Laredo Times

Rep. Mayes Middleton (R-Wallisville) has asked municipalities and school districts throughout Texas how much they spend on lobbying, and United Independent School District in Laredo told the Laredo Times it spends thousands of dollars on the practice.

Middleton, who continues to oppose taxpayer lobbying, sent hundreds of letters last year to inquire about funds spent on lobbying.

United ISD’s budget shows it slated $8,400 for lobbying in the 2021 budget. In addition to those funds, the school district also pays dues to associations and a percentage of those dues go to lobbying.

Laida Benavides, the interim associate superintendent for Student Support Services Department of United ISD, told the Laredo Times via email that the district pays $98,917 in dues to associations and "between 3%-7%" of those dues go to lobbying. Benavides said United ISD does participate in determining lobbying objectives for the associations it belongs to.

She said the district's lobbying efforts aim to "address accountability, discipline, health counseling and finance." 

Data from Middleton’s office show nearly $41 million per year is spent by local governments on Austin lobbyists, the East Houston News reported.

Middleton and Sen. Bob Hall (R-Edgewood) filed lobbying bills HB 740 and SB 234, respectively, in December to ban taxpayer-funded lobbying. The two have been fighting taxpayer-funded lobbying for years and have filed similar legislation in the past, which was ultimately defeated.

Middleton says the practice is a “bad one” as taxpayers are forced to pay for lobbying that does not have the taxpayers' best interest in mind.

“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 teachers' retirement pensions,” Middleton has told East Houston News. “Taxpayers are forced to pay for lobbyists that lobby against their best interests. Taxpayer-funded lobbying is a modern practice and a bad one.”

A majority of Texans oppose their tax revenues being used for lobbying purposes. One poll by the Texas Public Policy Foundation released last year found nearly nine out of 10 Texans, or 88%, oppose using tax dollars to pay lobbyists.