Who pays to lobby in Olympia.
Registered lobbyists, the clients who hire them and the pay lobbyists reported for each client, from the Washington Public Disclosure Commission's open data.
individual lobbyists named on registrations
People on PDC's Lobbyist Agents list for 2026, counted by agent ID (1,020 different names; 18 names appear under more than one ID, not checked as the same or different people). PDC registers firms, not these people, and being listed does not show a person lobbied for any given client. The list covers 975 of the 976 registered lobbyists or firms.
lobbyists or lobbying firms registered
Registered lobbyists or lobbying firms with at least one 2026 registration, each counted once by PDC's lobbyist ID. PDC's registration data has no status field, so nothing is left out by status: registrations covering only part of the year (721 list fewer than 12 months, whether they started late or ended early), subcontractor registrations (290) and exempt registrations (4 exempt in every month, 10 in at least one) are all counted. 805 list November 2026 among their months. Registrations for 2027 and 2028 are not counted. PDC's Lobbyist Summary lists 977 for 2026.
clients (lobbyist employers)
Clients (PDC: employers) with at least one 2026 registration, each counted once by PDC's employer ID, on the same terms as lobbyists: 2,751 registrations in all, 2,741 different lobbyist and client pairs. 1,482 clients have a registration listing November 2026. Related organizations with separate IDs are counted separately. PDC's Employers Summary lists 1,662 client IDs for 2026.
| PUGET SOUND ENERGY INC Expenses lobbyists reported for this client in the same months, a separate measure and not included: $226,942.47. Of those expenses, $225,400.00 is on the reports' contributions line: contributions the lobbyist gave or transmitted, not the cost of lobbying. | $481,000.00 |
| AMAZON.COM SERVICES LLC Expenses lobbyists reported for this client in the same months, a separate measure and not included: $457,993.41. Of those expenses, $457,900.00 is on the reports' contributions line: contributions the lobbyist gave or transmitted, not the cost of lobbying. | $443,176.27 |
| Western States Petroleum Assn. Expenses lobbyists reported for this client in the same months, a separate measure and not included: $1,222.59. Of those expenses, $129.00 is on the reports' contributions line: contributions the lobbyist gave or transmitted, not the cost of lobbying. | $407,103.72 |
| ASSN OF WA BUSINESS | $396,850.20 |
| BOEING Expenses lobbyists reported for this client in the same months, a separate measure and not included: $5,585.87. | $389,250.96 |
| MICROSOFT CORP Expenses lobbyists reported for this client in the same months, a separate measure and not included: $3,448,525.51. Of those expenses, $3,114,800.00 is on the reports' contributions line: contributions the lobbyist gave or transmitted, not the cost of lobbying. | $384,107.00 |
| WA ST ASSN FOR JUSTICE Expenses lobbyists reported for this client in the same months, a separate measure and not included: $5,451.05. | $381,300.00 |
| WA ASSN OF REALTORS Expenses lobbyists reported for this client in the same months, a separate measure and not included: $22,673.41. | $371,000.00 |
| WA ST HOSPITAL ASSN Expenses lobbyists reported for this client in the same months, a separate measure and not included: $2,134.72. | $356,965.76 |
| WA FEDERATION OF STATE EMPLOYEES Expenses lobbyists reported for this client in the same months, a separate measure and not included: $1,500,511.20. Of those expenses, $1,482,694.70 is on the reports' contributions line: contributions the lobbyist gave or transmitted, not the cost of lobbying. | $332,797.14 |
| SEIU HEALTHCARE 1199 NW Expenses lobbyists reported for this client in the same months, a separate measure and not included: $1,370,178.67. Of those expenses, $1,362,108.48 is on the reports' contributions line: contributions the lobbyist gave or transmitted, not the cost of lobbying. | $300,641.03 |
| PUYALLUP TRIBE OF INDIANS | $270,000.00 |
| King County | $268,500.00 |
| North Coast States Regional Council of Carpenters | $259,599.40 |
| WA Hospitality Assn Expenses lobbyists reported for this client in the same months, a separate measure and not included: $9,309.59. | $259,391.59 |
| PHARMACEUTICAL RSRCH/MFG OF AMERICA Expenses lobbyists reported for this client in the same months, a separate measure and not included: $31,166.71. Of those expenses, $30,800.00 is on the reports' contributions line: contributions the lobbyist gave or transmitted, not the cost of lobbying. | $255,273.82 |
| PMI US Corporate Services Inc. and Affiliates Expenses lobbyists reported for this client in the same months, a separate measure and not included: $126,200.00. Of those expenses, $123,400.00 is on the reports' contributions line: contributions the lobbyist gave or transmitted, not the cost of lobbying. | $252,399.52 |
| BUILDING INDUSTRY ASSN OF WA Expenses lobbyists reported for this client in the same months, a separate measure and not included: $120,206.28. Of those expenses, $100,000.00 is on the reports' contributions line: contributions the lobbyist gave or transmitted, not the cost of lobbying. | $243,200.00 |
| AVISTA CORP Expenses lobbyists reported for this client in the same months, a separate measure and not included: $76,633.60. Of those expenses, $59,800.00 is on the reports' contributions line: contributions the lobbyist gave or transmitted, not the cost of lobbying. | $241,652.07 |
| WA ST MEDICAL ASSN Expenses lobbyists reported for this client in the same months, a separate measure and not included: $5,057.20. | $240,541.74 |
| PUBLIC SCHOOL EMPLOYEES OF WA Expenses lobbyists reported for this client in the same months, a separate measure and not included: $171,775.02. Of those expenses, $170,234.84 is on the reports' contributions line: contributions the lobbyist gave or transmitted, not the cost of lobbying. | $238,744.89 |
| TEAMSTERS LOCAL UNION #117 Expenses lobbyists reported for this client in the same months, a separate measure and not included: $2,019.31. | $231,534.66 |
| SEIU 775 Expenses lobbyists reported for this client in the same months, a separate measure and not included: $100,330.74. Of those expenses, $95,145.26 is on the reports' contributions line: contributions the lobbyist gave or transmitted, not the cost of lobbying. | $224,994.72 |
| Washington Multi Family Housing Association Expenses lobbyists reported for this client in the same months, a separate measure and not included: $13,544.29. Of those expenses, $6,000.00 is on the reports' contributions line: contributions the lobbyist gave or transmitted, not the cost of lobbying. | $220,708.68 |
| Delta Dental of WA Expenses lobbyists reported for this client in the same months, a separate measure and not included: $223,152.79. Of those expenses, $203,800.00 is on the reports' contributions line: contributions the lobbyist gave or transmitted, not the cost of lobbying. | $220,120.00 |
Compensation that lobbyists and lobbying firms reported for this client on their monthly L-2 reports to the Public Disclosure Commission, January through September 2026, added across every firm: PDC's net_compensation column, which takes what a firm reports paying a subcontractor out of that firm's figure so the subcontractor's own report does not count the same money twice. It is pay only, filed by the lobbyists, not by the client. Expenses are a separate measure and are not in it. It is not the client's annual L-3 report, which also starts from these L-2 figures and for 2026 is not due until March 1, 2027, so the two are never added. Not a full year.
Sources: PDC, Lobbyist Compensation and Expenses by Source (L-2 lines), data.wa.gov; PDC, Lobbyist Employment Registrations, data.wa.gov; PDC, Lobbyist Employers Summary (L-3 totals), data.wa.gov; PDC, Lobbyist Summary, data.wa.gov; PDC, Lobbyist Agents, data.wa.gov; PDC, Lobbyist Agent Employers, data.wa.gov; PDC, Lobbyist Reporting History, data.wa.gov; PDC, Public Disclosure Reporting Periods (due dates), data.wa.gov; PDC, Lobbyist Clients browse page and client pages; RCW 29B.50.010, registration of lobbyists; RCW 29B.50.040, exemptions; RCW 29B.50.050, reporting by lobbyists; RCW 29B.50.080, reports by employers.
How to read this
Washington has paid lobbyists register with the Public Disclosure Commission before lobbying or within 30 days of being hired, with written authorization from each employer. Some are exempt, such as people who only appear at public hearings, unpaid lobbyists who spend nothing on officials, and people who lobby four days or fewer in three months and spend very little; some of them may register anyway. PDC calls the registered person or firm the lobbyist, and the people working for a firm its agents; it keeps one registration per firm and client per year. Two kinds of report overlap. A lobbyist files an L-2 each month, within 15 days after the month ends, listing pay and expenses by client. A client files one L-3 a year, which starts from the L-2 figures and adds its own spending, so the same payment can appear on both; the table uses L-2s only and never adds the two. Clients include companies, associations, unions, tribes and local governments. The lobbying law moved from RCW 42.17A to RCW 29B.50 on Jan. 1, 2026; PDC's dataset descriptions still cite the old chapter. Registering and paying a lobbyist is lawful and public; these records do not show that any official acted because of it.
What is not here yet
- 2026 compensation covers January through September only, and only what was on file Nov. 3, 2026. October reports are due Nov. 16; reports filed or amended later are not included.
- Clients' annual L-3 reports for 2026 are not due until March 1, 2027; only 102 are on file. PDC's Employers Summary shows little for 2026 until they come in, so it was not used for the 2026 ranking.
- For 372 of 7,342 firm-months in January through September where a firm was registered and not exempt, PDC's reporting history has no L-2 (81 of them for September), so anything those reports would show is missing. 6 of the 25 clients in the table have a firm with such a month, so their figures may be low. On the three client pages opened, PDC's own Due but not filed marks match our count. We did not ask why any report is absent; a late report is not a finding about anyone.
- Firms' reports of what they paid subcontractors and subcontractors' reports of what they received differ for 119 clients: $2,455,287.70 against $2,678,156.12 in all. We did not reconcile them. None of the 25 clients in the table is affected.
- PDC's Lobbyist Summary net compensation differs from the 2026 L-2 lines for 10 firms, by $96,046.00 net; we used the L-2 lines and did not establish why.
- For 2025, L-3 compensation equals L-2 net compensation for 1,357 of 1,573 clients with an L-3; for the others the figures differ, and an L-3 can be corrected by the client or filed before later L-2s. 134 clients have 2025 L-2 compensation ($7,303,134.96) but no L-3 listed. We did not check why; some are public bodies, and whether they owe an L-3 was not checked.
- Counts follow PDC's IDs, and related organizations with separate IDs are not combined. No registered client name sits under more than one employer ID. 10 clients appear under more than one name on L-2 lines; none is in the table. Names are as PDC lists them, including abbreviations.
- Public agencies' own lobbying reports (Form L-5) and grassroots lobbying reports are not in these totals; not yet checked. An agency appears here only if it hired a registered lobbyist.
- Contract amounts on registrations and line items inside each L-2 (such as itemized contributions) were not collected.
- PDC describes these datasets as a best-effort compilation that may be incomplete or wrong, and offers the original reports for checking. We opened three client pages, three L-2s and one L-3, not every report behind the table.
Gaps in the lobbying records as of the date checked.