https://www.mercurynews.com/2020/02/21/steak-dinners-secret-donors-how-the-tech-caucus-is-courting-silicon-valley-with-charity/

The discussion wasn’t taking place in the state Capitol, where the public can participate in open hearings. Instead, this meeting was behind closed doors inside a Silicon Valley hotel.

There, elected officials heard from an exclusive crowd: tech lobbyists and executives whose companies had paid for them to attend via thousands of dollars in donations to a nonprofit created by the Legislature’s Technology Caucus. For $50,000, contributors could moderate and pick a panel topic, according to an invitation to the event, billed as a “Technology Policy Summit.” A $25,000 donation allowed them to place someone on a panel. And $10,000, the invitation says, would buy attendance at the two-day event, including dinner with lawmakers at a steakhouse where the regular menu feaures $115 filet mignon.