Groups must disclose who pays for lawmakers’ travel

Gov. Jerry Brown on Saturday signed a bill aimed at shedding light on which special interests are paying the travel tab of elected state officials who attend annual fact-finding trips and conferences in Hawaii and other exotic locales.

Last year, legislators reported they took trips to Spain, Portugal, China, Israel, Peru, Chile, El Salvador, Mexico and Canada, with many expenses covered by nonprofit groups funded by special interests.

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One annual conference held in Maui and attended last year by 24 lawmakers is partly paid for by the nonprofit Independent Voter Project, which get its money from Occidental Petroleum Corp., the Western States Petroleum Assn., Eli Lilly & Co., tobacco company Altria and the state prison guards union. The special interests’ donations are not required to be disclosed.

The bill signed by the governor without comment mandates that, beginning Jan. 1, nonprofits that regularly organize and host travel for elected officials and spend at least $5,000 on an official must disclose the names of donors that pay for the travel. Disclosures are also required when the donor sends a representative on the trip with the elected officials.

Sen. Jerry Hill (D-San Mateo) said he introduced SB 21 because the public has a right to know which special interests are paying for elected officials’ travel.

“Under current law, the public has no way of knowing who is paying for legislator travel or where they are going,” said a statement from Hill’s office. “Donors hide behind nonprofits, preventing the public from knowing who was behind the gift to the elected official.”

Twitter: @mcgreevy99

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