During the first nine months of the year, interest groups spent $206 million lobbying state government. That's enough to pay the salaries of all 2,200 legislative staffers and legislators during the same period -- and still have about $98 million left. Use this database to search every interest group that paid lobbyists since the start of the year.
After getting results,
click here to perform a new search.
Interest group spending, by type of interest group:
Source: California Secretary of State. The Secretary of State classifies each interest group by type -- government, education, health, etc. The Bee used those classifications in the above chart. Some of the interest group classifications, though, are judgment calls -- for instance, the California Teachers Association is classified by the Secretary of State as "Education," but could arguably instead be classified under "Labor Unions."
Change note: At 5:40 p.m. Monday (1/4/10), changed number of legislative staffers and legislators referenced in the introduction from 2,700 to 2,200, and adjusted amount it would take to pay them.
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