Statistics released by the Office of State Ethics show in 2014 the most lobbying money was spent on hospitals and related healthcare issues. More than $37.2 million was spent lobbying legislators and state officials by a small army of lobbyists.
The top 5 issues lobbied were:
- Health and hospitals, healthcare systems medical organizations;
- Government – financing, revenue, taxation, budget, appropriations, bids fees, funds, contracts;
- Business
- Human services – adult, families, children; and
- Environment – recycling, packaging, pollution, waste.
In 2014, there were 1,090 registered client lobbyists. In addition, there were what the Office of State Ethics categorizes as 757 in-house communicators and 217 individual communicators. A lobbyist is defined as someone who expends or agrees to expend more than $2,000 in a calendar year for lobbying.
The cadre of lobbyists were responsible for spending $37.2 million in 2014. Of that dollar figure, $28.1 million went to compensation for lobbyists.
A meeting will be held this afternoon to determine which lobbyists will be randomly audited by the Office of State Ethics. It’s an annual drill designed to find discrepancies in lobbying practices. Ten of the registered client lobbyists will be audited.
