Known limitations
Coverage gaps, inclusion thresholds and limits on interpreting connections.
Last updated
Coverage is not completeness. The map shows a selected set of California public records, and a missing connection does not show that no relationship exists.
What is not covered
- California state scope. The product covers California state campaign, lobbying and legislative records. Federal, city and county systems are outside its scope.
- Undisclosed money. Not every political relationship has to be disclosed. Money that passes through organizations that don't report their donors can't be traced past them.
- A selected campaign layer. The legislation and position layer is broad, while campaign connections use the specific filing sets and thresholds below. The map is not a list of every campaign transaction or filer in California.
Thresholds
To keep the map readable and its figures meaningful, several limits apply:
| Where | Limit |
|---|---|
| Late contributions and independent spending | Reports of $5,000 or more |
| Committees with their own receipts and givers | The 320 largest by receipts this year, and every committee that gives on the map or to one of them, followed back through its own givers |
| Itemized givers as records | Givers of $5,000 or more in all, across the map's committees; a committee's smaller givers together as one record, which lists its largest 100 |
| Givers drawn on the canvas | Givers of $50,000 or more in all; the rest are listed on their committees, found by search, and drawn when opened |
| A committee's listed givers | Up to 10 of the largest on the record; every giver of $2,500 or more in the donor index |
| Donor index | Givers with a total of $2,500 or more since January 1, 2025 |
So a committee's connections can show only part of its activity.
Timing
- The site serves a snapshot. Filings made or amended after the snapshot date aren't in it.
- Reporting periods differ between records. A committee's receipts run to the end of its latest statement period, which may be well before the snapshot date.
- Amendments can change earlier figures.
Filer-supplied data
- Names, employers and addresses are typed by filers and can be misspelled, abbreviated or inconsistent.
- Filers can make mistakes that the source systems don't correct. The map shows records as filed.
- Records can be matched or kept apart incorrectly. See Matching records across filings.
What a connection does not show
Caution
A reported contribution, payment or position does not establish motive, coordination, or an effect on a vote or outcome.
- A contribution does not show why the donor gave.
- A lobbying payment does not show which bill it concerned.
- A position on a bill carries no dollar amount.
- A chain of connections does not show that the same money moved along it.
Check the original filing and its reporting period before drawing conclusions.