Despite the climate crisis, fossil fuel lobbyists continue to enjoy a high degree of secrecy in their dealings with state officials, with many states failing to capture basic information about their compensation and bills on which they are lobbying. Inherent Vice: a 50-state report card on lobbying transparency exposes a pattern of fossil fuel lobbyists making incomplete and inaccurate disclosures about their work.
Solving the climate crisis depends on solving this disclosure crisis.
Strength of Disclosure
A strong disclosure system can demonstrate the extent to which fossil fuel lobbyists are playing both sides of the climate crisis.
In 18 states, registered lobbyists are required to disclose the bills they lobby on for each of their clients: California, Colorado, Delaware, Idaho, Iowa, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Montana, Nebraska, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Rhode Island, Washington, Wisconsin, and Florida, where bill number disclosure is required for House but not Senate bills. Eight of these states additionally require lobbyists to disclose positions taken on each bill: Colorado, Iowa, Massachusetts, Montana, Nebraska, New Jersey, Rhode Island, and Wisconsin.
Overall, just eight states have all three of the most important keys to exposing this duplicity: disclosure of lobbyist salaries, disclosure of bills on which they are lobbying, and disclosure of positions taken on these bills.
Ease of Access
Exposing lobbyists whose pro-fossil-fuel advocacy is harming their own clients begins with one simple thing that 40 states make easily available: a list of all lobbyists and their clients. Yet many states with pro-climate governors and pro-climate majorities in their legislatures don’t make such lists available. Massachusetts charges $200 for such a list. Maine’s lobbyist list includes just one client per lobbyist. Pennsylvania’s “Lobbyist Directory” is a 238-page, 991-MB Word document that contains 1,400 lobbyist photographs, but nothing about their clients.
All states make public the locations of fossil fuel projects such as oil wells, gas wells, power plants, and refineries. Lists of all lobbyists and their clients should also be public.
| Grade | State | Description | Ease of Access | Strength of Disclosure | Overall Score | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
F-
|
Alabama | Alabama had the third-worst score of any state for Strength of Disclosure, including a failure to require clients to report bills numbers or compensation received... View Report | 76.6% | 20.0% | 48.3 |
35th |
|
D
|
Alaska | Poor site design that can offer users a maze instead of a straight line leading to their destination. Alaska’s site offers a lot of options... View Report | 81.6% | 50.0% | 65.8 |
17th |
|
F-
|
Arizona | Only state besides MA to charge for a complete lobbyist-client list, and AZ suggests users are fortunate to pay just $25 because “the reasonable charge... View Report | 56.6% | 25.0% | 40.8 |
45th |
|
F-
|
Arkansas | A low score, but some improvement in 2024, as a laggy and nearly nonfunctional website was replaced by a new, faster site in August. New site... View Report | 50% | 32.6% | 41.3 |
44th |
|
B-
|
California | Outrageous examples of CA lobbyists playing both sides of the climate crisis are easy to find thanks to the state’s strong lobbyist disclosure law and... View Report | 95.0% | 65.0% | 80.0 |
6th |
|
A
|
Colorado | Strong laws and a dynamic website expose a shocking culture of lobbying firms getting paid to work both for and against the same climate bills.... View Report | 100.0% | 85.0% | 92.5 |
1st |
|
F
|
Connecticut | A confusing and user-unfriendly website that foregrounds a lot of summary information and large datasets that fail to capture what individual clients or lobbyists are... View Report | 63.4% | 50.0% | 56.7 |
26th-T |
|
D-
|
Delaware | The fox isn’t just in the hen house, he built it. Bobby Byrd, one of Delaware’s leading fossil fuel lobbyists, helped to write the state’s... View Report | 73.4% | 50.0% | 61.7 |
21st-T |
|
D
|
Florida | Sunshine in the House but darkness in the Senate. The Florida House captures testimony and legislative appearances by lobbyists and makes them public in a... View Report | 78.4% | 54.0% | 66.2 |
16th |
|
F-
|
Georgia | Hello, my name is John, but you can call me Trip. A lobbyist’s name or nickname is the most prominent piece of information on each... View Report | 68.4% | 30.0% | 49.2 |
34th |
|
C
|
Hawaii | Greatest split of any state between a terrific A+ website and feeble, F- disclosure laws, which fail to capture bill numbers or positions taken, giving... View Report | 100.0% | 48.0% | 74.0 |
12th |
|
D+
|
Idaho | Less snow, more fire. A dangerous dynamic that demands better disclosure of the activities of lobbyists who work for fossil fuel companies in addition to... View Report | 78.4% | 60.0% | 69.2 |
14th |
|
F
|
Illinois | A misguided disclosure system in which lobbyists file a lot of reports about little or nothing. Every two weeks they’re required to report minor expenditures... View Report | 85.0% | 25.0% | 55.0 |
28th |
|
F-
|
Indiana | An obstacle course–and not the fun kind. Activity search function limits downloads to 2000 entries. A search for compensated lobbyists produces a spreadsheet noting hundreds... View Report | 60.0% | 27% | 43.5 |
43rd |
|
B-
|
Iowa | Fascinating and easy-to-make lists of every position taken by all lobbyists on any bill. A model for other states! Exposure to chemicals from gas extraction... View Report | 83.4% | 77.0% | 80.2 |
5th |
|
F-
|
Kansas | “That future is now.” Dropping water levels in the Ogallala Aquifer recently led a member of the Kansas Geological Survey to make this grim assessment... View Report | 63.4% | 25.0% | 44.2 |
42nd |
|
D-
|
Kentucky | Bill numbers are reported but this information is buried in a file that is hard to read, use, or understand. For example, the only way... View Report | 58.4% | 65.0% | 61.7 |
21st |
|
D-
|
Louisiana | A lobbyist paid $1 to stop a gas pipeline is the same as a lobbyist being paid $24,999 to build that same pipeline, in the... View Report | 83.4% | 40.0% | 61.7 |
21st |
|
B
|
Maine | The climate crisis is wreaking havoc on Maine’s marine ecosystems and its fishing industry. Yet in 2023, lobbyists for one of the country’s largest operators... View Report | 90% | 80.0% | 85 |
3rd |
|
C+
|
Maryland | Maryland is in the midst of a messy and massive failure by energy lobbyists to comply with simple disclosure requirements such as listing the numbers... View Report | 100.0% | 55.0% | 77.5 |
T-7th |
|
C
|
Massachusetts | Draconian system that forces users to pay $200 and file a public information request to obtain a complete list of lobbyists and their clients. Only... View Report | 75.0% | 70.0% | 72.5 |
13th |
|
F-
|
Michigan | “Ten times worse than Flint,’ is how an Illinois State Rep. described what would happen if coal ash pits from NRG Energy’s retired Waukegan Generating... View Report | 50.0% | 15.0% | 32.5 |
48th |
|
F-
|
Minnesota | Unfriendly system that feels like it was designed for internal use, not the public. For example, downloading all clients yields a list in which every... View Report | 68.4% | 35.0% | 51.7 |
30th |
|
D
|
Mississippi | Too soon or too late. These are the only two options for getting information about lobbyists’ activities during the January-May legislative session, as disclosures are... View Report | 90.0% | 38.0% | 64.0 |
20th |
|
F-
|
Missouri | Only state besides Michigan that forces you to file a request to see issue areas lobbied upon by its lobbyists. The most prominently featured piece... View Report | 78.4% | 25.0% | 51.7 |
30th |
|
C
|
Montana | A model of simplicity and effectiveness for other states whose legislatures only meet every other year. Site does a great job of putting all relevant... View Report | 78.4% | 76.0% | 77.2 |
10th |
|
C
|
Nebraska | Strong disclosure requirements that make it easy to see all activities by a given lobbyist or client. A simplicity and clarity that is partly the... View Report | 80.0% | 70.0% | 75.0 |
11th |
|
F-
|
Nevada | Weak-to-nonexistent disclosure requirements for most major categories, with the worst user experience score for its website of any state. Lobbyists do not have to report... View Report | 38.4% | 26.0% | 32.2 |
49th |
|
F-
|
New Hampshire | What do you get when you cross the Ivy League with Canadian tar sands oil? The answer, in New Hampshire, is the lobbying firm RYP... View Report | 45.0% | 50.0% | 47.5 |
38th |
|
D+
|
New Jersey | Clunky and brutally difficult interface that feels like driving in heavy north Jersey traffic in the days before GPS and EZ-Pass. But hang in there... View Report | 55.0% | 80.0% | 67.5 |
15th |
|
F-
|
New Mexico | New Mexico is the only state that doesn’t pay its state legislators, which puts them at a distinct disadvantage when they try to go head-to-head... View Report | 68.4% | 23.0% | 45.7 |
41st |
|
B
|
New York | Site makes a poor first impression–like a stranger sharing TMI–but ultimately reveals a lot of damning information about lobbyists working for-and-against climate. All of these... View Report | 90.0% | 75.0% | 82.5 |
4th |
|
F-
|
North Carolina | Travel to Raleigh and patiently sit in legislative hearings, if you want to know what lobbyists are doing, because NC fails in every basic measure... View Report | 73.4% | 20.0% | 46.7 |
40th |
|
F-
|
North Dakota | The Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library Foundation is building a library and museum in Medora, North Dakota to honor the man the foundation calls “the original... View Report | 73.4% | 22.0% | 47.7 |
37th |
|
D
|
Ohio | Ohio’s confounding response to lobbying scandals has been to make lobbying less transparent, and the seeds of the HB 6 bribery scandal were planted in... View Report | 83.4% | 48.0% | 65.7 |
18th |
|
F-
|
Oklahoma | Illusion of disclosure. Lobbyists file monthly reports while the legislature is in session but these reports reveal nothing about compensation or legislation. The OK House... View Report | 83.4% | 20.0% | 51.7 |
30th |
|
D
|
Oregon | Chevron reports paying a lobbying firm $15,000, but that firm only reports spending $15. This was the case with Chevron lobbyist Inga Deckert of the... View Report | 88.4% | 40.0% | 64.2 |
19th |
|
F+
|
Pennsylvania | Benjamin Franklin could have been describing PA’s singularly frustrating site when quoting, “Whom the gods would destroy, they first make mad.” A “lobbyist directory” turns... View Report | 70.0% | 45.0% | 57.5 |
24th |
|
B-
|
Rhode Island | Zippy website that weirdly fails to provide a complete lobbyist-client list and fails to make information about particular bills or subject areas very accessible or... View Report | 70.0% | 90.0% | 80.0 |
6th |
|
F
|
South Carolina | Minor expenses on things like Office Depot and parking are easy to find, but evidence of what fossil fuel giants want, well, not so much.... View Report | 78.4% | 35.0% | 56.7 |
26th-T |
|
F-
|
South Dakota | Minimal disclosure for lobbyists representing private entities–you can only search their activities by subject area, not bill number–and you can’t even do this much for... View Report | 74.4% | 22.0% | 48.2 |
36th |
|
F-
|
Tennessee | Lowest overall score, with poor disclosure of lobbyists’ activities, no integrated lobbyist-client list available on its site, and reports filed just twice a year. The... View Report | 38.4% | 25.0% | 31.7 |
50th |
|
F
|
Texas | A pocket knife, a diaper bag, a Waterford Lismore Pie Server, a gift certificate for deer processing, a Henry AR7 .22 caliber rifle, candy, a... View Report | 63.4% | 44.0% | 53.7 |
29th |
|
F-
|
Utah | The Sundance Institute has screened and supported the development of numerous films about the climate crisis. At the same time, the Sundance Institute shares the... View Report | 73.4% | 30.0% | 51.7 |
30th |
|
F
|
Vermont | Making snow and melting it. The lobbying firm MMR represents the Vermont Ski Areas Association as well as fossil fuel companies NextEra Energy Resources and... View Report | 70.0% | 44.6% | 57.3 |
25th |
|
F-
|
Virginia | Biggest split of any state between its climate policies–which are increasingly progressive and focused on transitioning away from fossil fuels–and its grossly inadequate lobbyist disclosure... View Report | 33.4% | 32.0% | 32.7 |
47th |
|
C+
|
Washington | Fossil fuel lobbyists flout the state’s strong disclosure requirements by routinely making meaningless and misleading disclosures about their activity. F Minus’s audit of the state’s... View Report | 100.0% | 55.0% | 77.5 |
T-7th |
|
F-
|
West Virginia | Awkward high school yearbook format makes lobbyist list hard to read or analyze. Strength of Disclosure score of 8% is the lowest of any state,... View Report | 60.0% | 8.0% | 34.0 |
46th |
|
B+
|
Wisconsin | The hardest thing to find in some states–disclosures of clients’ business and legislative interests–is featured prominently in WI’s complete lobbyist list. Wisconsin has the best... View Report | 88.4% | 90.0% | 89.2 |
2nd |
|
F-
|
Wyoming | Lowest score of any state for frequency of disclosure. Lobbyist activity reports are filed just once a year and are viewable only by filing a... View Report | 73.4% | 21.0% | 47.2 |
39th |