With this year's legislative session over, a look into lobbying spending in Kentucky shows big money is still a major player in Frankfort.
During the first two months of the this year's session, lobbyists spent $4.2 million to influence lawmakers on bills. The Legislative Ethics Commission says that's a 10 percent increase on the amount spent in the first two months of the last short session, which was in 2011.
Full spending reports won't be out for at least another month, but so far two lobbying groups stand out from the rest: Altria Client Services and Century Aluminum. Both spent more than $80,000 this January and February. Altria lobbied for a change to tobacco taxes, which passed. Century lobbied for a bill to let aluminum smelters buy power on the open market. It did not pass.
Other big spenders include the Kentucky Chamber of Commerce and the Kentucky League of Cities.