How this works
What's covered
Statements of Economic Interests (Form 700) filed with the Fair Political Practices Commission for 2024, 2025 and 2026 by the Governor and the other statewide officers, the Board of Equalization, the Legislature, the Supreme Court and Courts of Appeal, and every Superior Court's judges; candidate statements of 2026 candidates for those offices; the Secretary of State's certified candidate lists for the June 2 primary and November 3 general; and campaign contributions, loans and lobbying reports from the Secretary of State's Cal-Access database. County and city officials, and older years, come later.
Where it comes from
- FPPC Form 700 search (form700search.fppc.ca.gov): every statement, its positions and dates, the FPPC's structured data for e-filed statements, and the redacted PDF as filed.
- Secretary of State: the certified lists of candidates, and the Cal-Access bulk export (rebuilt daily; we keep the latest amendment of each report, so the same money isn't counted twice): campaign contributions and loans, payments made by the candidates' committees (Form 460 Schedule E, by the FPPC's expense codes), contributions reported within 24 hours since each committee's latest full report (Form 497), independent expenditures for and against candidates (the 24-hour reports, Form 496, from 2025), and lobbying reports — what lobbyist employers (Form 635), lobbyists (615), lobbying firms (625) and others spending $5,000 or more to lobby (645) report spending on officials. A report's beneficiary is matched to a Form 700 filer when the position it gives names their office (or, for someone who changed office, any state office) and the names agree; staff, guests and family aren't matched.
- District maps for “Find your races”: the Census Bureau's 2025 boundary files for the Assembly, the Senate and the counties, and the Citizens Redistricting Commission's final map for the Board of Equalization. Your location is matched to them in your browser and never sent anywhere.
- FPPC Form 803: behested payments, as the FPPC publishes them for legislators, statewide officers and the Board of Equalization (one spreadsheet, downloaded weekly). The official named on each payment is matched to a Form 700 filer by name and office.
How a statement is read
For e-filed statements the FPPC publishes the schedules as data; we use it, and read the PDF too, which adds what the data leaves out (the cover page, continuation pages, comments, scanned attachments) and checks it: where the two disagree, the statement page lists both. Statements filed on paper, or without structured data, are read from the PDF: the form's own labels tell us which field each typed value belongs to (checked against thousands of statements with known answers: 99.9% of fields agree). Scanned pages are read by OCR and marked so. Every entry links to the page of the original it came from.
Values on Form 700 are ranges (e.g. $10,001–$100,000), not exact amounts; gifts and travel payments are exact. There is no net worth on Form 700, and we don't estimate one.
Matching people
Statements, candidates and campaign committees are matched by name and office. A name that fits more than one person is left unmatched rather than guessed.
Donors
A donor is a contributor as the candidates' committees report them: a person by name and ZIP code, anyone else by name, cleaned of spelling differences (“CA” and “California”, “Assn.” and “Association”) and merged where we've checked that two spellings are the same donor. A company and its PAC are separate donors, as they are in law. Only donors who gave to two or more of the 2026 state candidates are listed; pages for individual people aren't offered to search engines. Lobbyist employers are those with a report to the Secretary of State since 2024, matched by name.
“Where the money comes from” sorts every contribution by kind of donor, read from the name and type the committee reported: tribal governments (“Band of … Indians”, “Rancheria”, tribal names), labor unions, businesses, trade, professional and issue groups (associations, chambers, PACs), political parties, other candidates' committees, and individuals. A candidate's own money is what they gave in their own name and what their earlier campaigns' committees moved over. Names can mislead, so each kind is approximate.
The rules
Gifts from one source over the yearly limit Worth a look
The Political Reform Act caps gifts from a single source in a calendar year (judges: Code of Civil Procedure 170.9).
Limits: Some gifts don't count toward the limit (returned or reimbursed in time, family, wedding gifts); the statement can't always show that.
“The gift limit increased to $630 for calendar years 2025 and 2026. The gift limit in calendar year 2024 was $590.”Form 700 (2025/2026), What's New ✓ quoted from the saved copy
Travel paid by others Context
Schedule E lists travel paid by someone other than the official's own agency.
Limits: Context only; some travel payments are exempt from the gift limit.
“Travel payments from third parties (not your employer).”Form 700 (2025/2026), Types of reportable interests ✓ quoted from the saved copy
Filed after the due date Worth a look
Statements are due on set dates; the filing officer may fine a late statement.
Limits: The due date is as the FPPC portal shows it; extensions aren't visible.
“The filing officer who retains originally-signed or electronically filed statements of economic interests may impose on an individual a fine for any statement that is filed late. The fine is $10 per”Form 700 (2025/2026), Late Filing ✓ quoted from the saved copy
An amended statement Context
Amendments correct a statement.
Limits: Says nothing about why it was amended.
Candidate's own money in the campaign Context
Context from Cal-Access: how much of a campaign the candidate funds.
Limits: Itemized contributions and loans only (unitemized money under $100 isn't counted).
Campaign donors also on the statement Context
An income source, gift-giver or business that also gave to the campaign.
Limits: Matched by name as written: a common name can be a different person or company.
Lobbying gifts not on the statement Worth a look
Lobbyist employers report to the Secretary of State what they spend on officials (Form 635); a gift of $50 or more from one source belongs on Schedule D.
Limits: The report is the employer's account. Some items aren't gifts (food where the official spoke, returned or paid back in time). Beneficiaries are matched by name and office; a source counts as listed if any distinctive word matches, so this errs toward not flagging.
“A gift is reportable if its fair market value is $50 or more. In addition, multiple gifts totaling $50 or more received during the reporting period from a single source must be reported.”Form 700 (2025/2026), Instructions – Schedule D ✓ quoted from the saved copy
Over the $10 monthly limit from a lobbyist Worth a look
Registered lobbyists and lobbying firms may not give a state official or candidate more than $10 in a calendar month (Government Code 86203).
Limits: From the lobbyist's own report (Form 615/625); it can't show whether the official paid their share back.
“state officials, state candidates, and certain state employees are subject to a $10 limit per calendar month on gifts from lobbyists and lobbying firms registered with the Secretary of State.”Form 700 (2025/2026), Gift Limits ✓ quoted from the saved copy
No annual statement found Worth a look
Officeholders file an annual statement each year (elected state officers and judges by March 2) and a leaving office statement within 30 days of leaving.
Limits: From the FPPC's records only: a statement filed on paper and not yet entered, or under a different name, isn't seen. Someone who took office between October 1 and December 31 of the year is excused, and isn't listed.
“March 2 – Elected State Officers, Judges (Supreme, Appellate, Superior Court)”Form 700 (2025/2026), When is the annual statement due? ✓ quoted from the saved copy
No candidate statement found Worth a look
Candidates file a Form 700 by the filing deadline (candidates for these offices file with the FPPC), unless they filed an annual or assuming office statement for the same office within 60 days before.
Limits: From the FPPC's records, matched by name and office: a statement under a different name isn't seen. Only candidates with no Form 700 of any kind are listed.
“File no later than the final filing date for the declaration of candidacy or nomination documents.”Form 700 (2025/2026), Candidate Statements ✓ quoted from the saved copy
Bills their donors lobbied on Context
Lobbyist employers name the bills they lobby on in their quarterly reports. When an employer that gave to a member's campaign, reported spending on them, or paid at their request lobbied on a bill the member voted on, the two public records are worth reading together.
Limits: Employers and donors are matched by name as written; a report names the bills an employer lobbied on, not which side it took. Large bills (the budget) draw hundreds of employers. Context, not wrongdoing.
Behested payments from donors or lobbyist employers Context
Officials may ask anyone to pay a charity, a government agency or a legislative cause, without limit, and report it (Form 803) when one source pays $5,000 or more in a year. When the payor also funds the official's campaign or lobbies the state, both records are worth reading together.
Limits: Payors and donors are matched by name as written (a company and its PAC are different names). Context, not wrongdoing: behested payments are legal and public.
“Unlike gifts and contributions, there are no limits on the amount of payments an official may behest.”FPPC, Reporting Behested Payments – Form 803 ✓ quoted from the saved copy
Snapshot built 2026-10-12T15:23:12+00:00; Form 700 reader 700.0.4; campaign data loaded 2026-10-12T15:19:43+00:00.