Why It Matters

San Diego State University Research Foundation amended its quarter two of 2026 lobbying disclosure on Monday, July 27, raising reported spending to $180,000 from the $170,000 it disclosed a week earlier. It is the foundation's second quarter lobbying Congress with its own staff after years of retaining an outside firm.

A February spending package bars federal agencies from capping indirect cost reimbursement at 15 percent and holds their negotiated rates at fiscal 2024 levels, but the protection dies with the fiscal year on Wednesday, Sept. 30. Indirect cost rates sit near the top of what the foundation reported lobbying on.

By The Numbers

The foundation spent $180,000 in quarter one of 2026 and $180,000 in the amended quarter two, or $360,000 through the first half of the year. Its last quarter under outside counsel, quarter three of 2025, cost $30,000 through Van Scoyoc Associates Inc. Quarterly spending rose sixfold once the work moved in house.

Broader Context

The foundation's agenda widened between quarters. Sports and athletics appears for the first time, covering name, image, and likeness legislation for student athletes. The science and technology entry picked up Office of Management and Budget rules on grant administration alongside indirect cost rates and National Science Foundation (NSF) funding.

NSF moved in May 2025 to cap reimbursement at 15 percent, far below the 50 percent or higher San Diego State negotiates. A federal judge vacated the policy that June, and courts blocked matching caps at NASA, the Pentagon, and the Energy Department. February's package locked those wins into law temporarily, and the university has flagged fiscal 2027 as the next opening.

The exposure is real. San Diego State identified 50 terminated federal grants worth about $26 million in unspent funds, and reached R1 status in February 2025 as the first California State University campus to do so, a designation that makes any cut to reimbursement more expensive.

The Bottom Line

A university auxiliary that once paid $30,000 a quarter for representation now spends six times that with its own person in the room, and the statutory shield it is lobbying to protect expires in September. Quarter three will show whether $180,000 was a new baseline or a one-cycle bet.

Access the Legis1 platform for comprehensive political news, data, and insights.

Spot something wrong? Report an issue with this article