Spending on lobbying firms grew 9 percent in the second quarter of 2023

Special interests paid firms more than $76 million to lobby the California state government in the second quarter of 2023, according to a Capitol Weekly analysis of lobbying firm reports.

That figure doesn’t capture all of the money spent on lobbying during the second quarter, as it doesn’t include wages and expenses for in-house lobbyists, among other expenses. But it does show roughly a 9 percent increase in spending on lobbying firms over the first quarter of 2023.

For the entire first half of 2023 – that is, the first and second quarters combined – special interests paid more than $147 million to lobbying firms, per California Secretary of State disclosures analyzed in mid-August. (We’re noting when we conducted our analysis because amendments sometimes are filed, which can affect the numbers.)

Capitol Weekly’s 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 SoS.

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

Unsurprisingly, the top 16 firms from the first quarter also sit atop both the second quarter list and the list of the top lobbying firms for the first half of the year.

For the entire first half of 2023 – that is, the first and second quarters combined – special interests paid more than $147 million to lobbying firms, per California Secretary of State disclosures analyzed in mid-August.

In the second quarter, the lobbying firm to receive the most money was Bob White’s California Strategies, which reported receiving more than $2.7 million.

Five other lobbying firms reported making more than $2 million in the second quarter:

• Axiom Advisors ($2.6 million)
• Capitol Advocacy (nearly $2.5 million)
• Platinum Advisors ($2.1 million)
• Weideman Group ($2.1 million)
• KP Public Affairs (nearly $2.1 million)

Twelve more firms reporting making more than $1 million in the second quarter:

• Shaw Yoder Antwih Schmelzer & Lange (more than $1.9 million)
• Townsend Public Affairs (more than $1.9 million)
• Niemela Pappas & Associates (nearly $1.4 million)
• Sloat Higgins Jensen and Associates (nearly $1.4 million)
• Strategies 360 (nearly $1.4 million)
• Political Solutions (nearly $1.3 million)
• Lang, Hansen, Giroux & Kidane (nearly $1.3 million)
• Nielsen Merksamer Parrinello Gross & Leoni ($1.2 million)
• Campbell Strategy & Advocacy (nearly $1.1 million)
• Aaron Read & Associates (nearly $1.1 million)
• Carter, Wetch & Associates (more than $1 million)
• California Advocates (more than $1 million)

Those 18 firms received nearly 40 percent – precisely 39.41 percent – of all of the money paid to lobbying firms in the second quarter.

Two other firms – California Advisors and Sacramento Advocates – reported making more than $900,000 in the second quarter. Four more firms reported payments of more than $800,000: Actum, Fernandez Cervantes Government Affairs, Edelstein Gilbert Robson & Smith and Governmental Advocates.

In all, 140 firms reported receiving six figures or more in payments in the second quarter. Another 158 firms reported receiving five figures in payments.

For the first half of 2023, 16 firms reported receiving more than $2 million in payments:

• Capitol Advocacy, nearly $5.1 million
• California Strategies, nearly $5 million
• Axiom Advisors, nearly $4.6 million
• KP Public Affairs, $4.2 million
• Shaw Yoder Antwih Schmelzer & Lange, nearly $4.1 million
• Platinum Advisors, nearly $4 million
• Townsend Public Affairs, $3.7 million
• Weideman Group, $3.7 million
• Strategies 360, nearly $2.7 million
• Niemela Pappas & Associates, $2.6 million
• Lang, Hansen, Giroux & Kidane, nearly $2.5 million
• Sloat Higgins Jensen and Associates, $2.4 million
• Political Solutions, $2.4 million
• Nielsen Merksamer Parrinello Gross & Leoni, $2.3 million
• Aaron Read & Associates, $2.2 million
• Campbell Strategy & Advocacy, more than $2 million

Those top firms received more than 35 percent of all payments to lobbying firms during the first two quarters of 2023.

In other words, just 16 of the nearly 400 lobbying firms currently registered with the SoS – that is, 4 percent of all lobbying firms registered in Sacramento – received more than a third of all payments.

Beyond that, another 26 firms have reported receiving payments of more than $1 million during the first half of 2023:

• Carter, Wetch & Associates, more than $1.9 million
• California Advocates, $1.9 million
• California Advisors, $1.8 million
• Fernandez Cervantes Government Affairs, $1.8 million
• Sacramento Advocates, $1.7 million
• Joe A. Gonsalves & Son, nearly $1.7 million
• Actum, $1.6 million
• Edelstein Gilbert Robson & Smith, $1.6 million
• Governmental Advocates, nearly $1.6 million
• Carpenter Garcia Sievers, more than $1.5 million
• Arc Strategies, nearly $1.5 million
• The Gualco Group, $1.4 million
• McHugh Koepke Padron Government Relations, nearly $1.4 million
• Capitol Advisors Group, nearly $1.4 million
• Resolute, nearly $1.4 million
• Miller, Cespedes and Associates, nearly $1.4 million
• Lighthouse Public Affairs, $1.3 million
• Cruz Strategies, $1.3 million
• Caliber Strategies, more than $1.2 million
• Public Policy Advocates, $1.2 million
• Aprea & Micheli, nearly $1.2 million
• Capitol Strategies Group, nearly $1.2 million
• Samson Advisors, $1.1 million
• Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck, more than $1 million
• Manatt, Phelps & Phillips, more than $1 million
• Buchalter, more than $1 million

These 42 firms received more than 60 percent of the total amount paid to lobbying firms in the first half of 2023. An additional 153 firms reported receiving six figures in payments in the first half of the year. One hundred and twenty firms reported receiving five figures in the first six months of 2023.