In California, a clearer look at gifts to public officials

The toughest financial disclosure rules for public officials have little effect if the press and public can’t easily gain access to the information. Now the California Fair Political Practices Commission and a non-profit called Code for America are trying to bridge the information gap.

By digitizing required disclosure data from California judges into spreadsheet-readable form, then plotting the results on a chart, the project created a picture of who’s giving and who’s taking gifts and donations.

According to the public radio’s California Report, the aim is to expand the pilot project by taking all “Form 700” data submitted by legislators, the governor and other officials and putting it into easily readable formats.

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