At the end of this year’s legislative session, nearly a quarter of the 120 lawmakers will depart and collect their final state paycheck in late December.
Some hope to start in a new elected office next year, while others will return to their previous jobs. But based on recent history, at least one in five will land a job at companies or organizations trying to influence California’s government.
And as CalMatters Digital Democracy reporter Ryan Sabalow explains, it’s possible that some are job hunting while still voting on bills that could affect their prospective new bosses.
- Outgoing Republican Assemblymember Devon Mathis of Visilia: “August is kind of … the interview period. You see people that are trying to shop, you know, for a third-house gig or something like that.”
While legislators are still in office, state ethics guidelines allow voting on bills that could benefit a “significant segment” of an industry as long as it doesn’t deal specifically with their would-be employer. Mathis has started a public relations firm and agreed to work for an energy company, but said he checked with state ethics officials to make sure he wasn’t violating any laws.