The Texas Senate has once again passed legislation to ban taxpayer-funded lobbying, continuing a years-long push to end the practice of local governments hiring lobbyists using public funds.
Senate Bill 12 by State Sen. Mayes Middleton passed the Senate and, after one more procedural vote, will head to the Texas House for consideration. The legislation has been a repeated priority of the Republican Party of Texas and remains popular among GOP voters.
This marks the tenth time Middleton has filed the legislation.
“Tax dollars are being used to lobby against you right now. Political subdivisions of the state are spending $100 million per year to hire Austin lobbyists or pay public funds to government entities that represent political subdivisions of the state,” said Middleton.
“Texans are being forced to fund speech that they fundamentally disagree with, and frankly, we’ve talked a lot about USAID on the federal level. Well taxpayer-funded lobbying is the USAID on the state level … plain and simple, we’ve created another branch of government by allowing this to operate in the shadows.”
Senate Bill 12, he explained, is designed to stop the flow of taxpayer funds to registered lobbyists.
The legislation has already passed the Senate in previous sessions, including earlier this year. However, that version was amended on the Senate floor to carve out exemptions for groups like the Texas Association of School Boards—organizations often criticized for using tax dollars to maintain a lobbying presence in Austin.
The current version restores some of those restrictions, with limited exceptions for associations representing individual law enforcement officers, sheriffs, and similar groups.
“This bill grows the voice of our constituents. Money from the pockets of our taxpayers will no longer be taken by force and used to pay for lobbyists that undermine their interests,” said Middleton.
Senators approved the bill in a party-line 17-11 vote.
The bill passed unanimously out of the Senate State Affairs Committee last week.
During the regular session, the bill was never given hearing in the House State Affairs Committee by State Rep. Ken King.
