By Tom Latek
Kentucky Today
The Kentucky Legislative Ethics Commission has reported that money spent on lobbying efforts during the first two months of the 2023 General Assembly continued at a record-breaking pace.
Following record lobbying spending for the month of January, lobbying interests spent a record $5.987 million for the first two months of the year, eclipsing the previous record of $5.6 million set in 2018.
A record-breaking 862 lobbying businesses and organizations registered to lobby in Kentucky, spending $5.83 million. 694 lobbyists were paid $4.84 million in compensation and reported $156,266 in expenses.
The top two overall spenders in February switched places from the previous month. Kentucky Merchants and Amusement Coalition, Inc. spent $315,425, the majority of which, totaling $309,672, on advertising against legislation regulating “gray machines.” This was the highest amount spent on advertising in the first two months of the session. The second-highest overall spender, Kentuckians Against Illegal Gambling, paid all but $1,000 of the entire amount of its lobbying expenditures, $287,623, on advertising opposing gray machines, garnering the second highest ad spending.
Legislation banning gray machines was passed by lawmakers and signed by the governor. However, a lawsuit was filed soon afterwards by Pace-O-Matic, one of the makers of the machines, stores where they are played and those who play the games, to throw out the new law.
The third-highest spender was the Kentucky Chamber of Commerce, at $96,854.
The Chamber also posted the highest amount spent on lobbyists’ compensation, $89,253.
Next was the American Civil Liberties Union of Kentucky, or ACLU, $75,743, which spent the second highest amount on lobbyist compensation, at $61,326.
Fifth place spender Pace-O-Matic of Kentucky, at $59,150, was also the third highest spender on lobbyist compensation, at $55,100.
The next filing date for employers’ and legislative agents’ spending disclosures is Monday, April 17, which will be the final one for the 2023 regular session of the General Assembly.
