Committee chair fundraising

The latest campaign finance reports reveal that the Texas Democrats who broke quorum collected $491,000 between their July 12 departure and the end of the first special session. Over 25 percent of that money came from out-of-state donors.

Now that lawmakers have convened in Austin, private citizens and PACs are no longer able to make political contributions, so the sole financial influence on lawmakers during the legislative session comes from lobbyists. In fact, in session and out, lobbying is by far the biggest source of money in Texas politics — and taxpayers are footing the bill for a lot of it. This look at the City of Lubbock is part of our series analyzing taxpayer-funded entities in Texas.