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Campaign Finance Overview

The Campaign Finance module provides a comprehensive look into the flow of money in California politics. This section allows you to explore detailed financial records of political committees, track contributions and expenditures, and follow the money trail for various candidates and measures.

What Data is Available?

Our campaign finance data comes directly from the California Secretary of State's CAL-ACCESS database, which is the official repository for campaign finance and lobbying information. We process and standardize this data to make it more accessible and searchable.

You can access information on:

• Committees: Explore different types of political committees, including those supporting or opposing candidates, ballot measures, and general-purpose committees.
• Filings: View detailed financial reports filed by committees, such as Form 460 (Recipient Committee Campaign Statement) and Form 497 (Late Contribution Report).
• Contributions: See who is donating to which committees, how much they are giving, and when. This includes both monetary and non-monetary (in-kind) contributions.
• Expenditures: Track how committees are spending their money, including payments for advertising, consulting, and other campaign-related activities.
• Major Donors: Identify individuals and entities that make significant contributions to various campaigns across the state.

How to Use This Section

The Campaign Finance module is broken down into several key areas:

• Dashboard: Your starting point for exploring recent campaign finance activity. It provides a real-time feed of the latest filings, late contributions, and independent expenditures.
• Committees: A searchable directory of all political committees. From here, you can navigate to individual committee pages for detailed financial information.
• Late Contributions: A dedicated view for tracking last-minute contributions that can often signal significant campaign events.
• Major Donors: A list of major donors, allowing you to see their overall political spending.

This help section will guide you through each of these features, explaining the data and how to make the most of it.

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Committees

Political committees are the central entities in campaign finance. They are organizations that raise and spend money to influence elections. This section explains how to find and interpret information about these committees.

The Committees Index Page

The main Committees page serves as a directory of all registered committees. By default, it shows recently active committees. You can use the search and filter tools to find specific committees of interest.

• Search by Name or Filer ID: If you know the name or the official Filer ID of a committee, you can enter it into the search box.
• Filter by Type: You can narrow down the list by committee type, such as "Primary Formed" (for a specific candidate or measure) or "General Purpose."

The Committee "Show" Page

Clicking on a committee's name will take you to its main page, which provides a comprehensive overview of its financial activities.

Key Sections of a Committee Page:

• Financial Summary: A high-level overview of the committee's finances, including total contributions received, expenditures made, and cash on hand, typically based on their most recent Form 460 filings.
• Recent Filings: A list of the latest financial reports filed by the committee.
• Late Contributions Since Last Report: This section is particularly important between filing periods. It shows any large, last-minute contributions (Form 497) that have been reported since the committee's last major financial statement.

Detailed Data Tabs:

For a deeper dive, the following tabs are available:

• Filings: A complete, historical list of all reports filed by the committee. You can view original and amended filings.
• Receipts: An itemized list of all contributions received by the committee. This tab includes a breakdown of top contributors.
• Expenditures: An itemized list of all payments made by the committee.
• Contributions Made: If the committee has made contributions to other committees, those will be detailed here.
• Independent Expenditures: A summary of spending that is not coordinated with a candidate's campaign, often used for advertising or voter outreach.

Understanding Major Donors

Some committees are classified as "Major Donors." These are individuals or entities that spend $10,000 or more on contributions in a calendar year but do not receive contributions themselves. They file a Form 461 to report their spending. Their committee pages will focus on the contributions they have made, rather than on money they have raised.