Alferman said he thinks more public scrutiny of lobbyist gifts and the ban on lobbyist-sponsored meals at House committee hearings are the primary reasons that lobbyist spending has dropped off.

“Whenever I first came to the capital as a staffer in 2008,” he said, “it was the norm, not the exception, that every committee had a meal served it.

“It was much more prevalent in years in the past where a legislator would simply call up a lobbyist and say, ‘I’m taking a couple buddies out. Let me have the credit card,’” he said. “That actually happened.”

Now, he said, more legislators are wary of having too many lobbyist expenses attached to their names.

While data shows individual legislators are accepting fewer gifts, much of the drop can be attributed to the elimination of House committee lunches, as well as fewer meals being provided to the entire General Assembly or to one of its chambers. As a result, the $406,000 lobbyists have spent on food this year is far below past totals.