Texas GOP once again tries to ban local governments from hiring lobbyists in Austin

Critics of the bill say the state’s smallest cities and school districts will be silenced at the Capitol.

The Texas Senate is poised to approve a bill that would put limits on lobbying efforts by local governments. Similar proposals have failed in the state House. 

Credit: Bob Daemmrich for The Texas Tribune

The Texas Senate advanced a proposal long sought by Republican lawmakers Wednesday aimed at diminishing the influence of local governments and school districts at the Capitol.

Senators gave preliminary approval to Senate Bill 12, which would forbid cities, counties and school districts from using public dollars to hire lobbyists. Local elected leaders have long argued the practice is needed for localities to advocate for their constituents at the state level.

The bill, authored by state Sen. Mayes Middleton, a Galveston Republican, cleared the Senate by a 17-11 vote.

“You have no choice, when you're paying your property taxes, whether or not to pay for the lobbyists that are working against you,” Middleton said Wednesday.

Senators must vote on the bill once more before it can proceed to the Texas House, where past attempts to get rid of the practice have died.

Critics of the bill argue local governments and school districts should have the right to hire lobbyists to represent their interests. Middleton’s bill would put far-flung communities at a disadvantage, opponents argued; it’s harder for local officials in those places to leg it to Austin to make their voices heard at the Capitol if they can’t hire a lobbyist who’s already based in the capital, they argue. Smaller cities, they said, will also suffer because they otherwise can’t afford to hire experts needed to navigate the legislative process. Senate Democrats made several moves to try to gut the bill, but failed.

“I think that where there is no dissent, there is no democracy,” said state Sen. Sarah Eckhardt, an Austin Democrat and former Travis County judge. “I think that your bill is an attempt to silence dissent.”

Officials representing localities like mayors, county judges and superintendents as well as governmental affairs staff could still lobby lawmakers if the bill passed, Middleton said.

“Every city already has multiple lobbyists: they have city council members, they have the mayor, they have staff that work for their elected officials,” Middleton said.

It’s common for local governments and school districts to pay dues to organizations like the Texas Municipal League, Texas Association of Counties and Texas Association of School Boards, which then lobby state lawmakers on their behalf while also scrubbing thousands of bills each legislative session among other services to their members. Many of the larger cities, counties and school districts also hire their own lobbyists.

“In our view, this (bill) will prevent local officials from being able to effectively advocate for our residents on important issues that impact their daily lives,” Allison Heyward, Texas Municipal League president and Schertz mayor pro tem, wrote to lawmakers earlier this month.

Abolishing the practice has long been sought by conservative activists as well as some GOP lawmakers. They contend that localities take money from taxpayers only to lobby against their interests at the state level on matters like property tax cuts. The conservative Texas Public Policy Foundation estimates that localities, including special taxing districts, spent $98.6 million to hire lobbyists in 2023 — an amount equal to 0.1% of the estimated $81.5 billion in property taxes collected that year

Such proposals have for years failed to gain traction. A similar bill by Middleton cleared the Senate during the Texas Legislature’s regular session earlier this year but died before it could reach the House floor. The idea got a fresh injection of energy when Abbott called on state lawmakers to take up the matter during a 30-day legislative sprint beginning last week that includes other conservative priorities, including property tax cuts and restrictions on abortion pills.