Houston Republic

A Texas state representative says local government entities are reluctant to disclose information on their lobbying efforts with state government even though a new state law requires them to do so.

State Rep. Mayes Middleton (R-Wallisville) sent 3,000 letters to school districts, cities and counties in the state asking how much they spend, what lobbying firms they employ and what legislation they were for or against.

Middleton, in his first term representing the 23rd District, said the response has been disappointing. While around 2,000 governments responded, some provided partial information while others did not send anything, he said.

Texas Municipal League Executive Director Bennett Sandlin | Courtesy Texas Municipal League

“The problem is, not all of them are telling the truth,” Middleton told Texas Business Coalition.

He said the Deer Park and La Porte school districts said they did not hire lobbyists but other information he received indicated they had. The Austin Independent School District said it had nothing to disclose.

"Well, that’s a lie,” Middleton said. “Austin ISD spends a fortune lobbying the Texas Legislature.”

He said with local governments spending an estimated $41 million annually to lobby in Austin, often on behalf of laws that will raise taxes, it's only fair to find out how much they are spending.

“This is just a basic taxpayer rights thing,” Middleton said. “It’s their money. Unfortunately, we see governments hiring lobbyists to fight against taxpayers.”

In 2019, Middleton, then a freshman legislator, introduced a bill to ban all lobbying by government agencies. It did not pass in the House, while another bill on the same subject passed the Senate but failed in the House.

However, a section of a bill that was enacted into law mandated governments disclose lobbying information. Senate Bill 65 went into effect on Sept. 1.

Middleton wants local governments to release all contract details, including the length of the contract and all costs. He also asked them to disclose what legislation they lobbied for or against.

He also requested information on the lobbying firms that were hired and a copy of the contract with them.

The Texas Municipal League, which represents the governments, advised its members to treat the letter as a request for public records.

“Send any contracts the city has signed with lobbyists from Jan. 1, 2010 to the present,” the league stated in a website posting. “An argument can be made that the nature of the request only applies to cities that have engaged in certain consulting contracts with state agencies. However, that is not the only interpretation of the request, and furthermore the representative would be within his legal rights to follow up with a blanket open records request for all lobby contracts irrespective of whether the city has engaged in state consulting contracts. Thus, the easiest course is to send any lobby contracts executed since 2010 and be done with it. Your city attorney may disagree with this advice, and you should follow your attorney's advice.”

Middleton said that is a start, but it’s not good enough. He said his request was a legislative request, which carries more weight.

“They have to comply or we will turn them over to the attorney general,” he said.

Middleton said he also is disappointed by the TML’s claim that it does not have to disclose how it works with cities and towns since it does not have contracts with them. He said they should, since the communities pay taxpayer money to it.

Texas Municipal League Executive Director Bennett Sandlin said the league “urged” its members to comply.

“We were supportive, we didn’t have any problem with it,” Sandlin told the Texas Business Coalition on Friday. “There’s nobody that believes it should be secret, least of all us.”

He said there was no special meaning to the use of the term “public records request."

“That was not our intent. We don’t want to mince words and parse it. We didn’t say that to try to get around him,” Sandlin said. “There’s no push to do that. We said to go ahead and respond and give the representative what he wants. I didn’t want cities to hold out and pressure somebody to submit something more formal.”

While the TML does not have contracts with its members, Sandlin said its work is out in the open. It has a budget of around $7 million and about a third of that, $2.2 million, comes from its member cities.

“Our dues structure is not secret,” he said.

Sandlin said local governments need to lobby. There were around 7,000 bills introduced in the last session, he said, and about 1,500 of them would have impacted cities.

“State government tries to balance its books by putting mandates on cities and counties,” he said. “If cities and counties can’t push back on that, it’s the end of the road for their finances. It’s like the federal government with its unfunded mandates.”

Big gas and oil companies and technology firms lobby in Austin extensively. They have been trying to eliminate right of easy fees, and local governments have to respond to that, Sandlin said.

He said that is why local governments must lobby.

“That’s what TML has been doing for 109 years,” Sandlin said.

Middleton and other supporters of the new disclosure law point to a Texas Public Policy Foundation poll that stated that 91 percent of Texans oppose lobbying on taxpayer dollars, with 80 percent strongly opposed.

He said this issue won’t go away. While state law now requires such disclosure, he said more bills will be introduced to strengthen the requirement.

“You’re always going to need further legislation,” Middleton said.

He is the president of Middleton Oil Co., an independent oil and gas company in South Texas and along the Gulf Coast, and also operates a ranch in Chambers, Liberty, Jefferson, Kimble and Webb counties.

The issue isn’t confined to the Lone Star State.

The Wisconsin Legislature is considering legislation to ban lobbying by government entities. Wisconsin Manufacturers & Commerce, a business association, is leading the effort to pass such a law and prepared a report on the issue, which noted that governments spent $5 million lobbying the Wisconsin Legislature during the 2017-18 session, much of it advocating for higher taxes.

“While businesses and homeowners are faced with some of the highest property taxes in the nation, local governments are funding private groups to lobby state government for even more taxing and regulatory power,” according to a press release on the report, titled “Local (out of) Control.”

The report is especially critical of the Wisconsin Counties Association, which spent $249,000 on lobbying in the first half of 2019, while the pro-business group spent $414,000 over the same period.