California lawmakers are asking for the investigation of the California Latino Legislative Caucus after a Republican's membership request was denied last year.

"When I didn't get a response, I asked what the deal was, and they said that I wouldn't be allowed in," California state Assemblyman Rocky Chávez told the Los Angeles Times. "They do not allow Republicans to be part of the group."

The California Latino Legislative Caucus has 25 members, according to its Twitter page, and a history of success, including new legislation on driver's licenses and college scholarships for undocumented immigrants. According to the caucus' official website, the group is a "forum for members from the State Senate and Assembly to identify key issues affecting Latinos and develop avenues to empower the Latino community throughout California."

Some argue, however, that it's not right for taxpayers' money to go to a partisan group, giving them things like an office in the Legislative Office Building and a page on the state Legislature website. An example is Sen. Joel Anderson, R-Alpine, who has requested the state attorney general look into the group's membership rules.

"The name Latino Caucus is intentionally misleading because it implies equal access for all Latino legislators," he said. "Using taxpayer-sourced, public funds to deny them their voice is wrong."

Roger Salazar, a caucus spokesperson, told Fox News Latino that the group's political action committee, not taxpayers' dollars, pay for the group's "political work," and it is done "outside the Capital building."

In addition, Salazar said Chávez should not be surprised he was denied membership.

"Assemblyman Chávez has been pushing this story that he was denied membership," he told FNL. "It's right there in the bylaws -- membership in the caucus is open to all Democratic Latino legislators. ... We don't believe [he] really wants to join the caucus because he has just bashed everything the caucus has attempted to do. The caucus has worked with Republican legislators many times in the past, but Rocky didn't approach anyone to work with us. He chose to do this in the media."

Sen. Ricardo Lara, D-Bell Gardens, caucus chairman, said the membership policies were made by the group's five Democratic founders 40 years ago, and nothing is wrong with them.

"It's not that there is no precedence for this," he said. "You have a Republican Caucus and a Democratic Caucus that have staff."

Approximately 55 percent of Latino voters in the state are Democrats, while 17 percent are Republicans, according to Paul Mitchell of Political Data Inc., cited by the LA Times.

Correction: Assemblyman Rocky Chavez is not involved in the investigation of the California Latino Legislative Caucus.

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Follow Scharon Harding on Twitter: @ScharHar.

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