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That's about the same effort that went into the nine next most-heavily lobbied proposals combined. And it likely marks just the beginning of spending in the battle over the proposed constitutional amendment to cap growth in state and local government spending, said Erik Hayko, ethics board administrator.
The TABOR lobbying figures don't include efforts during a failed two-day rush to get the proposal to the floor of each house for a vote last month. And Republican legislators have vowed to make the proposal the first order of business when the next session starts in January 2005.
More than 60 organizations registered in two days alone to lobby on TABOR when it was brought up during a brief extraordinary session July 27 and 28, Hayko said. The session ended without a vote in either house but managed to widen a rift among Republican legislative leaders in each house.
The money spent on TABOR helped put overall lobbying so far this legislative session on a record pace, but it's not clear if spending will eclipse previous years when the next reporting period officially ends at the end of 2004, Hayko said.
Organizations are expected to spend between $40 and $50 million by then, said Roth Judd, director of the Ethics Board.
In all, 694 lobbying organizations have spent 355,000 hours and $37.8 million trying to influence legislation during the 2003-04 session of the Legislature, which started in January 2003.
Putting a specific price tag on TABOR efforts is difficult because lobbying expenses are reported as a percentage of a group's total lobbying effort, not as a dollar amount, Hayko said.
Ethics Board records show Wisconsin Property Taxpayers Inc. put more effort into TABOR than any other group — roughly 2,054 hours and $114,491 in support of the plan — during the six-month reporting period.
Wisconsin Manufacturers & Commerce, the state's largest business group, spent $388,429 overall lobbying during the six-month reporting period that ended June 30. But the Wisconsin Education Association Council, the state's largest teachers union, led spending from the start of the session through June 30. The union spent $1.3 million on its lobbying efforts, which included opposition to TABOR.
While the amendment never made it to a vote, the lobbying effort has been successful at bringing attention to the fact Wisconsin ranks among the top five or six states in terms of taxes in relation to ability to pay, said Jim Pugh, a spokesman for WMC.
In its most recent incarnation, TABOR would limit government spending increases to 90 percent of the rate of growth in personal income unless local voters approved exceeding the limit.
Other proposals that drew heavy attention from lobbyists were the Job Creation Act, which eased the environmental permitting process; a bill that would have changed the notification process for the expiration of leases and business contracts; a resolution that could eventually lead to a constitutional amendment that would more explicitly ban same-sex marriages; and a bill that would have allowed permit holders to carry concealed weapons that was vetoed by Gov. Jim Doyle.
Contact Tom Sheehan at tsheehan@madison.com or (608) 252-6198.
