Campaign Finance - Local Non-Primarily Formed Comittees

<strong>A. SUMMARY</strong>
This dataset contains data from financial statements of campaign committees that file with the San Francisco Ethics Commission and (1) contribute to or (2) receive funds from a San Francisco committee which was Primarily Formed for a local election, or (3) filed a Late Reporting Period statement with the SFEC. Financial statements are included for a committee if they meet any of the three criteria for each election included in the search parameters and are not primarily formed for the election. 

The search period for financial statements begins two years before an election and runs through the next semi-annual <a href="https://sfethics.org/guidance/committee-filing-schedules">filing deadline</a>. The dataset currently filters by the elections of 2024-03-05 and 2024-11-05.

<strong>B. HOW THE DATASET IS CREATED</strong>
During an election period an automated script runs nightly to examine filings by Primarily Formed San Francisco committees. If a primarily formed committee reports accepting money from or giving money to a second committee, that second committee's ID number is added to a filter list. If a committee electronically files a late reporting period form with the San Francisco Ethics Commission, the committee's ID number is also included in the filter list. The filter list is used in a second step that looks for filings by committees that file with the San Francisco Ethics Commission or the California Secretary of State. 

This dataset shows the output of the second step for committees that file with the San Francisco Ethics Commission. The data comes from a nightly search of the Ethics Commission campaign database. A <a href="https://data.sfgov.org/d/3n88-2rrb/">second dataset</a> includes committees that file with the Secretary of State.

<strong>C. UPDATE PROCESS</strong>
This dataset is rewritten nightly and is based on data derived from campaign filings. The update script runs automatically on a timer during the 90 days before an election. Refer to the "Data Last Updated" date in the section "About This Dataset" on the landing page to see when the script last ran successfully.

<strong>D. HOW TO USE THIS DATASET</strong>
Transactions from all <a href="https://www.fppc.ca.gov/learn/campaign-rules/campaign-forms.html">FPPC Form 460</a> schedules are presented together, refer to the Form Type to differentiate.

Transactions from <a href="https://www.fppc.ca.gov/learn/campaign-rules/campaign-forms.html">FPPC Form 461 and Form 465</a> filings are presented together, refer to the Form Type to differentiate.

Transactions with a Form Type of D, E, F, G, H, F461P5, F465P3, F496, or F497P2 represent expenditures, or money spent by the committee. Transactions with Form Type A, B1, C, I, F496P3, and F497P1 represent receipts, or money taken in by the committee. Refer to the instructions for <a href="https://www.fppc.ca.gov/learn/campaign-rules/campaign-forms.html">Forms 460, 496, and 497</a> for more details.

Transactions on Form 460 Schedules D, F, G, and H are also reported on Schedule E. When doing summary statistics use care not to double count expenditures.

Transactions from <a href="https://www.fppc.ca.gov/learn/campaign-rules/campaign-forms.html">FPPC Form 496 and Form 497</a> filings are presented in this dataset. Transactions that were reported on these forms are also reported on the Form 460 at the next filing deadline. If a 460 filing deadline has passed and the committee has filed a campaign statement, transactions on 496/497 filings from the late reporting period should be disregarded.

This dataset only shows transactions from the most recent filing version. Committee amendments overwrite filings which come before in sequence.

Campaign Committees are required to file statements according to a schedule set out by the <a href="https://www.fppc.ca.gov/learn/campaign-rules/where-and-when-to-file-campaign-statements/when-to-file-campaign-statements-state-local-filing-schedules.html">C

Tags: campaign-finance, ethics
Organization: City of San Francisco