Clara Choi

“Democracy can wait, Senator.”

In April 2024, California’s legislature attempted to pass Senate Bill 1497, which would hold big oil companies and other polluters financially responsible for the environmental damage they caused. If it had been passed, these companies would have been forced to pay for the necessary manpower and equipment to rectify the issue. Fines would have included fees deemed and assessed by the California Environmental Protection Agency. 

But while the bill was under consideration, the Western States Petroleum Association reportedly spent $10 million more than usual on lobbying, and much of that money increase went to killing the bill. 

This is a microcosm of a concerning trend: Big corporations escape regulation and accountability by spending money on lobbying. 

Cambridge Dictionary defines lobbying as “the activity of trying to persuade someone in authority, usually an elected member of a government, to support laws or rules that give your organization or industry an advantage.” In 2024 alone, over $500 million was spent on lobbying California legislators in the state Senate and Assembly, a 10% increase from 2023.

Big oil companies weren’t the only major spenders in the past year. Other sectors, like big tech, had also spent millions on lobbying.

In 2024, Alphabet, the parent company of Google, more than doubled the money it had spent in the last 18 years combined, pulling strings in California’s legislatures while having two antitrust and privacy lawsuits in the process.

There are numerous ways lobbyists can influence policy, like meeting with lawmakers and drafting favorable legislation. With more funds, lobbyists can also help fund political candidates who favor their causes and launch large advertising and media campaigns.

But there’s a hidden impact of their influence: Lobbying from large unions and corporations in California’s government has proven to be detrimental to California’s small businesses.

In 2024, labor unions lobbied for a state minimum wage of $20 per hour for fast food workers, wanting to force billion-dollar companies like McDonalds to treat workers better. But this also meant small businesses who couldn’t manage to pay $20 per hour to its employees either had to scale back or even shut down. 

The passing of the higher minimum wage reflects the greater trend of large corporations with money not caring if small businesses get caught in the crossfire. Small family-owned grocery stores can’t afford to match the rates that big-boxed retailers like Walmart can offer to workers. Companies and unions take advantage of their lobbying coffers to influence government decisions, which end up pushing small businesses out of the way and hurting local communities.

Although the harm has already been done, there are ways to improve. For example, the government can set regulations that require lobbyists to report within a week of spending money on gifts and donations, not just quarterly reports. Another way to increase transparency is to mandate all lobbyists to disclose all meetings with government officials. 

Similarly, governments can impose strict limits on the amount of money lobbyists are permitted to spend, curbing the unequal influence of wealthy organizations and ensuring a more balanced representation of public interests. 

As the game has been played, lobbying doesn’t just tilt the playing field — it reshapes it entirely. From family-owned taquerias losing staff because of wage mandates to small wineries being boxed out by bigger companies, California’s small businesses are left voiceless while billion-dollar corporations and other large organizations write the rules. Unless reforms are made, Sacramento will continue to serve those who pay the most over those who need it most.