Every few years, this argument heats up.
Mayor Sylvester Turner
In the run-up to this year’s Texas legislative session, Mayor Sylvester Turner decided to switch Capitol lobbying firms.
In was Hillco Partners, considered by many the most powerful player in Austin lobbying. Out was a firm led by a political adviser to House Speaker Joe Straus.
What didn’t change was the monthly fee that the city pays when legislators are in session – $110,639. In return for that hefty fee, city officials expect representation for Houston taxpayers by lobbyists with expertise, clout and deep ties to legislators and high-ranking state officials.
Houston isn’t alone in paying big bucks to lobby state government. San Antonio, Dallas, Austin, and Fort Worth all also use outside lobbyists, commonly referred to as “hired guns,” to advance their legislative agendas and kill bills they oppose.
Taxpayers in those five cities collectively have paid about $5 million to lobbying firms since 2015, but information is sparse because the state does not maintain a database on lobbyist expenditures by local governments. Businesses and other special interests spend vastly larger amounts on influencing the executive and legislative branches, but the state keeps no data on that either.
Houston also spends hundreds of thousands of dollars each year on governmental relations staffers who are not registered as lobbyists.
Just as a reminder, all this is happening while the state government is becoming increasingly hostile to cities and their interests, and we just had a special session where half the items on the agenda were about curbing cities’ powers. You want cities to spend less on lobbyists? Start by installing a state government that doesn’t treat cities as annoying obstacles or worse.