Other states, too, might have had enough.
O ne of the biggest obstacles to government reform is bureaucracies’ using taxpayer dollars to lobby for higher taxes and spending, in a perpetual motion of big-government growth.
This has been a longtime problem in Texas, where counties, cities, and even universities send armies of lobbyists to the legislature and stymie good fiscal policy. Now, finally, we’re seeing some progress in curbing this problem.
Last September, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton settled with seven Texas school districts, which he had sued over their alleged electioneering against a major school choice bill that eventually passed and became law. As part of the settlement, districts agreed to add safeguards to their social media policies to better monitor their future election- or legislation-related social media posts. Then, this April, Paxton’s office accused the Houston Independent School District for its allegedly promoting a school bond issue.
Texas Governor Greg Abbott has also had enough. He has made curbing taxpayer-funded lobbying a priority for this month’s special session of the legislature. The state senate has approved a bill that would prevent cities, counties, and school districts from spending taxpayer dollars to hire outside lobbyists.
State Senator Paul Bettencourt, a former county tax assessor who has observed local officials abuse their offices, was a key supporter of the bill. He argued that “Texans are being taxed twice, once to fund local services and again to fund political lobbying they may not support.” He cited a report by the Texas Public Policy Foundation that estimates that in 2023, local governments spent as much as $98.6 million to hire contract lobbyists — an increase from $75 million in 2021. State Senator Mayes Middleton, another sponsor of the bill, emphasizes that it would do nothing to restrict local officials’ ability to lobby the state legislature themselves: “We don’t need a taxpayer-funded lobbyist middleman between our local elected officials and state officials.”
When Texas House Democrats return from their self-exile over a dispute about congressional redistricting, the bill is expected to pass and then be signed into law by Governor Abbott. He knows a popular issue when he sees it; 2019 and 2021 polls by WPA Intelligence found that about nine in ten Texans oppose using tax dollars to fund lobbyists.
Similar efforts in other states, where dubious electioneering is a problem, would no doubt also be popular. This month, Sam Page, the county executive of St. Louis, was indicted on two felony counts of using public money to oppose a ballot initiative that would have limited his power to hire department heads. Page’s effort wasn’t subtle. He had county officials send a pre-election mailer to voters that mentioned the many groups who opposed the initiative and alleged problems with the proposition’s wording. The mailer clearly stated that it had been paid for by “St. Louis County.”
Governments at the federal and local levels often feel as though they have the right to use their authority and public resources to ensure that taxpayer dollars keep flowing. It’s improper for officials to enrich themselves through their office, and there should be strict rules to bar them from spending taxpayer dollars to retain and grow the status and budgets of their departments.