Preliminary Total Lobbying Spending Up 19% in January-February Ov...

The preliminary lobbying data from January-February 2026 shows lobbying spending totaled $77.62 million, up 18.9% from the same period in 2025, driven by a 145.4% increase in expenses, NYS Commission on Ethics and Lobbying in Government Executive Director Sanford N. Berland announced today. Detailed charts on January-February 2026 lobbying activity are now available. 

“Lobbying activity in 2026 was off to a robust start, as indicated by preliminary spending for January-February 2026, which was higher than any other bi-monthly spending total reported throughout 2025,” Executive Director Berland said. “The surge in overall spending seen for this reporting period underscores the intensity of lobbying efforts around the State Budget. As always, transparency remains a top priority for the Commission, and we will continue our work to ensure the public knows who is trying to influence state and local officials’ decision-making.”  

“As expected, budget bills dominated the most-lobbied bills list for this reporting period,” Chair Seymour W. James, Jr. said. “The increased focus on budget bills, paired with an increase in lobbying spending, demonstrates the importance of timely and accurate filings in providing transparency and ensuring that the state government is acting in the public’s best interest. The Commission will continue to monitor these filings and deliver accessible, up-to-date lobbying data and trend information year-round.” 

January-February 2026 Preliminary Lobbying Spending  

The preliminary lobbying spending for January-February 2026 totaled $77.62 million, up $15.2 million, or 24.4%, from November-December 2025 and $12.4 million, or 18.9%, from January-February 2025. Lobbyist compensation totaled $58.66 million, marking a 4.3% increase from November-December 2025 and a 1.9% increase from the $57.5 million spent in January-February 2025. Expenses totaled $18.96 million, a 208.0% increase from the $6.16 million spent from November-December 2025 and a 145.4% increase from the $7.72 million expended in January-February 2025. Expenses included $17.02 million in itemized expenses, up $10.4 million from the same period last year, as well as $1.73 million in non-lobbying expenses, and $203,619 in expenses less than $75.   

January-February 2026 Ten Most Highly Compensated Retained Lobbyists   

The three most highly compensated retained lobbyists remained unchanged from November-December 2025. Brown & Weinraub Advisors, LLC continued to hold the first spot at $4.2 million, followed by Bolton-St Johns, LLC at $2.9 million and Kasirer LLC at $2.9 million. Greenberg Traurig, LLP remained in fourth at $2.5 million, followed by Ostroff Associates, Inc (#5), Hinman Straub Advisors, LLC (#6), The Parkside Group, LLC (#7), and Hollis Public Affairs Inc. (#8). Rounding out the top 10 were Mirram Group LLC (#9) at $1.2 million and Pitta Bishop & Del Giorno LLC at $1.2 million (#10). 

January-February 2026 Lobbyists Firms Ranked by Number of Clients  

The top three lobbying firms ranked by number of clients in January-February 2026 saw no change from December-November 2025. Brown & Weinraub Advisors, LLC, remained in the first spot with 314 Contractual Clients and 352 Beneficial Clients, followed by Bolton-St. Johns, LLC with 240 Contractual Clients and 242 Beneficial Clients and Greenberg Traurig, LLP with 201 Contractual Clients and 208 Beneficial Clients. Kasirer LLC remained in the fourth spot, followed by Ostroff Associates, Inc. (#5), Hinman Straub Advisors, LLC (#6), Constantinople & Vallone Consulting LLC (#7), and Pitta Bishop & Del Giorno LLC (#8). Rounding out the top 10 were The Parkside Group, LLC (#9) and Hollis Public Affairs Inc.  (#10).  

January-February 2026 Top Bills, Topics, and Parties Lobbied 

Budget bills comprised eight of the top 10 lobbied bills in January-February 2026.  The four Aid to Localities Budget bills claimed the top spot, followed by major components of the state transportation, economic development, and environmental conservation budget, with two related bills. Major components of legislation necessary to implement the state health and mental hygiene budget for the 2026-2027 state fiscal year claimed the third spot with two related bills.  

The top subjects/topics lobbied saw changes from November-December 2025, with health moving into the top spot, followed by miscellaneous business and budget appropriations. The top three parties lobbied were the Executive Chamber/Office of the Governor with 761 filings, followed by NYS Senate Majority Program and Counsel Staff with 607 filings and the NYS Assembly Majority Program and Counsel Staff with 540 filings. 

COELIG Ongoing Efforts to Increase Accessibility to Lobbying Data 

A chief priority for the Commission since its inception has been to increase public awareness of and access to the substantial volume of data the Commission receives:

·         More Frequent and Timely Lobbying Reports: In 2025, the Commission began releasing preliminary aggregated lobbying data every two months to increase transparency in lobbying spending. 

·         Open NY: In 2023, COELIG added its hundreds of millions of lobbying records to the Open NY data website, including Lobbyist Bi-Monthly Reports, becoming the largest single dataset hosted on the platform. To date, more than 358 million lobbying records from 2019 through the present are available for download by journalists, researchers, and the public.

·         Lobbying Registration and Termination Docket: To increase public access to lobbying data, in 2023 COELIG launched an enhanced Lobbying Registration and Termination Docket that provides increased transparency for basic information about the contractual agreements between clients and lobbyists, including level of government to be lobbied, whether it is anticipated that the $5,000 registration threshold will exceeded, and compensation and expense information. 

About COELIG     

Established by the 2022 Ethics Commission Reform Act and made effective in July 2022, the Commission’s charge is to foster public trust in government by ensuring compliance with the state’s ethics and lobbying laws and regulations. It has jurisdiction over more than 330,000 officers and employees at state agencies and departments, including commissions, boards, state public benefit corporations, public authorities, SUNY, CUNY, and the statutory closely affiliated corporations; the four statewide elected officials and candidates for those offices; employees and members of the state Legislature and legislative candidates; and state and local lobbyists and their clients.       

The Commission administers, enforces, and interprets New York’s ethics and lobbying laws by providing information, education, and guidance regarding ethics and lobbying laws; promoting compliance through audits, investigations, and enforcement proceedings; issuing formal and informal advisory opinions; and promulgating regulations implementing the laws under its jurisdiction.      

The Commission promotes transparency by conducting its proceedings publicly to the fullest extent permitted by law and by making the financial and other disclosures filed by those subject to the Commission’s authority publicly available. These disclosures include, but are not limited to, annual financial disclosure statements filed by over 30,000 individuals, and millions of records contained in registration statements and activity and expense reports filed by lobbyists and their clients.