December 15, 2025
Preliminary lobbying data for September-October 2025 indicates that lobbying spending totaled $61.65 million, marking a 0.52% decrease from the $61.97 million spent in July-August 2025 and a 5.51% decrease from May-June 2025, Executive Director Sanford N. Berland announced today. Detailed charts on September-October 2025 lobbying activity are now available.
“The preliminary data from September-October 2025 shows that total lobbying spending and lobbyist compensation continued to decrease following enactment of the budget and the end of the legislative session,” Executive Director Berland said. “As always, the public’s right to access lobbying activity remains a priority in the Commission’s work. We will continue to provide New Yorkers with timely and accurate data to reinforce this priority and promote transparency in government decision-making.”
“Lobbying activity continued to shift in September-October 2025,” Chair Seymour W. James, Jr. said. “For the first time in 2025, the list of the top three parties lobbied included the Governor herself, not just the Executive Chamber, while bills aimed at protecting health information and reducing the amount of plastic packaging waste across the state made up the top three most lobbied bills. The Commission remains committed to ensuring the public has the information they need to understand changes in lobbying activity across reporting periods.”
September-October 2025 Preliminary Lobbying Spending
Preliminary lobbying spending for September-October 2025 totaled $61.65 million, down $319,305 from July-August 2025, and $3.59 million, or 5.51%, from May-June 2025. Lobbyist compensation totaled $55.94 million, a 0.97% decrease from the $56.49 million spent in July-August 2025, and a 5.57% decrease from May-June 2025. Conversely, expenses totaled $5.71 million, marking a 4.17% increase from the $5.48 million spent in July-August 2025. September to October lobbying expenses included $3.9 million in itemized expenses, $1.09 million in non-lobbying expenses, and $721,514 in expenses less than $75.
September-October 2025 Top Retained Lobbyists by Compensation
The top three retained lobbyists in September-October 2025, ranked by compensation only, remained unchanged from July-August 2025. Brown & Weinraub Advisors, LLC remained in the top spot at $3.91 million, followed by Bolton-St Johns, LLC at $2.88 million and Kasirer LLC at $2.80 million. The remainder of the top 10 included Greenberg Traurig, LLP in fourth at $2.45 million, followed by Ostroff Associates, Inc (#5), Hinman Straub Advisors, LLC (#6), Hollis Public Affairs, Inc. (#7), and The Parkside Group, LLC (#8). Rounding out the top 10 were Pitta Bishop & Del Giorno LLC (#9) at $1.16 million and Cozen O’Connor Public Strategies, LLC (#10) at $1.13 million.
September-October 2025 Lobbyists Firms Ranked by Total Number of Clients
The top lobbying firms by number of clients in September-October 2025 also remained unchanged from July-August 2025. Brown & Weinraub Advisors, LLC continued to hold the top spot with 305 Contractual Clients and 341 Beneficial Clients, followed by Bolton-St. Johns, LLC with 234 Contractual Clients and 237 Beneficial Clients (#2), and Kasirer LLC with 192 Contractual Clients and 197 Beneficial Clients (#3). Greenberg Traurig, LLP remained in fourth on the list, followed by Ostroff Associates, Inc. (#5), Hinman Straub Advisors, LLC (#6), Pitta Bishop & Del Giorno LLC (#7), and Constantinople & Vallone Consulting LLC (#8). Rounding out the top 10 list were The Parkside Group LLC with 93 Contractual Clients and 99 Beneficial Clients and Hollis Public Affairs with 95 Contractual Clients and 96 Beneficial Clients.
September-October 2025 Top Topics, Bills, and Parties Lobbied
The top three parties lobbied in September-October 2025 changed slightly from July-August 2025. While the Executive Chamber/Office of the Governor remained in the top spot with 847 filings, Governor Kathy Hochul moved into the number two spot with 170 filings, followed by the NYS Assembly Majority Program and Counsel Staff (#3) with 161 filings.
The top bills lobbied once again saw several changes when compared to July-August 2025. Senate Bill 929, which provides for the protection of health information, moved into the top spot on the list, followed by Assembly Bill 1749 (#2) and Senate Bill 1464 (#3), both of which would enact the packaging reduction and recycling infrastructure act. The fourth spot was claimed by Senate Bill 4423, which relates to amending the estates, powers, and trusts law. Miscellaneous business, budget appropriations, and health continued to be the top three subjects lobbied in September-October 2025.
COELIG Ongoing Efforts to Increase Accessibility to Lobbying Data
A chief priority for the Commission since its inception has been to increase public access to the 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, which is the largest single dataset hosted on the platform. To date, more than 278 million lobbying records are available for download by journalists, researchers, and the public.
- Section 166 Forms: In early 2024, the Commission digitized thousands of the 2022 and 2023 Executive Law Section 166 records of appearances before the 11 Executive Branch agencies and departments designated in that statute, so they are more readily searchable and available electronically to anyone who requests access. The Commission continues to add Section 166 records for 2024 and 2025.
- 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 concerning information about the contractual agreements between clients and lobbyists, including level of government to be lobbied, description of agreement, compensation and expense information, and more.
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 registrations and activity and expense reports filed by lobbyists and their clients.