Georgia lobbyist spending | www.myajc.com

The General Assembly’s decision to carve out a sun-splashed exception to limits on big-money lobbyist spending resulted in a hectic beach convention season for lawmakers this summer.

There was plenty of mingling, beach time, golf and cocktails to go around, even though many lawmakers were also busy running for re-election.

An Atlanta Journal-Constitution analysis shows lobbyists reported spending more than $100,000 hosting lawmakers and state officials at about two-dozen conferences, conventions, meetings, and “educational” trips, most along the Georgia, Florida and South Carolina coast, during June and July.

That spending is up about 35 percent from 2012, the year before lawmakers passed historic legislation putting limits on how much lobbyists could spend wining and dining members of the General Assembly and other state officials, while preserving spending on conventions.

The numbers may be a bit skewed this year because they include Google’s lobby spending thousands to bring lawmakers to California to look at its high-tech innovations.

via Georgia lobbyist spending | www.myajc.com.