With Gridlock in Washington, Lobbyists Turn to Statehouses

Days are busy for a new army of lobbyists and interest groups swarming state capitals around the US. Businesses and industries seeking relief from the gridlock of Washington are taking to the states such issues as gun regulation, minimum wages and energy. The wheeling-and-dealing atmosphere is generating the kind of jobs that helped turn Washington (DC) into one of the wealthiest areas in the US.

While the November national election has focused attention on the US Capitol and White House, a string of legislative boomtowns are sprouting in state capitals from Raleigh (NC) to Madison (WI) to Albany (NY), fueled by national businesses and organizations seeking more local influence. Data from National Institute on Money in State Politics, a nonpartisan research group, indicate that between 2006 and 2012 the number of interest groups and organizations, including unions, represented by lobbyists in the states grew by more than 6,200, about 12%. Google, for example, employs lobbyists on issues that span telecommunications to computers in schools. From 2006 to 2014, Google expanded the number of states where it employs lobbyists from two to 28.