Lobbying activity this past summer cost a record-breaking $168 million. Here’s what we know

Big Tech and Big Oil drove a record-setting lobbying blitz this summer that saw nearly $168 million spent to influence state policymakers in just the third quarter of this year.

That’s up from this past spring, the previous quarter, when another record was set with more than $131 million spent on lobbying by labor unions, companies and nonprofit organizations, according to a CalMatters analysis of data from the California Secretary of State.

Overall spending to lobby state legislators was nearly $420 million in the first nine months of 2024, compared to $484 million in all of 2023 and $443 million in the entirety of 2022. Both 2023 and 2022 set records for lobbyist spending.

Google was the single largest spender in the most recent quarter, reporting more than $10.7 million, most of it to buy advertising through consulting firms. That’s the single largest quarterly lobbying tab in a decade.

Nearly $10 million of that spending went to two groups — $7 million to the Computer & Communications Industry Association and $2.75 million to the California Taxpayers Association — for public affairs, including coalition building and grassroots campaigns, according to its most recent disclosure report. Together, the two associations spent $9.7 million on media consulting and ran advertisements on television and social media opposing two bills that would have put some tech companies on the hook for millions of dollars a year to finance California journalism. Both bills died in late summer after an agreement was reached on a program to help local newsrooms and to explore artificial intelligence.

Some of the tech giant’s persuasion purse was also allocated to fight a bill that would have increased regulations on AI, including a bill carried by Sen. Scott Wiener, a San Francisco Democrat, that would have required that makers of large-scale AI systems test them for harm. The bill was vetoed by Newsom. 

Lobbyist employers are not required to report how much was spent lobbying on individual bills, just the total amount for the quarter.

A major oil trade group, the Western States Petroleum Association, ranked No. 2 for the amount of money spent this past summer with $10.1 million in expenditures, which is also the second highest amount spent by an organization in any quarter of the last decade. The industry association is one of the most prolific lobbying groups, having been in the top five spenders over the last seven quarters and has spent more than $131 million over the last 20 years.

For comparison, the next big spender over that time period by an organization unrelated to oil is the Service Employees International Union, or SEIU, a labor union composed of public and private workers. SEIU reported nearly $82 million in lobbying expenses since 2005.

The oil and gas industry had a lot to lobby in the last quarter, both during the regular legislative session and during a special session called by Newsom focused on gas prices. In the organization’s most recent disclosure, it reported lobbying on 25 bills during the regular session, a proposed constitutional amendment to guarantee Californians the rights to clean air and water and a healthy environment, and the special session legislation that requires oil refiners to maintain more inventory and was ultimately signed into law by Newsom. The association also reported trying to persuade a number of executive branch agencies, the governor’s office and the Energy Commission.