A new report shows Minnesota spends millions of tax dollars on lobbying. | Pixabay
A new report shows Minnesota spends millions of tax dollars on lobbying. | Pixabay
State Auditor Julie Blaha’s new lobby report shows the state spent close to $10 million of taxpayer’s money lobbying in 2019, which is a near $1 million increase from 2018 and an 8% increase over the past six years.
“The Local Government Lobbying Services Report is a great example of the role the Office of the State Auditor has in providing transparency in local government finances,” Blaha said, according to The Center Square.
Out of $2.1 million spent by ten local governments, 41% went to staff lobbyists and paid contact workers. Over 1,200 cities, counties and entities were compared with only 47 cities, 21 counties and nine education entities combining lobby spending.
“This year’s report shows an 11% increase from last year on lobbying services expenditures. It is important to compare this year's increase to other trends because the 2019 Legislative Session was 43 days longer than the 2018 Legislative Session,” Blaha said.
The top five spenders were the City of Minneapolis, Hennepin County, City of Saint Paul, Ramsey County and Saint Louis County, totaling over $1.4 million in lobby funds.
Staff and contract lobbyist funds grew 9%, only using employees was up 35%, only lobbyists grew 17% and contract and employee lobbyists dropped 6%.
A detailed report can be found here.
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