Why California Democrats take Big Oil money and vote against environmental laws

California Republicans in Congress voted against most environmental bills in the last session.

But Democrats in the statehouse vote with the oil industry and against environmental legislation more than a quarter of the time.

The oil and gas industry donated nearly three times more to Republicans than congressional Democrats in D.C. A CBS News California investigation found a different story.

California Democrats got 25% more money from the oil industry than Republicans did during this session.

Democrats who accepted oil money this session voted in alignment with oil less than a quarter of the time.

Oil & gas industry was far more successful on bills this session when the State Building & Construction Trade Council took an aligned position.

Data on voting and donations comes from CalMatters ' Digital Democracy Database, which tracks every word spoken in public hearings, every dollar donated to politicians, every bill introduced, and every vote cast in California 's state government.

Data is based on 6,463 bill positions taken by the Western States Petroleum Association since 2015 ( 2,995 positions since 2023 ).