NASHVILLE – After spending a record-breaking $841,000 last year on receptions and events for Tennessee lawmakers, state business, advocacy and nonprofit groups are ready for Tuesday’s start of the General Assembly’s 2020 session.
It begins late Tuesday afternoon with AT&T, joined by Vanderbilt University, Bristol Motorway and Southwest Airlines, hosting a reception for the 33 senators and 99 representatives at the Tennessee State Museum.
Unlike past years in which AT&T hosted the event alone – the telecommunications and entertainment goliath spent $78,977 on its 2019 reception, making it the top event spender according to state Ethics Commission filings – the corporation is now evidently splitting costs with its three partners.
The events are customary among businesses, associations and nonprofit groups lobbying lawmakers both before, during and after the annual session. But the number of receptions has proliferated over the decades. Last year there were 86 such events, according to the Ethics Commission’s website.
Such expenditures are par for the course for businesses and groups interacting with lawmakers. In fact, the receptions in some respects have replaced old-style, wining and dining action in which lobbyists and special interests invited lawmakers individually or in smaller groups. State ethics laws now generally prohibit the lower-profile practices unless there’s an open invitation to all lawmakers.