Steps for downloading and processing California campaign finance data from CAL-ACCESS. The Secretary of State website has guides and a download link for raw data that is updated daily.
For this example, we're tracking 3 committees for the 2025 special election on Prop 50.
Specify which committees to gather data for in the committees.csv. Candidates, ballot measure support and opposition, and outside groups form committees and indicate their purpose on Statement of Organization forms. Information about political donations, reporting requirements, and filing deadlines can be found on the California Fair Political Practices Commission website.
The RCPT_CD.TSV file contains itemized payments reported on Form 460 Schedules A (monetary contributions), C (non-monetary contributions), and I (miscellaneous increases to cash). This analysis only includes A and C.
SMRY_CD.TSV contains summary records for electronic filings. Unitemized contributions are listed in the Schedule A summary of the 460s on line 2.
S497_CD.TSV contains information for Form 497 late contributions received or made filings. Committees are required to report contributions that total in the aggregate $1,000 or more in the 90 days before an election.
The LOAN_CD.TSV file contains loan data. Loans may also appear in the itemizad contributions or the late contributions so this analysis does not include them in the total.