbyist, every taxpayer has a state representative and a state senator to represent them in Austin.
