 State Auditor Blaha Releases 2025 Local Government Lobbying Services Report
“The $837,885 increase in lobbying spending continues a trend of increasing local government lobbying,” Auditor Blaha said.
SAINT PAUL, Minn. — State Auditor Julie Blaha released the 2025 Local Government Lobbying Services Report today. Local governments spent $14.2 million on lobbying activities in 2025. This represents an increase of $837,885, or 6%, from 2024.
Local governments use lobbying to represent their needs and perspectives to the Legislature that makes decisions that affect their operations, funding and mandates. This report outlines their spending on these efforts in 2025 and how those expenditures changed over the past five years.
Highlights of the report include:
- Local governments spent $14.2 million on lobbying activities in 2025, a 6% increase from 2024. Of this amount, $8.7 million was spent on staff and contract lobbyists and $5.4 million by associations of local governments.
- In 2025, 165 local governments, 14 more than in 2024, reported directly employing staff, hiring contract lobbyists or having lobbying-related expenses. They spent $8.7 million, an increase of $404,387, or 5%, from 2024.
- Twenty-one of these local governments reported over $100,000 in lobbying expenditures. Their combined spending totaled $4.9 million and represented 56% of all staff and contract lobbyist spending.
- Local governments paid $15.2 million in dues to associations, which spent $5.4 million on lobbying in 2025, an 8.7% increase from 2024.
- Among the 25 associations that lobbied on behalf of their local government members, 12 spent over $100,000 on lobbying. These expenditures accounted for $4.8 million, or 88%, of total association lobbying spending.
The complete report is available on the OSA website.
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