The amount of money spent on lobbying the California Legislature tops the amount spent in any other state, according to a new report from the non-profit Center For Public Integrity.

Using data from state records, researchers for the organization have put the 2004 total spent on lobbying Golden State legislators at a whopping $212,695,872. That's up from just over $191 million spent in 2003.

The total money spent on lobbying efforts in Texas was the next closest, but still about $50 million below the totals spent here in California.

And keep in mind that California has 120 legislators, compared with 181 in Texas and 212 in New York... so the average amount per legislator is higher here.

Although a handful of small states don't track money spent to lobby lawmakers, the CPI report puts the total reported for lobbying costs nationwide at almost $983 million. By my calculations, that would mean 22% of all the money reported in the U.S. for lobbying state legislatures is spent right here in Sacramento.

Of course, California wasn't tops in all categories. The report says there are 9 lobbyists for every California legislator... which actually puts us at #7. New York, ranked #1, has 18 lobbyists per legislator.

You can read the report here.