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This text is co-published with The Texas Newsroom and The Texas Tribune as a part of an initiative to report on how energy is wielded in Texas.
Elon Musk’s crew of Texas lobbyists throughout the 2025 legislative session didn’t rival these of giant power and telecommunications firms, which usually make use of dozens of individuals to characterize them. However Musk and his firms nonetheless employed extra lobbyists this yr than every other since 2021, in accordance with information from the Texas Ethics Fee.
Musk, the billionaire businessman behind carmaker Tesla and aerospace firm SpaceX, influenced a number of new Texas legal guidelines this yr. How his lobbyists took place these wins, nonetheless, is extra of a thriller.
His lobbyists, who represented Tesla, SpaceX and the social media large X Corp., spent tens of hundreds of {dollars} on issues like presents and meals for Texas elected officers and others throughout the session, in accordance with an evaluation of state ethics information. Most often, Texas transparency legal guidelines don’t require lobbyists to reveal which politicians they wined and dined or on behalf of which shoppers.
The Texas Newsroom reached out to all 12 of Musk’s lobbyists registered with the state this session. Just one, Carrie Simmons, a lobbyist who counts Tesla amongst her shoppers, responded, however she declined to be interviewed. She mentioned solely Musk’s firms may touch upon their work this session.
Emails despatched to Musk’s firms and to Musk himself weren’t returned.
The Texas Newsroom was capable of finding hints of a few of their actions in information obtained from Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick and state Sen. Adam Hinojosa. Different paperwork detailing their deeper connections are hidden from disclosure by state legal guidelines.
Ethics consultants mentioned the accountability to enhance transparency lies with Texas lawmakers. State regulation supplies a “base stage of transparency” for the general public on who lobbyists are and who they characterize, mentioned Andrew Cates, a former lobbyist who wrote a information on state ethics guidelines.
“Past that, the Legislature merely has not prioritized sufficient transparency in how the {dollars} are literally being spent on legislators regularly. However that’s not the foyer’s fault, it’s the Legislature’s,” Cates mentioned.
Tom Forbes, president of the Skilled Advocacy Affiliation of Texas, a statewide lobbyist group, mentioned whereas lobbyists typically get a foul rap, they play a vital position for lawmakers attempting to make choices on complicated insurance policies. He advised The Texas Newsroom that his group is “agnostic” about making reporting necessities extra stringent however will comply with any modifications the state implements.
“Our affiliation goes to adjust to no matter regulation the Legislature passes,” Forbes mentioned.
Who did Musk rent and who did they foyer?
Eight of Musk’s lobbyists labored for SpaceX, in accordance with filings with the Ethics Fee. Tesla had 4, one among whom additionally labored for X.
Musk’s lobbyists embrace former advisers and staffers for Gov. Greg Abbott, amongst them Mike Toomey and Reed Clay. One other lobbyist, Will McAdams, as soon as sat on the Public Utility Fee of Texas, which regulates the state’s electrical, telecommunications, and water and sewer utilities.
All however one lobbyist had different shoppers for whom they had been additionally working, making it tougher to trace precisely how a lot spending went to additional Musk’s agenda. Benjamin Lancaster, a former legislative staffer, was solely on SpaceX’s payroll.
Lobbyists usually are not required to report their precise salaries, solely a pay vary. Based on Ethics Fee information, Musk pledged to pay someplace between about $400,000 to just about $1 million in complete to his lobbyists for his or her work this yr. Half of them may rake in additional than $110,000 every working for Musk’s firms.
Every month, lobbyists report their complete spending. However state guidelines don’t require them to reveal who was on the receiving finish except the lobbyist shelled out greater than $132.60 on one particular person in a single day. This contains meals and drinks, transportation, lodging or leisure. Taxes and suggestions usually are not counted. The disclosure threshold for presents is $110.
Lobbyists additionally don’t have to disclose precisely who attended occasions to which all legislators had been invited, like catered lunches for the complete Texas Home of Representatives or pleased hours hosted off-site.
In follow, these guidelines imply a lobbyist may purchase the identical elected official a steak dinner each night time. So long as the every day price stays below that quantity, they don’t have to say who received the free meal.
Musk’s lobbyists spent greater than $46,000 on foods and drinks alone for elected officers and their employees, household and friends this yr, in accordance with state ethics information. None of them detailed which elected officers might have been on the receiving finish, implying all of their spending remained beneath the every day threshold.
Jim Clancy, the previous chair of the Ethics Fee, mentioned it’s frequent for a number of lobbyists to divide a single invoice with a view to keep under the reporting threshold.
“They’ve 15 completely different bank cards within the deal to guarantee that it’s all under the restrict,” Clancy advised The Texas Newsroom. “The Legislature has to alter it. And in the event that they did, they wouldn’t get to eat totally free.”
A slate of ethics bills, together with a number of to require transparency into who funds mass textual content messages for political campaigns, did not change into regulation this yr, in accordance with The Texas Tribune. In the meantime, legislators approved a new law that may scale back the wonderful for former lawmakers who have interaction in unlawful lobbying exercise.
What do different information present?
Whereas lobbyists usually are not required to reveal which payments they talk about in non-public conferences with officers and their employees, they need to word their place in the event that they select to testify on a chunk of laws. That is how The Texas Newsroom recognized the 13 payments on which Musk’s lobbyists took a public stance.
The Texas Newsroom was capable of glean some extra perception on lobbyist affect from information obtained by public data requests.
Calendars for Hinojosa, a newly elected South Texas Republican who authored a number of payments that will profit SpaceX and different aerospace firms, confirmed he or his employees had conferences scheduled with lobbyists or representatives from Musk’s rocket firm not less than thrice in two months. Emails confirmed Patrick penned a letter to the Federal Aviation Administration supporting SpaceX’s potential to extend the variety of launches at its South Texas rocket web site.
Patrick was additionally invited to take a tour of the Tesla Gigafactory exterior Austin, these information confirmed, however it’s unclear if he went.
Neither Hinojosa nor Patrick responded to requests for an interview.
The Texas Senate declined to launch different paperwork that would have make clear how Musk’s firms interacted with elected officers. In denying their launch, Senate Secretary Patsy Spaw mentioned communications between state lawmakers and Texas residents are “confidential by regulation.”
The rationale, she mentioned, is “to make sure the precise of residents of the state to petition their state authorities with out worry of harassment, retaliation or public ridicule.”
This might embrace emails with lobbyists.
Lauren McGaughy is a journalist with The Texas Newsroom, a collaboration amongst NPR and the general public radio stations in Texas. She is predicated at KUT in Austin. Attain her at [email protected]. Join KUT newsletters.
