Paris, Japan, Mexico City, Brazil – legislative staff travel at taxpayer expense

Led by former Senate President Pro Tem Kevin de León, eight California senators visited Japan last summer to discuss high-speed rail, renewable energy and climate change. The lawmakers met with Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, toured the National Diet and spoke to the Japan National Press Club.

Senate officials said at the time that the weeklong trip would be paid for through the legislators’ campaign accounts, and each attendee spent an average of $6,524 in political donations on their travel.

But state taxpayers also wrote checks: The Senate spent $13,635 in public money to send two legislative staff members to Japan with the delegation, in addition to staff time involved in planning the trip.

The Japan tour was among about two dozen over the past five years — to locations including Paris, Brazil, Mexico City and Cuba — on which the California Legislature has spent more than $192,000 in public funds for international travel by staff members, according to a Sacramento Bee analysis of travel records since 2013.

The trips were primarily for official legislative delegations, Senate and Assembly representatives said. Staff members accompanied the lawmakers, whose costs were not covered by taxpayers, to provide logistical support and security.

“There’s always a legislative purpose when they’re doing these trips,” Secretary of the Senate Danny Alvarez said. The lawmakers “need to have exacting agendas and itineraries” to justify the travel, he said, and the staff keeps them on schedule.

Staff foreign travel represents a tiny fraction of the Legislature’s annual expenditures, which topped $267 million last year, primarily for salaries and benefits. But the arrangement is not common to other statehouses, according to travel policies provided by the offices of legislative leaders in seven states. Read more >>>