County to review spending on lobbyists

Riverside County officials are getting set to re-evaluate the county’s lobbying efforts in Sacramento and Washington D.C.

“It’s money we have to spend. I think we’re judicious when we spend it and it has proven to be very important,” said Riverside County Supervisor John Benoit.

In the last decade the county spent more than $6 million on lobbying firms. But if that number sounds high, county officials say our return on investment is much higher.

“How about the fact that this represented $20 billion that came back to this county during the same amount of time, in state or federal assistance and programs,” Benoit said.

County officials say lobbying expenses are a small price to pay to protect Riverside County’s share of crucial sources of funding.

Lobbying helps secure money for transportation infrastructure, public safety and health care services.

In the future, the county hopes it could even help solve the Coachella Valley’s largest environmental dilemma.

“There’s a small thing called the Salton Sea where we have a huge deadline looming,” Benoit said. “And they can help us bring funding and support from the state to that issue.”

County officials say Riverside’s lobbying expenditures are average or below that of other counties its size. In its review of county lobbying costs in 2013 and 2014, it also presented the spending of other nearby counties with populations of 2-3 million people.

County Lobbying Spending in 2013 and 2014 (one legislative cycle):

San Diego County: $1.4 million
Orange County: $1 million
Riverside County: $860,000
San Bernardino County: $708,000

(Source: Secretary of State)

But Supervisor John Benoit says Riverside County’s numbers will be dropping.

Former assemblyman Brian Nestande, who now coordinates the county’s lobbying efforts, will advise the county’s board of supervisors next week to reduce spending by $170,000 over the next two years.

“When we brought Brian on we thought we could do better with less. It won’t be dramatic,” Benoit said. “There’s always important issues going on in Sacramento that require our presence if we’re going to be heard at all.”

The board of supervisors will meet to discuss lobbying costs Tuesday, March 24th.