'Tis the season for California lawmakers to travel the world, some to lush beachside resorts with charlatan lobbyists, at no cost.
A carefully selected group of elected officials spent the last few weeks traveling – free – to Hawaii, Vietnam and Taiwan to discuss far-reaching policy ideas.
But these trips continue to be criticized as “tourist trips” because they are financed and assisted by special interest groups. Lawmakers were condemned when, during the COVID-19 pandemic, at least 10 lawmakers went to Maui, Hawaii, when travel was highly restricted.
“It's not looking good,” said Sean McMorris, program director for Common Cause, raising questions about trips funded by special interest groups. He said that even when there are “rules and parameters” in place to limit lobbying activity, it is “not easy” to monitor them. “You are keeping everyone's word.”
Lobbying is more than “just talking to a legislator about their political goals,” he said. “It's also about ingratiating yourself, creating goodwill and essentially, to some extent, creating an implicit obligation that I've done something for you. It is a kind of relationship building but, in politics, that relationship building is more suspect.”
This year, 12 officials traveled to Asia, including four state senators and five assembly members (most of whom sit on energy and transportation committees) and three state administration officials, including Fiona Ma, the state treasurer. Together, they spent three weeks traveling to Taiwan and through northern and southern Vietnam, where they met with government officials, toured electric car plants and solar panel installations, and traveled on high-speed railways. They returned to California on Wednesday night.
Another small group of lawmakers took a four-day trip to Maui, starting last Monday, staying beachside at the Fairmont Kea Lani Hotel, a luxury hotel in Wailea, where the average room for five nights is around 4,000 dollars.
Dan Howle, executive director of the Independent Voter Project, a nonprofit that has hosted the Maui conference for 21 years, said they get a group discount that cuts the cost in half.
They spent mornings on panels discussing topics ranging from healthcare, energy, technology and public safety. Lawmakers are free to roam the rest of the day and sit poolside with lobbyists.
“There's so much animosity in Sacramento,” Howle said. “If we can get them away from the Capitol and act normally, it will break down a barrier that is difficult to overcome in Sacramento.”
Financial sponsors of the Maui event spanned a variety of special interests including healthcare, technology and law enforcement. Some of the top donors from previous years include AT&T, the California Retail Association, Walmart, Pfizer and the California Correctional Peace Officers Association, according to available donor disclosure forms from the last three years.
Howle declined to say how many lawmakers attended the trip, or which donors or lobbyists participated this year, but referred to public disclosure forms that will be made public next April.
Howle added that anyone who exerts pressure “is not invited back.”
“Clearly, by having this kind of exposure and seeing these things… a legislator will be more well-rounded, more educated and able to make better decisions on behalf of their constituents,” said Sen. Bill Dodd (D-Napa), who He left the Legislature at the end of the month, but had the opportunity to go to Asia after another legislator was unable to attend. “We tend to say that we are the fourth largest and best economy in the world. But we live in a very big world.”
The goal, Dodd said, is “to see what other countries have that can make a difference.”
“Being in the Legislature is like drinking from a fire hose,” said Assemblywoman Lori Wilson (D-Suisun City), chairwoman of the Transportation Committee and member of a subcommittee on climate, energy and transportation.
Wilson said taking the time to step away from the Capitol and talk about policy allows them to slow down and have more thoughtful discussions. “You can have these deep conversations.”
Wilson said he hardly considers it a vacation and worked from dawn to dusk most days. The lawmaker also attended the Maui conference in 2022 and 2023, according to financial disclosure forms. She opted not to attend this year's conference to attend the trip to Asia.
“There is too much work done on those trips to call them travel trips,” he said. “I don't know if people go on vacation on their own. I get a lot of benefit from them. “
