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California lawmakers are taking a no-cost trip around the world this season, some going to lush seaside resorts with chatty lobbyists.
A select group of elected officials spent the past few weeks traveling to Hawaii, Vietnam, and Taiwan for free to discuss big-picture policy ideas.
However, these trips continue to be criticized as “junkets” because they are funded and attended by special interest groups. Lawmakers came under fire after at least 10 members went to the Hawaiian island of Maui during the COVID-19 pandemic when travel was severely restricted.
“It doesn’t look good,” Common Cause program manager Sean McMorris said, raising questions about the trip being funded by special interests. He said that even if there were “rules and standards” in place to limit lobbying, it would be “not easy” to monitor it. “It seems like you’re following everyone’s word.”
Lobbying is more than “just talking to legislators about policy goals,” he said. “It’s also about ingratiating yourself and creating goodwill, and essentially creating an implicit obligation, to some degree, that I’ve done something for you. It’s kind of relationship building. But in politics, that relationship-building is more questionable.”
This year, 12 officials include four state senators, five state representatives (most of whom serve on the Energy and Transportation Committee), and three state government employees, including state Treasurer Fiona Marr. visited Asia. Together they spent three weeks traveling through Taiwan and northern and southern Vietnam, meeting with government officials, touring electric vehicle factories and solar panel facilities, and riding high-speed trains. They returned to California late Wednesday night.
Another small group of lawmakers went on a four-day trip to Maui starting last Monday, staying beachside at the upscale Fairmont Kea Lani Hotel in Wailea. The average price for a five-night stay at the hotel is approximately $4,000.
Dan Howle, executive director of the Independent Voter Project, a nonprofit that has hosted the Maui conference for 21 years, said there will be group discounts that will cut the cost in half.
They spent the morning holding panel discussions on topics ranging from health care, energy, technology and public safety. Lawmakers are free to roam around or sit poolside with lobbyists for the rest of the day.
“There’s so much hostility in Sacramento,” Howle said. “If we can keep them away from the Capitol and act normally, that will break down a barrier that will be difficult to overcome in Sacramento.”
Financial supporters of the Maui event spanned a variety of special interests, including health care, technology, and law enforcement. Major donors in the past few years include AT&T, the California Retailers Association, Walmart, Pfizer and the California Correctional Peace Officers Association, according to donor disclosure forms available for the past three years.
Howle declined to say how many lawmakers were on the trip or what kind of donors or lobbyists were involved this year, but he did refer to a disclosure form to be released next April.
Howle added that those who lobby “will never be invited again.”
“Obviously, having this kind of exposure and seeing these things… it’s going to make members of Congress more rounded, more educated, and better able to make decisions on behalf of their constituents.” said nominee Sen. Bill Dodd (D-Napa). Although he left Congress at the end of the month, he had the opportunity to go to Asia because another member was unable to attend. “We tend to say we’re the fourth largest and best economy in the world. But this is a big world we live in.”
Dodd said the goal is “to see what other countries are moving the needle on.”
“Being in Congress is like drinking from a firehose,” said Rep. Lori Wilson (D-Shui), chair of the Transportation Committee and a member of the subcommittee on climate, energy, and transportation. spoke.
Wilson said taking time away from the Capitol to talk about policy allows for slower, more thoughtful discussions. “You’ll be able to have these deep conversations.”
Wilson said she rarely considered it a vacation and worked from sunrise to sunset most days. The congressman also attended the 2022 and 2023 Maui conferences, according to financial disclosure forms. She missed this year’s conference to participate in a trip to Asia.
“I work too hard on that trip to call it a junket,” she said. “I don’t know if people go on their own vacations. I get a lot out of them.”
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