Preliminary lobbying data from March-April 2025 shows total lobbying spending reached $66.57 million, Executive Director Sanford N. Berland announced today. The Commission releases preliminary lobbying data every two months to support its ongoing efforts to increase public accessibility and transparency in lobbying spending. Detailed charts on March-April 2025 lobbying activity are now available.
“Lobbying spending in March and April surpassed spending in the first two months of the year, with 17 out of 20 of the most lobbied bills focusing on the state budget and its related Article VII bills, which is no surprise,” Executive Director Berland said. “New Yorkers have the right to accessible and transparent data, especially data showing who is attempting to influence those individuals or agencies within our state government. Releasing this data every two months allows the public to see lobbying trends as they shift throughout the year.”
“Lobbying spending has continued to increase throughout the years, so promoting more accessible and transparent lobbying data is more important now than ever,” Chair Seymour W. James, Jr. said. “These ongoing lobbying data reports are a great resource for those interested in examining lobbying spending in a timely manner.”
March-April 2025 Preliminary Lobbying Spending and Top Professional Lobbyists
The preliminary lobbying spending for March-April 2025 totaled $66.57 million, up $1.3 million from January-February 2025. Spending on lobbyist compensation dominated total spending at $59.63 million, a $2.08 million increase from January-February 2025. Expenses totaled $6.94 million, down $780,000 from the previous bi-monthly period. Expenses included $5.88 million in itemized expenses, $874,824 in non-lobbying expenses, and more than $180,000 in expenses less than $75.
The top three Retained Lobbyists, ranked by compensation only, remained unchanged from January-February 2025. Brown & Weinraub Advisors, LLC remained in the top spot at $4.2 million, followed by Kasirer LLC at $3.0 million and Bolton-St Johns, LLC at $2.9 million. Greenberg Traurig, LLP also remained in fourth at $2.6 million, followed by Ostroff Associates, Inc (#5), Hinman Straub Advisors, LLC (#6), The Parkside Group, LLC (#7), and Pitta Bishop & Del Giorno LLC (#8). New to the list from January-February 2025 was Hollis Public Affairs Inc. (#9) at $1.1 million followed by Cozen O'Connor Public Strategies, LLC (#10).
March-April 2025 Lobbyists Firms Ranked by Number of Clients
The top three lobbying firms by number of clients in March-April 2025 included Brown & Weinraub Advisors, LLC, with 323 Contractual Clients and 355 Beneficial Clients, Bolton-St. Johns, LLC with 256 Contractual Clients and 258 Beneficial Clients, and Kasirer LLC with 207 Contractual Clients and 212 Beneficial Clients. Greenberg Traurig, LLP came in fourth on the list, followed by Ostroff Associates, Inc. at number five. Rounding out the top ten was Hinman Straub Advisors, LLC (#6), Pitta Bishop & Del Giorno LLC (#7), Constantinople & Vallone Consulting LLC (#8), The Parkside Group, LLC (#9), and Cozen O’Connor Public Strategies, LLC (#10).
March-April 2025 Top Bills, Topics, and Parties Lobbied
Budget bills and related Article VII bills comprised all of the top 10 bills lobbied in March-April 2025. The top two most lobbied non-budget bills were Senate Bill 1464 and Assembly Bill 1749, which would enact the packaging reduction and recycling infrastructure act. The third most lobbied non-budget bill was Senate Bill 4158, commonly known as the NY HEAT Act, which would enact the NY Home Energy Affordable Transition Act and repeals certain provisions of the public service law relating to gas service and sale.
In addition, the top three parties lobbied included the Executive Chamber/Office of the Governor with 730 filings, the NYS Senate Majority Program and Counsel Staff with 559 filings, and the NYS Assembly Majority Program and Counsel Staff with 535 filings.
Miscellaneous Business, Budget/Appropriations, and Health continued to represent the top lobbying subjects/topics in March-April 2025.
COELIG Ongoing Efforts to Increase Accessibility to Lobbying Data
A chief priority for the Commission since its inception has been to increase public accessibility to the data the Commission holds:
- Open NY: In 2023, COELIG's lobbying data became the largest data set on Open NY when it added its hundreds of millions of lobbying records to the open-platform website. 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 appearance 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 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 more transparent 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.
