Political Reform Division

Lobbying Registration Renewal for the 2025-2026 Legislative Session is taking place November 1 - December 31, 2024. For more information, including how to file by email, read the renewal notice.  
Registration Renewals for the 2025-2026 Lobbying Directory are currently being processed in the order they were received. Amendments are secondary to renewals and will be processed accordingly. For more information, please use the Monitoring 2025-2026 Registration Status on CAL-ACCESS guide.
 
The Fair Political Practices Commission (FPPC) has updated the Statement of Organization (Form 410) to accommodate new requirements to include the names of those authorized to obtain the bank records and email addresses of the committee's treasurer, assistant treasurer, and principal officer(s).

The Political Reform Division administers provisions of California's Political Reform Act, including the law's most fundamental purpose of ensuring that "receipts and expenditures in election campaigns should be fully and truthfully disclosed in order that the voters may be fully informed and the activities of lobbyists should be regulated" and "their finances disclosed..." (Gov. Code § 81002)

The Political Reform Act was adopted as a statewide initiative (Proposition 9) by an overwhelming vote of the electorate in 1974. The law requires detailed disclosure of the role of money in California politics. This includes the disclosure of contributions and expenditures in connection with campaigns supporting or opposing state and local candidates and ballot measures as well as the disclosure of expenditures made in connection with lobbying the State Legislature and attempting to influence administrative decisions of state government. Electronic data received by the California Secretary of State is published on the California Automated Lobbying and Campaign Contribution Electronic Search System (CAL-ACCESS) website. CAL-ACCESS is the state’s campaign and lobbying information system where candidates, political committees, and lobbyists file detailed financial disclosures.

History of the Political Reform Division

Campaign & Lobbying Filing

Filing obligations may vary by entity type:

How to File

If the FPPC instructions direct you to file your documents with the Secretary of State with original ink signature(s) or verified digital signature(s) you may:

If FPPC Guidance directs you to file your statements electronically:

Digital Signature Filing Instructions

Digital Signature Filing Instructions for Campaign Filings
Digital Signature Filing Instructions for Lobbying Filings
Digital Filing Frequently Asked Questions

Beginning January 1, 2023, filers required by the Political Reform Act of 1974 to file a report or statement by paper with the Secretary of State may instead file the paper report or statement by email. Additionally, the requirement that a copy must accompany an original report or statement filed with the SOS in paper format has been eliminated.

All statements must be signed using a verified digital signature consistent with FPPC Regulation 18104(b) (2). To comply with this requirement, see​​​​ FPPC guidance.

**IMPORTANT: If you are required to file electronically or online, that obligation and method of filing remains unchanged. This guidance pertains only to filings previously required to be filed by paper. Filing statements by email does not satisfy the online filing requirement under GC 84605 (Political Reform Act) to file electronically with the Secretary of State in CAL-ACCESS. If your filing is received and filed by email, it only fulfills your obligation to file a report or statement by paper.

Filings received with a scanned copy of a signature or without a digital signature that qualifies as a “secure electronic signature” pursuant to the FPPC regulation and guidance referenced above will not be processed.

How to Navigate this Site

Below are various resources for filers and public users gathered from across our website, the Fair Political Practices Commission and other partner agencies, as well as filing officers of all levels of jurisdiction, including but not limited to Campaign Filing, Lobbying Filing, What's New, Helpful Resources, About the Political Reform Division, and how to Contact Us. For quick navigation, the Quick Links section offers direct access to commonly accessed areas and tools. These Quick Links include:

Cal-Online allows state candidates, campaign committees, and lobbying entities to electronically submit registration and disclosure reports mandated by California's Political Reform Act to the Secretary of State free of charge.

CAL-ACCESS provides financial and registration information supplied by state candidates, donors, lobbyists, and others.

Power Search provides useful summaries and allows users to search information at the contributor, candidate, ballot measure and campaign committee levels with options for sorting, filtering and further exploring statewide campaign contribution data. The Independent Expenditures Search provides data on campaign spending by individuals or committees that make expenditures to support or oppose state candidates or ballot measures without directly coordinating with the target candidate or measure proponents or committees.

Fines for Late Filings provides information on how to pay fines and how to request a waiver.

Frequently Asked Questions offers responses to common questions regarding digital signature filing, electronic filing, and requests for waivers of liability.