February 1, 2024

State and federal lobbying spending tops $46 billion after federal lobbying spending broke records in 2023

Federal lobbying spending skyrocketed to over $4.2 billion in 2023 — a nominal record, a new OpenSecrets analysis of federal lobbying disclosures found.

Two years after Dobbs, lobbying spending on abortion rights neared $3.7 million in 2023

Lobbying from pro-abortion rights and anti-abortion rights groups stayed on par with the prior year’s spending in 2023, but state ballot measures racked up a larger bill.

Super PAC spending in West Virginia Senate Race ramps up as Manchin bows out

The race to replace Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) has heated up since the 76-year-old moderate announced he won’t be running for reelection. 

OpenSecrets launches lobbying tool to track spending on state and federal levels

Last week, OpenSecrets proudly announced the launch of its new Federal and State Lobbying page. This online resource provides insight into the billions of often elusive dollars influencing state-level policy.

Chart of the Week

Dive deeper into the data behind the headlines

Lobbyists at the state and federal level reported over $46 billion in combined federal and state lobbying spending since 2015, according to OpenSecrets’ new analysis.

State lobbying exceeded $1.4 billion in 2023, though deadlines and reporting requirements for lobbying filings at the state level vary widely so that number will increase as more disclosures are filed. In each quarter of 2023, federal lobbying spending topped $1 billion.

Lobbying spending continues to grow at both the state and federal levels, highlighting the importance of shining light on efforts to impact public policy. 

See our media citations from outlets around the nation this week:

Patagonia Spends $71 Million on Wildlife Conservation and Politics (New York Times)

Patagonia, the outdoor apparel brand, is funneling its profits to an array of groups working on everything from dam removal to voter registration. To date, its donations are barely a drip in the tsunami of outside spending expected around the 2024 election, which already exceeded $300 million earlier this month, according to an analysis by OpenSecrets, a nonpartisan group that tracks campaign finance.

Groups spent record $4.2 billion in 2023 lobbying federal lawmakers, report says (NBC News)

According to OpenSecrets, the pharmaceutical and health products sector spent the most at both the federal and state levels trying to influence lawmakers.

Senators shout down tech CEOs, but little will probably change (The Indepenent)

Executives for Meta, Twitter-turned-X, Discord and TikTok testified on Capitol Hill — but doing so has become an semi-regular event. Lawmakers now regularly thrash tech executives but do almost nothing to effect change. The four companies spent more than $28m in lobbying last year, according to summaries from OpenSecrets. That means that the best that lawmakers can do is to preen and grandstand about the lack of legislative action.

The Hill

Bloomberg

NY Post

Roll Call

Texas Scorecard

West Central Tribune

Yale Daily News

Public Citizen

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