Tech companies already own Silicon Valley, but new lobbying disclosure documents reveal just how much weight they throw around Washington as well.
In the second quarter of 2015, Google spent a whopping $4.62 million on lobbying efforts. That's just slightly less than the $5.47 million they spent in the first quarter, but it still makes the search giant the third largest corporate lobbyist. Facebook increased its spend from $2.44 million to $2.69 million in the second quarter, while Amazon's budget grew from $1.91 million to $2.15 million. Meanwhile, Apple spent just $1.23 million of its huge mountain of cash.
But while the these sizable figures themselves are worthy of notice, it's equally important to consider just what policies these companies are lobbying for. While their policy concerns are not altogether surprising, they do tell a cohesive story about what the tech giants driving the industry consider to be its most pressing issues.
The enduring issue of patent reform, for instance, received substantial attention from Google, Amazon, Facebook, and Apple this quarter, with companies urging lawmakers to address issues like intellectual property protection and patent litigation reform. Specifically, they lent their support to the proposed Innovation Act, which aims to cut down on the number of abusive lawsuits initiated by patent trolls.
Immigration issues also topped the list as the companies lobbied the government to create more pathways for high-skilled foreign workers. It's a topic about which Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has been particularly outspoken, going so far as to launch an advocacy group called Fwd.us back in 2013 with the explicit mission of fixing the immigration system.
The companies also prioritized taxation and trade policies. Facebook lobbied for the extension of the R&D tax credit. Amazon lobbyists, meanwhile, pursued the issue of the Remote Transactions Parity Act of 2015, an internet sales tax Amazon has endorsedthat would require online stores to pay taxes in each state in which they sell goods.
Most of these issues are perennial topics for tech businesses in Washington. But the disclosure forms also reveal cottage interests of each company. Google, for instance, which has a substantial footprint in schools already thanks to its Chromebooks, pushed policymakers to promote the issue of connected education. Apple lobbied the Justice Department on issues related to government requests for data, which CEO Tim Cook has publicly opposed. And Amazon, determined to some day deliver packages by drone, lobbied the FAA and others on issues surrounding the regulation of unmanned aerial vehicles.
As we head into the 2016 election season, one in which tech donors are expected to play a bigger role in campaign financing than ever before, it will only become more important to watch which issues these money movers stand behind. Their tech already winds its way into so many parts of our lives. The more these companies spend, the more they show they'd like their influence to do the same.
