JCOPE Releases 2018 Mid-Year Lobbying Data

Spending to Influence Government Outcomes Up vs. 2017 Mid-Year Period

(ALBANY, NY) October 24, 2018 -- Organizations spent $129.9 million between January and
June 2018 on efforts to influence State and local government decision making, according to data
released today by the Joint Commission on Public Ethics ("Commission"). This represents a more
than $8 million increase – or about 6.7 percent – over lobbying expenditures during the same
period in 2017.

Among these top lobbying spenders for the first part of the year was 1199 SEIU Labor
Management Initiatives, Inc. Healthcare Education Project, which led all organizations with more
than $3.6 million in lobbying expenditures. Other top spenders were the Greater New York
Hospital Association, Inc. ($2.28 million), NYS Nurses Association ($1.4 million), Uber
Technologies, Inc. ($1.3 million), and NYS Laborers-Employers Cooperation & Education Trust
($1.18 million), which only began lobbying this year. New to this year's list was FWD.US
($782,907), which advocated for criminal justice reform.

The data shows that approximately $113 million of the total lobbying spending for the first half of
2018 went to compensation for retained and in-house lobbyists. About $4.7 million was spent on
advertising, nearly $789,000 on events, and the remainder on other lobbying-related expenses.

The top ten lobbying firms received a little more than $40.5 million in total compensation and
reimbursed expenses, about $5 million more than the same time last year. Eight of the top 10
professional firms on the 2017 mid-year list remain on this year’s list, with Kasirer LLC leading
all lobbying firms through June 2018 with almost $6.3 million in total earnings.
SKDKnickerbocker LLC entered the top 10 for the first time, earning $4.13 million.
In terms of the number of clients, Brown & Weinraub, PLLC led all lobbyists with 180 clients
through June 2018, followed by Kasirer LLC, which registered to represent 176 clients. Bolton St.
Johns, LLC was third highest with 154 clients.

These most recent figures come from data submitted to JCOPE by lobbyists, their clients, and
public corporations, covering lobbying activities from January 1 through June 30, 2018. Registered
lobbyists and public corporations must file bi-monthly reports that include the amount of
compensation and reimbursed expenses for lobbying activities that were received during the
previous two months. For clients of lobbyists, filings must be submitted twice a year that detail
lobbying expenditures during the previous six months, including how much was spent on
advertising.

As of June 30, 2018, there were 7,444 individual lobbyists reported on lobbyist registrations in
New York State, representing 4,712 clients.

JCOPE has updated its publicly available sets of the complete data filed by lobbyists, their clients,
and public corporations to include reported information from the first half of 2018. Those datasets
can be found at https://jcope.ny.gov/lobbying-datasets.
 Top 10 Clients (Total Expenditures)
January through June 2018
(Based on figures reported in 2018 Client Semi-Annual Reports as of September 21, 2018)

CLIENT NAME COMPENSATION & EXPENSES

1199 SEIU LABOR MANAGEMENT INITIATIVES, INC., HEALTHCARE $3,635,901

EDUCATION PROJECT
GREATER NEW YORK HOSPITAL ASSOCIATION, INC. $2,287,383
NURSES ASSOCIATION-NYS $1,444,496

UBER TECHNOLOGIES, INC. $1,327,328

LABORERS-EMPLOYERS COOPERATION AND EDUCATION TRUST (NYS) $1,183,182

AARP $1,054,225

FWD.US $782,907

UNITED TEACHERS (NYS) $753,719

TRIAL LAWYERS ASSOCIATION (NYS) $744,547
HEALTHCARE ASSOCIATION OF NYS $737,159
 Top 10 Retained Lobbyists (Total Compensation and Reimbursed Expenses)
January through June 2018
(Based on figures reported in 2018 Lobbyist Bi-Monthly Reports as of September 21, 2018)
LOBBYIST NAME TOTALS

KASIRER, LLC $6,278,107

BROWN & WEINRAUB, PLLC $6,020,618

BOLTON ST. JOHNS, LLC $4,864,202

GREENBERG TRAURIG, LLP $4,743,281

SKDKNICKERBOCKER LLC $4,138,099

HINMAN STRAUB ADVISORS, LLC $3,342,337

OSTROFF ASSOCIATES, INC. $3,153,045

CAPALINO, JAMES F. & ASSOCIATES, INC. $3,000,715

PARK STRATEGIES, LLC $2,549,462

PITTA BISHOP & DEL GIORNO LLC (FKA PITTA BISHOP DEL GIORNO & GIBLIN LLC) $2,524,623