Connection types
Definitions for each connection type, including direction, dates, amounts and limitations.
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A connection joins two records. Each stands for one or more separately filed records, and keeps its own date and source. Connections of different types are never added together. The published snapshot has these connection types:
| Connection | kind values | From | To | In the snapshot | Comes from |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Position on a bill | supportopposesupport_if_amendedoppose_unless_amendedneutral | Organization | Bill | 5,813 | Committee and floor bill analyses |
| Lobbying payment | payment | Organization | Lobbying firm | 46 | CAL-ACCESS lobbying disclosures |
| Representation | representshistorical | Lobbying firm | Organization | 46 | CAL-ACCESS lobbying registrations |
| Firm affiliation | affiliation | Lobbyist | Lobbying firm | 100 | CAL-ACCESS lobbying registrations |
| Reported receipts | reported_receipts | Committee or PAC | Candidate or Ballot measure | 320 | Campaign statements (Form 460) |
| Source of receipts | donor_contribution | Committee, PAC, Individual donor or Organization donor | Committee or PAC | 468 | Itemized contributions on campaign statements (Form 460) |
| Late contribution | contribution | Committee or PAC | Committee, Candidate or Ballot measure | 146 | Late contribution reports (Form 497) |
| Independent spending | independent_expenditure_supportindependent_expenditure_oppose | Committee | Candidate or Ballot measure | 14 | Independent expenditure reports (Form 496) |
The map also adds authorship, described at the end.
Position on a bill
An organization's recorded position on a bill, from the list of support and opposition in a committee or floor analysis. It runs from the organization to the bill.
- Kinds: support, oppose, support if amended, oppose unless amended, neutral. Conditional positions keep their wording.
- Date: the date of the analysis. An organization can appear in several analyses, and each is kept as a dated observation.
- Amount: none. A position carries no money.
- Source: the bill's analyses on California Legislative Information.
A position does not show that an organization lobbied on the bill, or that it had any effect on the outcome.
Lobbying payment
Money an organization reported paying a lobbying firm for lobbying services. It runs from the organization to the firm.
- Amount: the total disclosed for the whole period. The firm's own report is used where there is one, and the organization's report otherwise.
- Date: the period covered, as a range.
A lobbying payment is not allocated to any bill, position, candidate or jurisdiction. The filings don't say how the money was divided, and the map never presents a payment as spending on a bill.
Representation
A lobbying firm registered to lobby for an organization. It runs from the firm to the organization and has no amount. A historical representation is one that ended; it keeps the date it ended.
Firm affiliation
A lobbyist registered with a lobbying firm for the current session. It runs from the lobbyist to the firm and has no amount.
Reported receipts
A committee's total contributions received in the calendar year, from the Summary Page of its latest included campaign statement (Form 460), joined to the candidate or ballot measure its filings name. It runs from the committee to the candidate or measure.
- Amount: the committee's reported receipts through the statement's end date. It is not cash on hand.
- Coverage through: the end of the statement period.
This is a reported total associated with the candidate or measure, not a transfer to them. The filing does not always say whether the committee is for or against the candidate or measure it names.
Source of receipts
A giver named on a committee's campaign statement: an individual donor, an organization, or another committee. It runs from the giver to the committee.
- Amount: the total of the giver's itemized contributions on the included statements, less any the committee gave back, with the number of contributions.
- Included in receipts: always. The amount is already part of the committee's reported receipts.
Every itemized giver of $5,000 or more in all, across the map's committees, is a record of its own with this connection to each committee it gave to. A committee's smaller itemized givers are one record together, Other itemized givers, with one connection for their total, so every itemized dollar on the map runs from a source. On the canvas, givers of $50,000 or more in all are drawn; the rest are listed on their committees with their amounts, found by search, and drawn when opened. Every itemized giver of $2,500 or more is also in the donor index. See Thresholds.
Late contribution
A contribution reported on a late contribution report (Form 497), filed close to an election. It runs from the committee that made it to the committee, candidate or measure that received it.
- Amount: the contribution as reported.
- Transaction type: Part 1 of the report lists contributions received, and Part 2 contributions made.
A late contribution is not the committee's complete receipts, and the same money can appear again on its next full statement.
Independent spending
Money a committee reported spending on its own to support or oppose a candidate or ballot measure, on an independent expenditure report (Form 496), reported as not coordinated with the campaign. It runs from the committee to the candidate or measure.
- Side: support or oppose, as stated in the filing.
- Amount: the spending as reported.
Independent spending is activity around a candidate or measure, never money they received.
Organization and committee
An organization_committee connection has no amount. A connection marked Sponsor named on Form 410 comes from the latest included registration naming the sponsor; the sponsor's name and city must match one public lobbying registration. Ambiguous identities stay separate. The date range runs from that declaration to the campaign export cutoff. This relationship does not attribute any contribution or expenditure to the sponsor.
Other organization-to-committee connections identify shared CAL-ACCESS registration evidence or an explicitly reviewed match. A similar name alone is not enough to join records.
Authorship
The map connects a legislator to each bill on the map they authored, using the bill's published author. It has no amount or date.