Lobbying Industry Immune to Virus as Spending Spikes to New Highs
While the virus crisis was a major priority of state officials and lobbyists last year, Brindle said the push to legalize marijuana in New Jersey also lead to heavy spending.
Preliminary figures indicate pro-marijuana advocates jointly spent at least $1.5 million on lobbying in 2020. Several of the same advocates also contributed most of the $2.3 million spent to secure passage of a legalization ballot question in November 2020. Marijuana backers also contributed $65,000 to other committees and candidates last year.