Cities, counties pay price for Capitol clout - About 150 governments spent nearly $40 million -- more than labor, oil or business -- on lobbyists to represent them in Sacramento.
SACRAMENTO -- When the California Legislature diverted $1.3 billion from local transportation projects recently to pay for state programs, it was despite a frantic counteroffensive by one of the costliest lobbying corps in the capital.
The budget dust-up was only the latest for an army of hired guns fielded by more than 150 local governments throughout California, which spend tens of millions of dollars each year pressing state officials to do their bidding. They typically spend more on state lobbying than unions, manufacturing interests or the oil industry -- nearly $40 million last year.
Although cities and counties have grown more dependent than ever on decisions made in Sacramento, the investment doesn't always pay off. As the loss of transit funds this year and the defeat of key city-backed measures in the past show, local governments regularly lose critical battles their lobbyists are paid to win.
The city of Los Angeles has two full-time employees assigned to lobby in Sacramento, but it also hires private firms. Still, the city got what it wanted from barely more than half of the bills it took positions on during one recent period, state records show.
Records also show that outside lobbyists hired by cities and counties sometimes work against local interests on behalf of other clients with competing agendas.
Taxpayer advocates say local governments should not have to spend millions on lobbyists to get the attention of state lawmakers from those same cities and counties. Los Angeles County, they note, has the biggest and most powerful delegation of state legislators in California and still spends about $1.7 million on lobbying annually, including paying a staff of five lobbyists.
"Since many of the elected representatives in Sacramento come from local government, they are already well represented," said Jon Coupal, president of the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Assn.
Dan Jacobson, legislative lobbyist for the group Environment California, said the county's representatives include "what some would argue are the most powerful legislators in the state," Assembly Speaker Fabian Nuñez (D-Los Angeles) among them.
"There is no reason to spend all of this money on lobbyists," Jacobson said.
Dan Carrigg, legislative director for the League of California Cities, defended the municipalities' use of lobbyists. Once lawmakers get to Sacramento, Carrigg said, they can be overwhelmed by the many competing interests and the thousands of bills and budget proposals they must consider.
