The changes should make the site easier to navigate and are part of an ongoing effort by the secretary of state to improve the site and make it more user-friendly.
One of the challenges with online disclosure in California is that the states disclosure process is quite confusing to begin with, for filers and the public alike. Recent changes in the law enacted by the Legislature have expanded and accelerated the disclosure process, but usually without the resources appropriated to disclosure agencies that are needed to implement the changes.
However, additional funding for work on Web sites has recently been made available to the secretary of states office, and officials said the office is working toward providing a relational database online for the public to use to query disclosure reports. A relational database will allow the public to search across numerous disclosure reports by specific fields, such as donor, ZIP code, occupation, date, etc.
California Voter Foundation
