By Travis Walker

In 2008, UK spent $243,000 lobbying the federal government, about a 52 percent increase from the year before, according to a Washington, D.C.-based government watchdog Web site.

The expenditures from UK in 2007 were $160,000 — $83,000 less than in 2008, according to Opensecrets.org, a Web site run by the Center for Responsive Politics that compiles data from reports filed with the Senate Office of Public Records.

James Tracy, the vice president for research at UK, said the university’s actual lobbying expenditures have not gone up significantly.

The increase in reported funds is due to the Honest Leadership and Open Government Act passed by Congress in 2007, Tracy said. The act tightens up restrictions on members of Congress and people lobbying them and calls for more detailed reporting of all lobbying efforts.

All university employees who contact members of Congress for lobbying purposes must log the amount of time they speak with the member of Congress, and their salaries are then used to determine how much money was spent by the university for each specific lobbying effort. Previously, employee lobbying was not reported, but expenses like phones and the use of a lobbying firm were reported.

Tracy stressed the university’s lobbying efforts are valuable because the government needs to be influenced to make decisions that positively impact higher education.

“We lobby on behalf of various groups, including students,” Tracy said.