On the heels of a record year for lobbyist spending, Kentucky businesses and organizations spent an all-time high of $2.6 t million dollars in the first portion of the current legislative session.
After spending more than $20 million dollars in 2017, lobbyists started this year by spending 20 percent more than they spent at the beginning of last year’s session. The top spender during the first month of this year’s legislative session was the Foundation for a Healthy Kentucky.
The health advocacy group spent more than 100-thousand-dollars in hopes of convincing lawmakers to raise the state’s cigarette tax. According to the Legislative Ethics Commission, the Kentucky Chamber of Commerce was the second biggest spender in the opening month of the session followed by Altria, the owner of cigarette maker Phillip Morris.
