Feb. 3, 2011 - Democratic State Sen. Juan Vargas plans on introducing legislation "that would require developers to pay for an independent economic analysis before any local jurisdiction in the state could approve such projects," according to Union-Tribune's Craig Gustafson. Vargas is specifically targeting Wal-Mart with his legislation, which is trying to fast-track development for one of its "supercenters" in San Diego.
The state Capital is well connected to campaign contributions from Wal-Mart. Since 2003, Wal-mart has put in over $220,000 into the campaign committees of lawmakers voted into office during the 2009-2010 and the 2011-2012 legislative sessions. Vargas is no exception, he accepted $3,000 in contributions from Wal-Mart in September 2010.
Below is the top 5 recipients amongst elected officials in the state legislature of campaign contributions from Wal-Mart from Jan 1, 2003- Oct. 19, 2010. Visit MAPLight.org to download the complete list.
| Recipient | Office | Party | Total |
| Mike Villines | Assembly | Republican | $ 14,600 |
| Mimi Walters | Senate | Republican | $ 11,100 |
| Audra Strickland | Assembly | Republican | $10,200 |
| Van Tran | Assembly | Republican | $9,600 |
| Connie Conway | Assembly | Republican | $9,500 |
Monetary and non-monetary contributions to candidate campaign committees of legislators serving in the 2009-2010 and 2011-2012 sessions of the California State Legislature for election cycles 2004, 2006, 2008, 2010. Contributions data provided by the National Institute on Money in State Politics (FollowTheMoney.org)
