LANSING, MI (AP)-- A new report says lobbyists spent a near record total of about $37 million in 2014 trying to influence legislation in Michigan.
The Michigan Campaign Finance Network said Tuesday that lobbyists' spending in 2014 totaled $37,038,329. That's just short of the record spending reported for 2012, a total of $37,152,883.
Several lobbyists' reports for the last few months of 2014 still need to be filed, so it's possible that the 2014 total could set a new record.
The Michigan Campaign Finance Network says the state's disclosure laws leave the public "largely in the dark about lobbyists' activity."
The law doesn't require lobbyists to disclose the specific causes they promoted.