Preliminary lobbying data shows that January-June 2025 total client semi-annual (CSA) lobbying compensation and expenses reached $183.25 million, up 0.43% from the previous year, while May-June 2025 lobbyist compensation and expenses totaled $65.25 million, down 1.99% from March-April 2025, Executive Director Sanford N. Berland announced today. Detailed charts on January-June 2025 Client Semi-Annual and May-June 2025 Bi-Monthly lobbying activity are now available.
 

“The preliminary January-June CSA data shows that lobbyist compensation and total spending increased year-over-year while expenses declined,” Executive Director Berland said. “At the same time, the preliminary data from May-June 2025 shows a dip in spending when compared with January-February and March-April due to a decrease in expenses. These fluctuations underscore the importance of providing the public timely awareness of lobbying activity and associated spending as efforts to influence state and local decision-making shift throughout the year.”
 

“Promoting transparency in lobbying activity and spending is not an option; it is a crucial step in building public trust in state and local government. The public is entitled to know on a timely basis who is being lobbied, who is doing the lobbying, what is being lobbied on, and who is paying for the lobbying,” Chair Seymour W. James, Jr. said. “The continuous publication of up-to-date lobbying data allows the public to gain a clearer picture of lobbying activity in New York State.” 
 

January-June 2025 Preliminary CSA Lobbying Spending

From January through June of this year, the preliminary CSA lobbying spending totaled $183.25 million, an increase of $786,412 from the $182.46 million spent in January through June 2024. Lobbyist compensation reached $162.79 million, a jump of $5.85 million from the $156.94 million spent in 2024. Expenses totaled $20.46 million, marking a $5.06 million, or 19.84%, decrease from the $25.52 million spent during the same period in 2024. Expenses included $17.98 million in itemized expenses, $1.7 million in related expenses, and $773,543 in expenses less than $75.
 

January-June 2025 Top Client Spenders and Clients Ranked by Total Payments to Retained Lobbyists

The top three client spenders included Queens Future, LLC at $1.92 million, Genting New York LLC at $1.88 million, and Alliance to Protect Home Care, Inc at $1.79 million.  The number four spot was held by United University Professions, Inc at $1.7 million, followed by Greater New York Hospital Association, Inc (#5), Coalition for New York's Future, Inc (#6), Sports Betting Alliance (#7), TSG Coney Island Entertainment Holdco LLC (#8), and Maddd Equities LLC (#9). The final spot of the top 10 was held by American Beverage Association at $1.02 million.
 

The top three clients ranked by total payments to retained lobbyists included Genting New York LLC with $1.88 million paid to seven retained lobbyists, TSG Coney Island Entertainment Holdco LLC with $1.14 million paid to four retained lobbyists, and Maddd Equities LLC with $1.11 million paid to five retained lobbyists. In the fourth spot was Queens Future, LLC with $1.02 million paid to 12 retained lobbyists, followed by Trial Lawyers Association (NYS) at number five. Rounding out the top 10 list was Multistate Associates LLC (#6), Northwell Health, Inc (#7), Bally’s Corporation (#8), National Strategies, LLC (#9), and Charter Communications Operating, LLC (#10).
 

May-June 2025 Preliminary Lobbying Spending and Top Professional Lobbyists

The preliminary lobbying spending for May-June 2025 totaled $65.25 million, down $1.32 million from March-April 2025 and $22,407 from January-February 2025. Lobbyist compensation continued to dominate total spending at $59.24 million. Expenses totaled $6.01 million, a 22.24% decrease from the $6.94 million spent from March-April 2025 and a 13.44% decrease from the $7.72 million expended in January-February 2025. Expenses included $5 million in itemized expenses, $851,268 in non-lobbying expenses, and $151,322 in expenses less than $75. 
 

The top three retained lobbyists, ranked by compensation only, remained unchanged from January-February 2025 and March-April 2025 bi-monthly reports. Brown & Weinraub Advisors, LLC continued to hold the top spot at $4.3 million, followed by Kasirer LLC at $3.0 million and Bolton-St Johns, 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), Hollis Public Affairs Inc. (#7), and The Parkside Group, LLC (#8). Rounding out the top 10 were Pitta Bishop & Del Giorno LLC (#9) at $1.2 million and Cozen O'Connor Public Strategies, LLC (#10).
 

May-June 2025 Lobbyists Firms Ranked by Number of Clients

The top three lobbying firms by number of clients in May-June 2025 remained unchanged from March-April 2025. The top spot was Brown & Weinraub Advisors, LLC, with 314 Contractual Clients and 350 Beneficial Clients, followed by Bolton-St. Johns, LLC with 234 Contractual Clients and 239 Beneficial Clients (#2), and Kasirer LLC with 199 Contractual Clients and 202 Beneficial Clients (#3). Greenberg Traurig, LLP was once again fourth on the list, followed by Ostroff Associates, Inc. (#5), Hinman Straub Advisors, LLC (#6), Pitta Bishop & Del Giorno LLC (#7), Constantinople & Vallone Consulting LLC (#8), and The Parkside Group, LLC (#9). Hollis Public Affairs re-entered the list with 89 Contractual Clients and 90 Beneficial Clients (#10).
 

May-June 2025 Top Bills, Topics, and Parties Lobbied

Article VII bills and budget bills comprised many of the top 10 bills cited as lobbied in May-June 2025, but the top three spots for most lobbied bills were non-budget related bills. Senate Bill 1464 and Assembly Bill 1749, which would enact the packaging reduction and recycling infrastructure act, were the first and second most lobbied bills. The third most lobbied bill was Assembly Bill A8427, also known as the FAIR Act, which is aimed at broadly expanding consumer protections against unfair and abusive business practices.
 

The top three parties lobbied changed positions from March-April 2025 with the Legislative Majorities comprising the top two spots in May-June 2025. The parties included the NYS Senate Majority Program and Counsel Staff with 752 filings, the NYS Assembly Majority Program and Counsel Staff with 697 filings, and the Executive Chamber/Office of the Governor with 574 filings.
 

With respect to lobbying subjects and topics, Miscellaneous Business, Budget/Appropriations, and Health once again occupied the top three spots in May-June 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.