NW Houston News

Many Texans oppose taxpayer funded lobbying, leading to school districts, cities and counties being questioned by one lawmaker on lobbying expenditures, including the city of Jersey Village.

Rep. Mayes Middleton (R-Wallisville) and Sen. Bob Hall (R-Edgewood) last week filed lobbying bills HB 740 and SB 234, respectively, to stop taxpayer funded lobbying, East Houston News reported. 

Additionally, Middleton has sent letters to hundreds of municipalities requesting information on their lobbying expenditures.

Middleton sent a letter to City Secretary Lorri Coody of Jersey Village, who conferred with City Manager Austin Bleess on the inquiry. The city's budget line shows $1 spent by the city for lobbying.

Coody, when asked by the NW Houston News if the city belongs to the Texas Municipal League, replied via email with an invoice and supporting payment authorization for its TML membership. 

"We do not know how much of this membership fee is applied to lobbying by TML, if any," she said.

That invoice shows Jersey Village pays TML $1,865 for membership fees. 

The city of Jersey Village spends a total of $6,000 annually on memberships/subscriptions, according to their budget line items. 

The East Houston News reported that data from Middleton's office shows up to $41 million per year is spend by local governments on Austin lobbyists.

“Taxpayer-funded lobbyists have opposed property tax relief, election integrity, disclosures of what bonds truly cost taxpayers, the constitutional ban on a state income tax, and they even opposed the bill to fund and protect our teacher’s retirement pensions,” Middleton told East Houston News.

“Taxpayers are forced to pay for lobbyists that lobby against their best interests,” Middleton said. “Taxpayer-funded lobbying is a modern practice and a bad one.”

Most Texas oppose their taxes being used to pay for lobbying. Last year the Texas Public Policy Foundation's poll found 88% of Texans oppose the practice.