Texans Oppose Taxpayer-Funded Lobbying

February 11, 2025

Brian Phillips

For over a decade, Brian Phillips has helped policymakers and political candidates develop effective messages and communication strategies. Phillips is a veteran of presidential, congressional, and gubernatorial campaigns, and has extensive experience working in the United States Congress and public policy think tanks. Previously, he served in a senior communications role as the Director of Rapid Response for Senator Ted Cruz’s presidential campaign. Prior to joining Cruz, Phillips worked as Communications Director for U.S. Senator Mike Lee of Utah, who has played a role in nearly every major policy debate since joining the Senate in 2011, including Obamacare repeal, fighting Obama’s unconstitutional executive orders, protecting Americans’ Second Amendment rights, as well as promoting numerous innovative policy reforms. Before going on to hold several senior positions in House, Senate and gubernatorial campaigns, Phillips worked for the highly-respected conservative Heritage Foundation as a Media Adviser promoting conservative policy reforms.

The overwhelming majority of Texans oppose using tax dollars to fund lobbyists, according to a new survey conducted by WPA Intelligence for the Texas Public Policy Foundation. More than 4 out of 5 registered voters oppose it with just 7% saying they approve.

Texas state legislators are currently debating whether to ban taxpayer-funded lobbying because it is a waste of money and it often funds those who lobby against the interests of the taxpayer, such as increasing spending and raising taxes. Experts say as much as $100 million in taxpayer dollars are spent on lobbyists.

Senator Mayes Middleton and Representative Ellen Troxclair have filed legislation to end the practice and both bills are expected to get debated this year.

The survey was conducted Feb. 1 – 4, 2025, and has a margin of error of +/-3.5%.

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