U.S. companies have long held a strong presence in Washington’s K Street lobbying headquarters, but a new report found lobbying in the nation’s capital is shrinking as trade associations, unions and companies are shifting their power brokers to statehouses.
The number of organizations with registered federal lobbyists dropped by 25 percent from 2010 to 2014, while the number of statehouse lobbyists or part-time hired guns has grown by more than 10 percent.
According to a Center for Public Integrity analysis, six companies on average are shooting for the attention of every one state lawmaker. The most lobbying is in California, where there are about 30 lobbying entities per lawmaker.
Over the past two decades, special interest groups have pushed influence peddlers to every corner of the U.S. In 1997, not one group had lobbyists registered in all 50 states. By 2013, nine companies were noted as having lobbyists in every state. That number peaked in 2014, with more than 20 in all 50 states.
At the top of that list are healthcare and pharmaceutical groups, which had the most lobbyists in the states. That consequently was a likely contributor to increasing prescription drug prices, CPI concluded.
