Who pays to lobby the state government.
Registered lobbyists, their clients and what the clients reported, from New York’s lobbying records.
individual lobbyists named on registrations
Distinct individual lobbyist names listed on 2025-2026 registrations (case-folded; the same person spelled two ways counts twice).
lobbyists or lobbying firms registered
Distinct principal lobbyists (firms, organizations and in-house filers) on 2025-2026 Statements of Registration, any filing type. Not people.
clients (lobbyist employers)
Distinct contractual clients on 2025-2026 Statements of Registration (exact name after case-folding).
| COALITION FOR NEW YORK'S FUTURE, INC. | $3,600,000.00 |
| GENTING NEW YORK LLC | $3,468,000.00 |
| GREATER NEW YORK HOSPITAL ASSOCIATION, INC. | $3,417,510.00 |
| MAPLEBEAR INC. D/B/A INSTACART | $3,391,528.00 |
| Queens Future, LLC | $3,199,005.00 |
| AMERICAN BEVERAGE ASSOCIATION | $3,096,158.00 |
| UNITED UNIVERSITY PROFESSIONS, INC. | $3,011,065.00 |
| Hotel Trades Council, AFL-CIO and Hotel Association of New York City, Inc. Labor Management Cooperation Trust Fund | $2,565,139.00 |
| HOMEOWNERS FFE LLC | $2,298,371.00 |
| AIRBNB, INC. | $1,927,004.00 |
| MADDD EQUITIES LLC | $1,849,652.00 |
| ALLIANCE TO PROTECT HOME CARE, INC. | $1,787,409.00 |
| Sports Betting Alliance | $1,645,701.00 |
| TSG CONEY ISLAND ENTERTAINMENT HOLDCO LLC | $1,630,834.00 |
| MULTISTATE ASSOCIATES LLC | $1,455,409.00 |
| TRIAL LAWYERS ASSOCIATION (NYS) | $1,440,003.00 |
| UNITED TEACHERS (NYS) | $1,395,218.00 |
| Public Employees Federation | $1,312,639.00 |
| AARP | $1,291,499.00 |
| NORTHWELL HEALTH, INC. | $1,257,263.00 |
| The Business Council of New York State, Inc. | $1,220,461.00 |
| CHARTER COMMUNICATIONS OPERATING, LLC | $1,206,045.00 |
| Bally's Corporation | $1,196,987.00 |
| NATIONAL STRATEGIES, LLC | $1,191,814.00 |
| Cojo Strategies LLC | $1,044,250.00 |
Sources: Commission on Ethics and Lobbying in Government (COELIG), Client Semi-Annual Report: Beginning 2019 (data.ny.gov dataset qym9-xzj6); COELIG, Lobbyist Statement of Registration: 2025 - 2026 (data.ny.gov dataset dz6x-9475); New York State Commission on Ethics and Lobbying in Government, lobbying.
How to read this
New York lobbying is reported to COELIG on three forms: biennial registrations, bi-monthly lobbyist reports and client semi-annual reports. Client totals here come from the client semi-annual reports, which cover both state and municipal (local government) lobbying; we kept the latest filing for each client and period so amendments are not double counted. Amounts are what clients reported spending on lobbying, not gifts to officials and not campaign money. Calendar 2025 and 2026 to date are kept apart and never added together.
What is not here yet
- Raw files are SoQL aggregate pulls from data.ny.gov (one row per form and principal lobbyist, or per form and itemized expense), not the full datasets: the full client semi-annual dataset has about 74.6 million rows because it repeats money on every subject and target line. The exact queries are in PULLS.md.
- Bi-monthly lobbyist reports (data.ny.gov t9kf-dqbc / kn4r-wkd3) could not be pulled: the server dropped the aggregate query twice (empty reply). Lobbyist counts therefore come from registrations, not from bi-monthly activity.
- Itemized expenses were grouped by form, amount, type, payee, date and purpose; two identical expense lines on the same form would be counted once (possible small undercount).
- Client names are matched exactly after case-folding; one organization filing under two spellings is counted as two clients and its spending is split.
- 2026 covers January-June only; the dataset was last updated in late July 2026 (rows updated 2026-07-29), so late January-June filings may be missing.
- Some contractual clients are themselves lobbying or government-affairs firms that hire New York lobbyists on behalf of other companies (for example MultiState Associates, National Strategies, Cojo Strategies); their totals cover several beneficial clients, which are listed with each entry.
- Public corporation lobbying (separate COELIG forms) and disbursements of public monies are not included.
- Independent check, Oct. 18, 2026: raw/scripts/build_lobbying_summary.py was rerun (output to a scratch folder) and reproduced every count, total and the top 25 exactly; three top clients (Genting New York, Greater New York Hospital Association, Coalition for New York's Future) were recomputed from a fresh data.ny.gov query and match. The Statement of Registration dataset (dz6x-9475) was last updated on data.ny.gov on July 24, 2026, so the lobbyist and client counts reflect registrations on file as of then, not as of October.
Gaps in the lobbying records as of the date checked.