EDITORIAL: Time to end taxpayer-funded government lobbying

The word “lobbyist” has a negative connotation to many people, but let’s not forget that the “right to petition the government for a redress of grievances” is an integral part of the First Amendment. Yet special-interest groups shouldn’t also have the right to force others to cover the costs of their activism.

In Nevada and many other places, however, it’s common for public agencies to use taxpayer funds to exert influence over other government entities, often in an effort to promote legislation that runs counter to the interests of many of those very same taxpayers.

It’s illegal for public agencies to use tax money to promote or oppose a ballot referendum. Yet state law turns a blind eye when, for instance, Clark County officials push a property tax hike in Carson City designed to extricate more money from the taxpayers who are forced to finance the county lobbying army.

In 2017, Nevada’s local governments spent $3.75 million lobbying lawmakers in the state capitol, according to the Nevada Department of Taxation. Virtually every city and county in the state has a presence in Carson City, as do most public-sector agencies, including school districts, the university system, government unions and other taxpayer-funded entities.

That same year, the Los Angeles Times reported that the major lobbying organizations in Sacramento didn’t represent private interests. Instead, it was “California’s local governments — cities, counties and scores of other agencies — that spend the most of any sector to influence the outcome of events” at the state Legislature. Almost 400 California government groups spend tax money on legislative lobbying, the Times found.

This incestuous government-on-government lobbying scam has caught the attention of Texas lawmakers, who are currently considering a bill that would ban taxpayer-funded influence peddling. The measure recently passed the state Senate and has the support of Gov. Greg Abbott.

“Austin — don’t even try to defend taxpayer-funded lobbying,” Gov. Abbott recently tweeted. “It is indefensible that you tax residents to get money that you use to hire lobbyists to support legislation to allow you to tax even more.”

The National Council of State Legislatures reports that only a “handful of states have statutes that prohibit agencies from using public funds to retain a lobbyist.” Such laws don’t have to result in local governments being shut out of the legislative process, the council explains, just that “an agency may only use full-time employees in dealing with the legislative branch.”

It’s too late this session, but Nevada lawmakers in 2023 should consider similar legislation. Forcing Nevadans to fund lobbying campaigns that run counter to their interests is the definition of an injustice.