Today was the last day of an amazing trip. The focus of our last day was lobbying and we visited and heard from two very different firms about what they do. The first one was Students First a firm founded by the wife of Sacramento mayor and hall of fame NBA player Kevin Johnson in 2011. This organization engages State legislatures across the country promoting and supporting Pro education reform legislation. It was very interesting for those of us focusing on education while on this trip as it broke down the different coalitions in favor of and against reform. The second firm we went to was called Nossaman. This firm works primarily with various private interest. In addition to being a lobbying firm they are also a law firm. Nossaman made lobbying seem a lot less sinister than many people make it out to be. What I found most interesting during our time there was that the largest clients of most lobbyists are different governmental agencies.

      In addition to visiting those Firms we were able to get an unexpected audience with Kevin de Leon the President pro tempore of the senate which was a big deal since he’s basically the number two in California. He was really amiable and even took time out of his busy schedule to answer some of our questions.

      In all this has been an awesome experience and I highly recommend it to anyone thinking about doing this program next year.