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Eye on Lobbying for the Public

General members of the public, college students, and the vast majority of Wisconsin State Legislators use this website to evaluate legislative bills, resolutions, and topics. 

The Ethics Commission uses the Eye on Lobbying (lobbying.wi.gov) website for all principal registration, lobbyist licensing, lobbying activity and expenditures reporting, and public disclosure of lobbying activities.   Members of the public can utilize this site to:
view all published lobbying activity and reports
view all principal, lobbyist, and state agency liaison directories
subscribe to the lobbying interest notification service—FOCUS

Reports

Lobbying principals are statutorily required to file periodic reports with the Ethics Commission. Eye on Lobbying includes information on lobbying activity since the 2003-2004 legislative session. Prior to 2003, lobbying information is available through paper reports with the State of Wisconsin Historical Society.

15 Day Reports

Registered principals must report to the Wisconsin Ethics Commission each bill, budget bill subject, proposed rule, and topic on which the organization makes a lobbying communication (Wis. Stats. §13.67[1]). The principal, through an authorized individual, must report the bill, budget bill subject, proposed rule, or topic to the Commission within 15 days of the first lobbying communication—including topics of legislation that have not yet been created. Subsequent communications do not need to be reported individually, but must be included in the principal’s six month SLAE.


Statements of Lobbying Activities and Expenditures (SLAEs)

All registered principals must report total time, dollars, and allocate effort for everything they have lobbied on every six months of the legislative session regardless of activity level.  These reports are due every January 31st, for July-December of the previous year, and every July 31st for January-June of the current year.

Directories

The Eye on Lobbying website can generate past and current lists of lobbyists, lobbying principals and state agency liaisons.

State Agency Liaisons are paid officers and employees whose regular duties include attempting to influence legislative action, and include their name, title, salary, proportion of time spent on legislative activity, and the general area of legislative action that the person is attempting to influence. Agencies must submit reports of their liaisons semi-annually, by January 31 and July 31.

FOCUS

FOCUS is a subscription notification service managed by the Ethics Commission that provides a daily email summary of activities related to a user’s lobbying interests. One subscription lasts for an entire 2-year legislative session, including special and extraordinary sessions, and only costs $100 per email address. FOCUS allows you to choose to receive notifications based on keywords, statute chapters and sections, bills, budget bill subjects, administrative rules, and principals. To subscribe to focus please see the FOCUS Quick Guide.