Flock Has Spent $2 Million Lobbying Congress and State Legislatures | The States

Today on The States: newly unsealed search warrants reveal a criminal investigation into alleged voter fraud, Open Secrets breaks down how much license-plate camera company Flock has spent lobbying Congress and state legislatures, a federal court ruling raises questions about suppressor and short-barreled rifle regulations, Louisiana lawmakers and school officials clash over a proposed property tax exemption for seniors, Everyday Economics examines the debt financing AI investment, and America's Talking covers a new IRS rule on private school tax-exempt status, an Ohio unemployment fraud investigation, and more.

The Center Square has obtained newly unsealed search warrant affidavits showing multiple elected officials and campaign staff in Zapata County, Texas are under criminal investigation for alleged voter harvesting, bribery, and abuse of official capacity. Search warrants seized phones and bank records from the county judge, the sheriff, and others; the judge named in the affidavits has denied the allegations, which stem from a pattern local Democrats have alleged for years in the border county.

Open Secrets' Joedy McCreary joins the show to detail findings that license-plate reading camera company Flock has spent at least $2 million lobbying Congress and state legislatures since January 2025, with the largest disclosed spending in California, Massachusetts, and New York — while inconsistent state reporting requirements mean the real total is likely higher.

A federal district court ruling that the National Firearms Act's registration requirement for suppressors and short-barreled rifles is unconstitutional — after Congress zeroed out the associated tax — has left gun dealers without clear guidance from the ATF. Witnesses at a U.S. House hearing this week, including firearms industry representatives and a former ATF deputy director, testified that suppressor ownership has risen sharply without a corresponding rise in suppressor-related crime.

Louisiana State Representative Les Farnum's proposed constitutional amendment would let local voters approve larger property tax exemptions for homeowners 65 and older, growing to $375,000 by age 81. The Louisiana School Boards Association opposes the measure, arguing it would cut into school funding that districts can't recover without state legislative action.

Dr. Orphe Divounguy returns to Everyday Economics to discuss why total factor productivity growth slowed from 1.5% in 2024 to 0.8% in 2025 even as AI infrastructure spending surges, warning that roughly a third of hyperscaler capital spending is debt-financed and that the broader economy is effectively betting on an AI productivity payoff to manage that debt load.

America's Talking covers a new Treasury/IRS rule that could strip tax-exempt status from private schools with race-based admissions preferences, a $3.28 million unemployment fraud scheme uncovered by Ohio's inspector general, a new hotel tax that will make Springfield, Illinois the state's second-most-taxed city for hotel rooms, and a federal ruling restricting Medicaid funding for certain gender-related medical procedures for minors in states including Colorado.