New York state lawmakers spent more than $16 million on postage for campaign-style mail in a 12-month period ahead of last year’s elections, according to new data posted on SeeThroughNY, the Empire Center’s transparency website.

Senator Luis Sepulveda was the top spender on bulk postage between October 2021 and September 2022 at $220,421. Three other senators each spent over $200,000 during the period, and 53 of the chamber’s 63 members each spent over $100,000.

Assemblymember Deborah Glick spent $99,402, the most in that chamber, where 96 of the 150 members each spent at least $50,000.

The bulk mail printed by the Senate and Assembly is designed and targeted specifically to boost lawmakers’ name identification, sometimes going so far as to mirror language used in the incumbent’s own campaign mail. The figures do not include the cost of designing, targeting, and printing the mail, all of which is picked up by state taxpayers.

The latest data, which detail $225 million in spending by the Legislature, also show the Senate paid $527,725 during the period to Cuti Hecker Wang LLP, which represented Senate leadership in litigation related to last year’s redistricting process. The Assembly paid $110,118 to Graubard Miller and $5,800 to Phillips Lytle LLP, both of which represented that chamber in the matter.

Users can search more than $3 billion in spending by the Legislature since 2007 using SeeThroughNY.

The Empire Center, based in Albany, is an independent, not-for-profit, non-partisan think tank dedicated to promoting policies that can make New York a better place to live, work and raise a family.