Almost $30M spent lobbying Indiana General Assembly last year

Multi-national corporations, home-grown companies, industry groups, advocacy organizations, local government, lobbying firms and others collectively spent nearly $30 million attempting to influence Hoosier lawmakers, their family members and legislative employees last year.

The health care and energy industries figured prominently in that spending, according to the latest data from the Indiana Lobby Registration Commission.

Experienced lawmakers from both parties said lobbyists bring valuable information. Sometimes they even use their expertise to write legislation or contribute fixes.

But they had varying takes on accepting lobbyist-funded dinners and gifts—and on how well Indiana regulates money’s influence on legislation.

Lobbying in Indiana

Indiana Code defines lobbying as communicating, by any means, with a “legislative person” with the goal of influencing legislative action. Paying others to do it counts. Spend at least $500 dollars influencing and you’ll have to file as a lobbyist with the commission.

Indiana General Assembly lawmakers are “legislative persons“; so are candidates, IGA officers, legislative branch employees, and “close” relatives of all four. The IGA’s paid consultants and legislative branch agency officials also fit the definition.

Lobbyists file annual registration statements and semi-annual activity reports. Reports for gifts and $100-plus purchases are due within 15 business days. Registration changes and termination reports are due within 15 calendar days.

The commission declined an interview. It recorded more than 1,000 employer lobbyists and 949 compensated lobbyists in its 2024 logs, but there’s overlap between the monikers.

Those in the employer category hire others to do their lobbying, and those in the compensated category get paid to do it. Entities that do both—like firms hired to lobby on behalf of clients, but that employ individual lobbyists—register in both categories.

Multiple lawmakers said they use lobbyists for information.

“We are a part-time Legislature,” emphasized Sen. Ron Alting, R-Lafayette, who assumed office in 1998. “… We’re only here ‘x’ amount of months, you know, to do that, so they play an important role in educating us.”

Sen. Mike Young, R-Indianapolis, and Rep. Matt Pierce, D-Bloomington, said the more information lawmakers can collect, the better. But, Pierce continued, it’s key to remember the perspectives and biases lobbyists’ clients may hold.

“You have to have your B.S. detector turned on,” Pierce said. He’s served since 2002.

Young, who was first elected to the Statehouse in 1986, indicated lobbyist information is generally accurate because trust is fragile. Lie or mislead him, he said, and “I’ll never trust you ever again.”

Alting went further.

“Whatever they tell you, you can count on about 99.9% of it to be the truth, because it’s too small,” he said. People will find out “real quick, and then you’re done. Your firm’s done. Your name’s done. You’re finished.”

Wining and dining

Employers reported spending more than $26 million on lobbying across 2024, according to commission data updated in late January. Compensated lobbyists—adjusted to avoid double-counting—reported an additional $3.4 million.

The $29.5 million total surpasses expenditures reported every year since 2019, except for the nearly $32 million spent in 2023.

The 20 highest-spending employer lobbyists each reported expenditures greater than $160,000. The health care and energy industries dominated, but real estate, tobacco and other interests also were busy.

The Indiana State Medical Association topped employer lobbyist spending at $382,000, followed by Indiana University Health—the state’s largest health care system—at almost $262,000. Also among top health-focused employer lobbyists were pharmaceutical giant Eli Lill and Co., the Indiana Hospital Association, the Indiana Health Care Association, the Health and Hospital Corp. of Marion County and Elevance H—plus gambling company Caesars Entertainment also made the list.

The Indiana Association of Realtors, Indiana Chamber of Commerce, Indiana Farm Bureau, Indiana State Teachers Association, Indiana Association of County Commissioners and two legal interests—the Indiana Trial Lawyers Association and Indiana State Bar Association—rounded out the top 20.

Compensated lobbyists logged less spending after making deductions to avoid double-counting the same expenditures. The Indiana Electric Cooperatives—with $251,000—and Philip Morris USA—with $179,000 — were the biggest clients logged, and the only ones for whom spending topped $100,000.

Expenditures include compensation, fees, entertainment, gifts and more.

Several lawmakers said they typically don’t take tickets or dinner invitations.

“I often get invited to go to Pacers or Colts games, and suites of utilities or other people, and I decline those offers because I think that is just not a good look for the public,” Pierce said.

Young said he buys his own tickets to events and would head up to a suite if he’s already in the stadium, but rarely goes to dinners. That’s because he reads every single piece of legislation filed; lawmakers filed almost 1,200 this year in addition to several dozen empty vehicle bills.

“I’ve got to be home reading it. Otherwise, I’ll be up till two o’clock in the morning trying to read these bills to get ready for the next day,” Young said.

Rep. Bob Behning, a fellow Indianapolis Republican, said he too goes home each night—something lawmakers from further afield can’t do.

“I am more tenured, and I probably am not as easily influenced as some,” he said.

But, for Alting, there’s no influence in an accepted invitation.

“They can buy me a steak dinner anywhere they want, because (if) they think a steak dinner is going to influence my vote, that’s a 1960s way of thinking,” Alting said. “I can buy my own steak dinner, as many as I want. I’m very blessed.”

Live Nation Entertainment, the Indiana Restaurant and Lodging Association and the Indiana High School Athletic Association gifted him about $933 in concert tickets, high school basketball tickets and an award. But he didn’t keep it all.

Alting called himself a “big” high school sports fan and said he’s usually at a high school basketball game every Friday night.

“Those tickets that I get—I donate those tickets, always to a family at the school that’s going that can’t afford the ticket,” he said. “… I buy my own tickets to the IHSAA tournament.”

‘Not like that anymore’

When asked how interactions with lobbyists have changed over time, Behning described how, as a fledgling lawmaker, he was “threatened by violence” if he didn’t support a specific measure.

The threats were about telecommunications legislation.

“I think things have changed a lot,” remarked Behning, who’s served since 1992.

Young began his legislative career “scared of lobbyists” after hearing horror stories involving them, and initially wanted to put up a sign—“no lobbyists accepted”—over his Statehouse office cubicle.

After a while, Young continued, he realized lobbyists are “just doing their jobs. It’s not like that anymore.” He recalled being asked to vote a certain way once, and said he simply refused. But bad behavior troubles him.

“That bothers me, when we have (lobbyists) like that, and also legislators who are like that—and we’ve had a couple go to federal penitentiary,” Young said, referring to a former lawmaker nabbed for corruption. “That’s discouraging. … We try to do the right thing. Because all you have to do is get one or two people with a lobbyist, and our image is smeared because people think that’s how we operate, which it’s not. It’s a bad name for lobbyists; it’s a bad name for legislators.”

Lawmakers logged other changes throughout the years.

Rep. Sheila Klinker, D-Lafayette, noted that it’s not just public school interests lobbying on education bills anymore. They’ve been joined by “school choice” representatives. Klinker, a former teacher, has served since 1982.

Pierce, meanwhile, said the Great Recession and industry consolidation—particularly in telecommunications — mean fewer smaller businesses either exist or can afford to send lobbyists.

Sen. Vaneta Becker, R-Evansville, said the number of female lobbyists has grown. She began her elected Statehouse career in 1981.

Lobbying regulations have also changed with the years—splitting opinions.

“Everything in the world has to be written down: what I eat, what I drink, everything except my conversation,” Alting said, so fewer lobbyists are hosting dinner s—which he considered a loss.

“There’s a lot of legislators that aren’t as secure as Sen. Alting and don’t want their name on anything, afraid that their constituents will think that somehow, that’s a wrong thing. I don’t think it’s a wrong thing,” he said. “I’m a religious man. I think it starts off in the Bible. The dinner table is an important place to meet. … I think we’ll get more done in a committee dinner sitting down. It builds relationships with both your colleagues in the Republican Party and the Democrat Party.”

Becker, however, thought there were more dinners than before. But the requirements, she said, were “probably a little punitive” to lawmakers representing faraway communities. Becker’s falls about three hours from the Statehouse.

“They have to pay for their meals every day, or go to receptions,” she added.  “People that live here can just drive home.”

Young — who’s among those from the capital city—emphasized the public’s right to information.

“I’m not going to do something I believe is wrong, and so why do I care what the public knows about what we do down here?” he said. “It’s their job to know before they vote, and I’m not ashamed of anything I’ve done, and I don’t care what we put out.”

Indiana doesn’t go far enough, in Pierce’s view.

He said the “real influence” comes during campaign season. Many groups also operate 501(c)(4) nonprofit organizations, which can engage in lobbying related to social welfare goals. Their donors and donations are confidential.

“There’s a lot of money sloshing around the political process that the public and even members of the Legislature can’t see, right?” Pierce continued. The state could add disclosure requirements, but in his view, the Statehouse’s Republican supermajorities have little appetite for such changes.

“This current system serves their interests, and so they have no interest in changing that,” he said.

Senior Reporters Casey Smith and Whitney Downard contributed reporting. The Indiana Capital Chronicle is an independent, nonprofit news organization that covers state government, policy and elections.