According to reports filed with the Texas Ethics Commission by lobbyists required to register in the state of Texas, as much as $376.6 million was spent to influence state policymakers in 2017. Given the state of Texas spent about $116 billion in 2017, spending $376.6 million to have a say in how those billions are spent can be seen as a wise investment, the equivalent of spending $3 to try to shape $1,000 of spending.