CAMPAIGN CONTRIBUTIONS AND LEGISLATIVE VOTING IN THE CALIFORNIA-ASSEMBLY

In this article the authors test for the influence of campaign contrib utions from economic interest groups on legislative voting in the Cali fornia Assembly. California does not restrict the size of contribution s that special interests may provide to candidates for state office. C onsequently, if the purpose of campaign contributions is to secure fav orable voting on legislation, this should be evident in an unregulated setting. However, for both business and labor interests, neither the number nor the monetary amount of campaign contributions to incumbents are found to have a major influence on legislative roll call voting.