Lobbying is big business in Austin. Over $667 million was spent by lobbyist clients to influence lawmakers during the 2020 election cycle (January 1, 2019 – December 31, 2020), with the vast majority of that spending occurring while the Texas legislature was convened in 2019. Yet only two percent of all those expenditures have a legislator’s name attached to them. That’s right. In the entire two-year cycle, only $12,944,291 ever made its way onto a detailed report filed with the Texas Ethics Commission.

Earlier this month, Transparency USA created a survey asking our Texas audience to help shape our content for the Texas Legislative Session. You weighed in on the topics that are most helpful as you seek the answers you need about the money in Texas politics. We wanted to share those results with you. Thanks to those who took the time to respond. Every response helps us serve you better.

With threats to blacklist Trump supporters making headlines, Transparency USA has been getting questions about whether political donors can be “doxxed,” along with requests to remove donors’ names from our site.