Fifteen lobbying firms account for nearly a third of all first quarter lobbying payments

In the first quarter of 2023, special interests paid firms more than $69 million to lobby the California state government, according to a Capitol Weekly analysis of lobbying firm reports.

This figure doesn’t represent all of the money spent on lobbying during the first three months of the calendar year, as it doesn’t include wages and expenses for in-house lobbyists, among other expenses. But it does offer a window into Sacramento’s opaque world of lobbyists for hire – revealing, in particular, which firms are making the most money.

The following analysis collects the total dollar value of all lobbying payments received by lobbying firms currently registered in the state, as disclosed on Form 625, which is filed quarterly with the California Secretary of State’s office.

Form 625 is only filled out by lobbying firms, which are defined by the state as business that are “compensated to communicate directly with any state, legislative or agency official to influence legislative or administrative action on behalf of a client.”

Capitol Weekly’s analysis found that more than a third of the money spent on lobbying in the first quarter went to just 15 lobbying firms – the only firms to report receiving more than $1 million each in lobbying payments over the first three months of 2023.

Capitol Advocacy, led by John Latimer, a fixture in the Top 100, stood head and shoulders above all the other firms, having reported receiving more than $2.6 million in payments in the first quarter.

The only other lobbying firms to report more than $2 million in first quarter payments were California Strategies & Advocacy, with $2.2 million in reported payments, KP Public Affairs, with $2.14 million, and Shaw Yoder Antwih Schmelzer & Lange, with $2.1 million.

The other firms reporting more than $1 million in payments in the first quarter were:

• Axiom Advisors, $1.96 million
• Platinum Advisors, $1.88 million
• Townsend Public Affairs, $1.85 million
• Weidman Group, $1.6 million
• Strategies 360, $1.3 million
• Niemela Pappas & Associates, $1.23 million
• Aaron Read & Associates, $1.19 million
• Lang, Hansen, Giroux & Kidane, $1.18 million
• Political Solutions, $1.14 million
• Nielsen Merksamer Parrinello Gross & Leoni, $1.1 million
• Sloat Higgins Jensen and Associates, $1.07 million

Five firms reported payments in the $900,000s: Campbell Strategy & Advocacy; Carter, Wetch & Associates; California Advocates; Joe A. Gonsalves & Son; and Fernandez Cervantes Government Affairs.

Three reported payments in the $800,000s: Carpenter Garcia Sievers, California Advisors and Sacramento Advocates.

In all, 130 firms reported receiving six figures or more in lobbying payments in the first quarter. Another 140 firms reported receiving five figures in payments.

An earlier version of this story inadvertently omitted California Strategies and Advocacy LLC.