California companies spent more than $66 million lobbying state officials and Congress during the first quarter of this year, according to quarterly data released by the feds last week.
By far the largest spender, according to the data, was Pacific Gas & Electric Co., which dropped $25.8 million – nearly all of which was spent to support Proposition 16, which would require two-thirds of local residents to approve the creation of new electricity districts. The company has poured nearly $35 million into the campaign.
Other big lobbying spenders include Chevron ($3 million), Oracle ($1.2 million) and DirecTV ($620,000).
Chevron pursued policies related to gas taxes and climate change. Oracle was involved with lobbying on issues ranging from defense, intelligence and cybersecurity to electronic medical records and foreign trade. And DirecTV, based in El Segundo, was concerned primarily with reauthorizing the Satellite Home Viewer Act and legislation that would modernize and expand the reach of satellite broadcasts.
We'll be looking more closely at this data as the week goes on, but in the mean time, take a look at our list of the biggest spenders (organized by client) below:
Comments
via Twitter