- State of California — Cal Access
- LA City
- LA County
- FEC
- Links to SoCal Counties and city campaign finance data
A list of common terms in California and federal campaign finance
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Affiliated Committees: Related but technically separate PACs that can allow PACs to cater to specific donor interests. For example, Ted Cruz had four affiliated PACs, all of which were called Keep The Promise.
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Cal-Access: California's oft-derided campaign finance site. Also features lobbying data. It launched over 15 years ago; current SoS Alex Padilla has promised to overhaul it. Find it here.
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Citizens United: A 2010 Supreme Court case, Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, along with other legal developments, lead to the creation of super PACs and new levels of outside spending.
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Committee: A broad category of groups that spend money in elections — there are roughly 12 types of committees in California. They have similar reporting requirements.
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Contribution Limit: The maximum allowed donation from a donor to a recipient. Here are the federal limits and here are the state limits. Note that in some cases the contribution limit is ... no limit.
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"Dark Money"": Campaign money spent by groups that do not have to disclose their donors. A 2015 California law required groups to disclose their donors, which means political donations are easier to source in California than at the federal level.
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DNC: The Democratic Party at the national level. The group writes the party platform, throws the party conventions, strategizes elections, and raises money. The state branch of the Democrats are the California Democratic Party.
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Election cycle: "the period beginning January 1 of an odd year and ending December 31 of the following even year, for purposes of viewing campaign contributions and expenditures on Cal-Access" via
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FEC: The Federal Election Commission oversees campaign finance at the federal level. The organization is so gridlocked its own chair says it can't curb election abuse.
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Independent expenditures: Campaign spending that advocates for or against a candidate or measure without being coordinated with a campaign. Also called "outside spending" or IEs.
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In-Kind Contribution: Per the FEC: "The donation of office machines, furniture, supplies--anything of value--is an in-kind contribution. The value of the donated item (the usual and normal charge) counts against the contribution limits. A donation of services is also considered an in-kind contribution."
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"Late": The word late on Cal-Access can be a red herring, with the "late" records sometimes being the most complete. This can apply to IEs and contributions made and received. More disclaimers here.
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Lobbyist: In California, a lobbyist is defined as a person compensated for communicating with officials in order to influence legislative or administrative action. Lobbying data is on Cal-Access.
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Matching Funds: In publicly-funded presidential campaigns, the federal government will match certain donations. However, modern campaigns shun public funding because of restrictions on how the money can be spent. Public funding was commonly used by candidates from the 70's through the 90's.
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90-day election cycle: The 90 days before the election during which reporting ramps up in California and becomes daily for some contributions and expenses over $1,000.
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PAC: Around since the 1940s, PACs can give limited amounts of money to candidates, parties and other PACs. via
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Soft Money: No longer legal, soft money was money donated to political parties that was often used in "issue" advertisements around election time. There was no limit on such donations, which were banned in 2002.
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Super PAC: "Technically known as independent expenditure-only committees, super PACs may raise unlimited sums of money from corporations, unions, associations and individuals, then spend unlimited sums to overtly advocate for or against political candidates." They can't donate directly to campaigns. via
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RNC: The Republican Party at the national level. The group writes the party platform, throws the party conventions, strategizes elections, and raises money. The state branch of the GOP is the Republican Party of California.
