Lobbyist Compensation and Expense Summaries by Client Source

Compensation and expense summaries are extracted from monthly lobbying reports filed in Washington State. The dataset covers 16 years plus the current election year starting from 2016. It is compiled by the Washington State Public Disclosure Commission as a best-effort record.

Use Cases

• Analyze total lobbying expenditures per client using `total_expenses`, `direct_expenses`, and `indirect_expenses` columns.
• Track financial activity trends over time by aggregating `net_total` and `contributions_total` by `filing_period`.
• Identify major lobbying clients and their spending categories via `employer_name`, `funding_source_name`, `advertising`, and `entertainment` fields.
• Link lobbying firms to their clients and reported expenses using `filer_name`, `contractor_name`, `employer_id`, and `contractor_id`.

Strengths

• Covers a 16-year-plus time range starting from 2016, providing longitudinal data.
• Includes detailed expense breakdowns across 29 columns such as advertising, entertainment, and personal_expenses.

Limitations

• Pre-2016 records are excluded and housed in a separate dataset, creating a data discontinuity.
• The dataset is a best-effort compilation and may contain incomplete or incorrect information, as stated by the provider.
• Records only exist for reports with compensation or expenses, potentially omitting inactive filers.

Provenance

Source

Washington State Public Disclosure Commission (PDC).

Collection Method

Extracted from monthly lobbying reports filed with the PDC.

Time Range

From 2016 to present (covering 16 years plus current election year).

Freshness

Updated as of April 2026, with data from monthly reports.

Geography

Washington State, USA.