# CA Cal-Access Campaign Finance Scraper (`crawlerbros/cal-access-campaign-finance-scraper`) Actor Search California campaign-finance filers on Cal-Access - committees, candidates, major donors, lobbyists, lobbying firms & employers. Browse by name, entity type, and election cycle; pull registration and financial-activity summaries. - **URL**: https://apify.com/crawlerbros/cal-access-campaign-finance-scraper.md - **Developed by:** [Crawler Bros](https://apify.com/crawlerbros) (community) - **Categories:** Automation, Developer tools, Lead generation - **Stats:** 2 total users, 1 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks - **User rating**: No ratings yet ## Pricing from $3.00 / 1,000 results This Actor is paid per event and usage. You are charged both the fixed price for specific events and for Apify platform usage. Since this Actor supports Apify Store discounts, the price gets lower the higher subscription plan you have. Learn more: https://docs.apify.com/platform/actors/running/actors-in-store#pay-per-event ## What's an Apify Actor? Actors are a software tools running on the Apify platform, for all kinds of web data extraction and automation use cases. In Batch mode, an Actor accepts a well-defined JSON input, performs an action which can take anything from a few seconds to a few hours, and optionally produces a well-defined JSON output, datasets with results, or files in key-value store. In Standby mode, an Actor provides a web server which can be used as a website, API, or an MCP server. Actors are written with capital "A". ## How to integrate an Actor? If asked about integration, you help developers integrate Actors into their projects. You adapt to their stack and deliver integrations that are safe, well-documented, and production-ready. The best way to integrate Actors is as follows. In JavaScript/TypeScript projects, use official [JavaScript/TypeScript client](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs.md): ```bash npm install apify-client ``` In Python projects, use official [Python client library](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs.md): ```bash pip install apify-client ``` In shell scripts, use [Apify CLI](https://docs.apify.com/cli/docs.md): ````bash # MacOS / Linux curl -fsSL https://apify.com/install-cli.sh | bash # Windows irm https://apify.com/install-cli.ps1 | iex ```bash In AI frameworks, you might use the [Apify MCP server](https://docs.apify.com/integrations/mcp.md). If your project is in a different language, use the [REST API](https://docs.apify.com/api/v2.md). For usage examples, see the [API](#api) section below. For more details, see Apify documentation as [Markdown index](https://docs.apify.com/llms.txt) and [Markdown full-text](https://docs.apify.com/llms-full.txt). # README ## CA Cal-Access Campaign Finance Scraper Search California's official campaign-finance and lobbying disclosure system, Cal-Access, run by the Secretary of State. Search any filer by name across every registry, browse filers alphabetically (or ballot measures by election), or look up a filer's full registration and financial-activity summary by filer ID. Covers committees, political parties, major donors, slate mailers, candidates & elected officials, individual lobbyists, lobbying firms, lobbyist employers, propositions & ballot measures, and persons/entities spending $5,000+ to influence legislation. No login required. ### What this actor does - **Three modes:** `search` (by name, across all entity types), `browse` (by entity type + letter + election cycle), `detail` (by filer ID) - **Seven entity types:** committees, candidates, individual lobbyists, lobbying firms, lobbyist employers, propositions & ballot measures, and $5,000+ payments-to-influence filers - **Committee sub-type filter** — narrow committees to major donors, political parties, small contributor committees, or slate mailers - **Election cycle** — browse or look up any two-year legislative session back to 1999–2000, for every entity type - **Financial-activity summaries** — reporting period, contributions/expenditures for the period, cumulative totals, and ending cash for committees and candidates' linked committees - **Ballot-measure campaign tracking** — every committee formed to support or oppose a proposition, with its SUPPORT/OPPOSE position, grouped by election date - **$5,000+ payments-to-influence activity** — quarterly lobbying-payment totals, P.U.C. lobbying totals, and the specific bills/agencies lobbied for persons who spend $5,000+ without employing a lobbyist or firm - **Discipline-relevant status** — current registration status (active / terminated / in suspense) for every filer - **Lobbyist relationships** — each lobbyist's registered employer(s)/firm(s), with effective and termination dates - **Lobbyist headshot photos** — rehosted to a permanent, publicly accessible URL (the source image sits behind the same bot-protection as the rest of the site, so raw upstream links aren't directly reachable) - **Empty fields are omitted** ### Output per filer record - `name` — registered filer name (or ballot-measure title) - `filerId` — Cal-Access filer ID - `entityType` — `committees` / `candidates` / `lobbyists` / `lobbyingFirms` / `lobbyistEmployers` / `measures` / `paymentsToInfluence` - `status` — current registration status, e.g. `ACTIVE`, `TERMINATED 12/31/2025`, `IN SUSPENSE` - `committeeType` — raw committee sub-type as listed by the source (browse mode, committees only) - `electionCycle` — two-year session the record reflects (browse/detail modes) - `electionDate` — specific election the ballot measure appeared on, e.g. `NOVEMBER 5, 2024, GENERAL` (browse mode, measures only) - `filerContact` — registered phone/address (committees & candidates, detail mode) - `lastReportDate`, `reportingPeriod`, `contributionsThisPeriod`, `totalContributions`, `expendituresThisPeriod`, `totalExpenditures`, `endingCash` — financial summary (committees, detail mode) - `committees[]` — linked campaign committees with their own financial summaries (candidates, detail mode); for ballot measures, the committees formed to support/oppose it, each with `filerId`, `name`, and `position` (`SUPPORT`/`OPPOSE`) - `address`, `mailingAddress`, `registrationDate`, `ethicsCourseCompletionDate`, `responsibleOfficer` — lobbying-entity registration details (lobbyists/firms/employers/paymentsToInfluence, detail mode) - `relationships[]` — registered employer/firm relationships with effective/termination dates (lobbyists, detail mode) - `paymentsByQuarter[]` — quarterly `session`, `quarter`, `totalPaymentsToInfluence`, and `pucLobbying` totals (paymentsToInfluence, detail mode) - `billsAndAgenciesLobbied[]` — `session`, `quarter`, and `billOrAgency` lobbied that quarter (paymentsToInfluence, detail mode) - `photoUrl` — permanent, publicly reachable headshot photo URL (lobbyists, detail mode, when the filer has one on file); `photoUrlOriginal` — the source Cal-Access URL for traceability - `sourceUrl` — link to the filer's page on cal-access.sos.ca.gov - `recordType: "filer"`, `scrapedAt` Invalid input (malformed filer ID, no matching filer) produces a `recordType: "error"` record instead, with `error`, `message`, and `input` fields. ### Input | Field | Type | Default | Description | |---|---|---|---| | `mode` | string | `search` | `search` (by name) / `browse` (by entity type + letter) / `detail` (by filer ID) | | `searchQuery` | string | `Newsom` | Filer name or fragment (mode=search) | | `entityType` | string | `committees` | Registry to browse/look up (mode=browse / mode=detail) | | `committeeType` | string | `all` | Narrow committees to a sub-type (mode=browse, entityType=committees) | | `letter` | string | `A` | Starting letter, or Numeric (mode=browse) | | `electionCycle` | string | `2025` | Two-year session, e.g. `2025` = 2025 through 2026 (mode=browse / mode=detail) | | `filerId` | string | – | Exact Cal-Access filer ID (mode=detail) | | `proxyConfiguration` | object | off | Optional Apify proxy; not required for normal use | | `maxItems` | int | `20` | Hard cap on emitted records (1–500) | #### Example: search for a filer by name across all registries ```json { "mode": "search", "searchQuery": "Newsom", "maxItems": 20 } ```` #### Example: browse major-donor committees starting with "B" ```json { "mode": "browse", "entityType": "committees", "committeeType": "majorDonors", "letter": "B", "electionCycle": "2025", "maxItems": 30 } ``` #### Example: browse candidates & elected officials starting with "B" ```json { "mode": "browse", "entityType": "candidates", "letter": "B", "maxItems": 20 } ``` #### Example: look up one committee's financial summary ```json { "mode": "detail", "entityType": "committees", "filerId": "1475408", "electionCycle": "2025" } ``` #### Example: look up a lobbyist's registration and employer relationships ```json { "mode": "detail", "entityType": "lobbyists", "filerId": "1359080" } ``` ### Use cases - **Political journalism** — track who's funding committees and ballot-measure campaigns - **Compliance & opposition research** — verify a committee, candidate, or lobbyist's current registration status - **Government transparency tools** — feed a searchable public-records dashboard - **Academic research** — bulk-collect California lobbying-registry entities by sector - **Due diligence** — confirm a lobbying firm or employer's standing before engagement - **Campaign finance tracking** — pull a candidate's linked committees and their contribution/expenditure totals ### FAQ **What is Cal-Access?** The California Secretary of State's public disclosure system for campaign-finance and lobbying activity, covering candidates, committees, political parties, major donors, slate mailers, lobbyists, lobbying firms, and lobbyist employers. **Do I need a login?** No — Cal-Access is fully public. The actor uses a stealth browser session (no user credentials) to reach the same pages any visitor can see at [cal-access.sos.ca.gov](https://cal-access.sos.ca.gov). **Why does `search` return fewer fields than `detail`?** The name-search listing only carries name, entity type, and status. The richer financial-activity and registration fields live on each filer's own detail page — use `mode=detail` with the `filerId` from a search/browse result to pull them. **Why is `maxItems` capped relatively low?** Cal-Access is protected by a bot-management layer that only tolerates genuine in-app browser navigation (not raw HTTP requests), so each record involves a real page load. Keeping runs modest keeps them fast and reliable; raise `maxItems` if you need more and don't mind a longer run. **Can I browse a specific historical election cycle?** Yes — `electionCycle` supports every two-year session back to 1999–2000 for both `browse` and `detail` modes. **What if a run returns fewer records than `maxItems`?** Cal-Access occasionally rate-limits automated traffic; the actor retries with backoff automatically. If a section is temporarily unavailable it reports this via the run's status message rather than failing silently. **Why does a candidate's record have a `committees[]` list instead of flat financial fields?** A candidate can have multiple campaign committees across election cycles (e.g. a committee for each office they've run for), so their financial activity is reported per-committee rather than as one number. # Actor input Schema ## `mode` (type: `string`): What to fetch. ## `searchQuery` (type: `string`): Filer/entity name, or a fragment of it. Searches across committees, candidates, parties, major donors, and lobbying entities. ## `entityType` (type: `string`): Which Cal-Access registry to browse or look up a filer in (mode=browse / mode=detail). ## `committeeType` (type: `string`): Narrow the committees browse listing to one filer sub-type. ## `letter` (type: `string`): Browse filers whose name starts with this letter (or Numeric for names starting with a digit). Not applicable when entityType=measures (propositions are grouped by election date, not browsed alphabetically). ## `electionCycle` (type: `string`): Two-year legislative session to browse/look up (mode=browse / mode=detail). ## `filerId` (type: `string`): Cal-Access filer ID, e.g. `1411650`. Also accepts a ballot-measure ID when entityType=measures. Found in search/browse results. ## `proxyConfiguration` (type: `object`): Optional. Cal-Access works from the free Apify AUTO datacenter proxy in normal use; only enable this if you hit repeated blocks. ## `maxItems` (type: `integer`): Hard cap on emitted records. Each browse/detail request is a full browser page load, so keep this modest. ## Actor input object example ```json { "mode": "search", "searchQuery": "Newsom", "entityType": "committees", "committeeType": "all", "letter": "A", "electionCycle": "2025", "filerId": "1411650", "proxyConfiguration": { "useApifyProxy": false }, "maxItems": 20 } ``` # Actor output Schema ## `filers` (type: `string`): Dataset containing all scraped filer records. # API You can run this Actor programmatically using our API. Below are code examples in JavaScript, Python, and CLI, as well as the OpenAPI specification and MCP server setup. ## JavaScript example ```javascript import { ApifyClient } from 'apify-client'; // Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token // Replace the '' with your token const client = new ApifyClient({ token: '', }); // Prepare Actor input const input = { "mode": "search", "searchQuery": "Newsom", "entityType": "committees", "committeeType": "all", "letter": "A", "electionCycle": "2025", "filerId": "1411650", "proxyConfiguration": { "useApifyProxy": false }, "maxItems": 20 }; // Run the Actor and wait for it to finish const run = await client.actor("crawlerbros/cal-access-campaign-finance-scraper").call(input); // Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if any) console.log('Results from dataset'); console.log(`💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/${run.defaultDatasetId}`); const { items } = await client.dataset(run.defaultDatasetId).listItems(); items.forEach((item) => { console.dir(item); }); // 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs ``` ## Python example ```python from apify_client import ApifyClient # Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token # Replace '' with your token. client = ApifyClient("") # Prepare the Actor input run_input = { "mode": "search", "searchQuery": "Newsom", "entityType": "committees", "committeeType": "all", "letter": "A", "electionCycle": "2025", "filerId": "1411650", "proxyConfiguration": { "useApifyProxy": False }, "maxItems": 20, } # Run the Actor and wait for it to finish run = client.actor("crawlerbros/cal-access-campaign-finance-scraper").call(run_input=run_input) # Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if there are any) print("💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/" + run["defaultDatasetId"]) for item in client.dataset(run["defaultDatasetId"]).iterate_items(): print(item) # 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs/quick-start ``` ## CLI example ```bash echo '{ "mode": "search", "searchQuery": "Newsom", "entityType": "committees", "committeeType": "all", "letter": "A", "electionCycle": "2025", "filerId": "1411650", "proxyConfiguration": { "useApifyProxy": false }, "maxItems": 20 }' | apify call crawlerbros/cal-access-campaign-finance-scraper --silent --output-dataset ``` ## MCP server setup ```json { "mcpServers": { "apify": { "command": "npx", "args": [ "mcp-remote", "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=crawlerbros/cal-access-campaign-finance-scraper", "--header", "Authorization: Bearer " ] } } } ``` ## OpenAPI specification ```json { "openapi": "3.0.1", "info": { "title": "CA Cal-Access Campaign Finance Scraper", "description": "Search California campaign-finance filers on Cal-Access - committees, candidates, major donors, lobbyists, lobbying firms & employers. Browse by name, entity type, and election cycle; pull registration and financial-activity summaries.", "version": "1.0", "x-build-id": "qGv2zfDaNnyO4fpcj" }, "servers": [ { "url": "https://api.apify.com/v2" } ], "paths": { "/acts/crawlerbros~cal-access-campaign-finance-scraper/run-sync-get-dataset-items": { "post": { "operationId": "run-sync-get-dataset-items-crawlerbros-cal-access-campaign-finance-scraper", "x-openai-isConsequential": false, "summary": "Executes an Actor, waits for its completion, and returns Actor's dataset items in response.", "tags": [ "Run Actor" ], "requestBody": { "required": true, "content": { "application/json": { "schema": { "$ref": "#/components/schemas/inputSchema" } } } }, "parameters": [ { "name": "token", "in": "query", "required": true, "schema": { "type": "string" }, "description": "Enter your Apify token here" } ], "responses": { "200": { "description": "OK" } } } }, "/acts/crawlerbros~cal-access-campaign-finance-scraper/runs": { "post": { "operationId": "runs-sync-crawlerbros-cal-access-campaign-finance-scraper", "x-openai-isConsequential": false, "summary": "Executes an Actor and returns information about the initiated run in response.", "tags": [ "Run Actor" ], "requestBody": { "required": true, "content": { "application/json": { "schema": { "$ref": "#/components/schemas/inputSchema" } } } }, "parameters": [ { "name": "token", "in": "query", "required": true, "schema": { "type": "string" }, "description": "Enter your Apify token here" } ], "responses": { "200": { "description": "OK", "content": { "application/json": { "schema": { "$ref": "#/components/schemas/runsResponseSchema" } } } } } } }, "/acts/crawlerbros~cal-access-campaign-finance-scraper/run-sync": { "post": { "operationId": "run-sync-crawlerbros-cal-access-campaign-finance-scraper", "x-openai-isConsequential": false, "summary": "Executes an Actor, waits for completion, and returns the OUTPUT from Key-value store in response.", "tags": [ "Run Actor" ], "requestBody": { "required": true, "content": { "application/json": { "schema": { "$ref": "#/components/schemas/inputSchema" } } } }, "parameters": [ { "name": "token", "in": "query", "required": true, "schema": { "type": "string" }, "description": "Enter your Apify token here" } ], "responses": { "200": { "description": "OK" } } } } }, "components": { "schemas": { "inputSchema": { "type": "object", "required": [ "mode" ], "properties": { "mode": { "title": "Mode", "enum": [ "search", "browse", "detail" ], "type": "string", "description": "What to fetch.", "default": "search" }, "searchQuery": { "title": "Search query (mode=search)", "type": "string", "description": "Filer/entity name, or a fragment of it. Searches across committees, candidates, parties, major donors, and lobbying entities.", "default": "Newsom" }, "entityType": { "title": "Entity type", "enum": [ "committees", "candidates", "lobbyists", "lobbyingFirms", "lobbyistEmployers", "measures", "paymentsToInfluence" ], "type": "string", "description": "Which Cal-Access registry to browse or look up a filer in (mode=browse / mode=detail).", "default": "committees" }, "committeeType": { "title": "Committee type (mode=browse, entityType=committees)", "enum": [ "all", "majorDonors", "politicalParties", "smallContrib", "slateMailers" ], "type": "string", "description": "Narrow the committees browse listing to one filer sub-type.", "default": "all" }, "letter": { "title": "Starting letter (mode=browse)", "enum": [ "A", "B", "C", "D", "E", "F", "G", "H", "I", "J", "K", "L", "M", "N", "O", "P", "Q", "R", "S", "T", "U", "V", "W", "X", "Y", "Z", "0" ], "type": "string", "description": "Browse filers whose name starts with this letter (or Numeric for names starting with a digit). Not applicable when entityType=measures (propositions are grouped by election date, not browsed alphabetically).", "default": "A" }, "electionCycle": { "title": "Election cycle", "enum": [ "1999", "2001", "2003", "2005", "2007", "2009", "2011", "2013", "2015", "2017", "2019", "2021", "2023", "2025" ], "type": "string", "description": "Two-year legislative session to browse/look up (mode=browse / mode=detail).", "default": "2025" }, "filerId": { "title": "Filer ID (mode=detail)", "type": "string", "description": "Cal-Access filer ID, e.g. `1411650`. Also accepts a ballot-measure ID when entityType=measures. Found in search/browse results." }, "proxyConfiguration": { "title": "Proxy configuration", "type": "object", "description": "Optional. Cal-Access works from the free Apify AUTO datacenter proxy in normal use; only enable this if you hit repeated blocks.", "default": { "useApifyProxy": false } }, "maxItems": { "title": "Max items", "minimum": 1, "maximum": 500, "type": "integer", "description": "Hard cap on emitted records. Each browse/detail request is a full browser page load, so keep this modest.", "default": 20 } } }, "runsResponseSchema": { "type": "object", "properties": { "data": { "type": "object", "properties": { "id": { "type": "string" }, "actId": { "type": "string" }, "userId": { "type": "string" }, "startedAt": { "type": "string", "format": "date-time", "example": "2025-01-08T00:00:00.000Z" }, "finishedAt": { "type": "string", "format": "date-time", "example": "2025-01-08T00:00:00.000Z" }, "status": { "type": "string", "example": "READY" }, "meta": { "type": "object", "properties": { "origin": { "type": "string", "example": "API" }, "userAgent": { "type": "string" } } }, "stats": { "type": "object", "properties": { "inputBodyLen": { "type": "integer", "example": 2000 }, "rebootCount": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "restartCount": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "resurrectCount": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "computeUnits": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 } } }, "options": { "type": "object", "properties": { "build": { "type": "string", "example": "latest" }, "timeoutSecs": { "type": "integer", "example": 300 }, "memoryMbytes": { "type": "integer", "example": 1024 }, "diskMbytes": { "type": "integer", "example": 2048 } } }, "buildId": { "type": "string" }, "defaultKeyValueStoreId": { "type": "string" }, "defaultDatasetId": { "type": "string" }, "defaultRequestQueueId": { "type": "string" }, "buildNumber": { "type": "string", "example": "1.0.0" }, "containerUrl": { "type": "string" }, "usage": { "type": "object", "properties": { "ACTOR_COMPUTE_UNITS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "DATASET_READS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "DATASET_WRITES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "KEY_VALUE_STORE_READS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "KEY_VALUE_STORE_WRITES": { "type": "integer", "example": 1 }, "KEY_VALUE_STORE_LISTS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "REQUEST_QUEUE_READS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "REQUEST_QUEUE_WRITES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "DATA_TRANSFER_INTERNAL_GBYTES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "DATA_TRANSFER_EXTERNAL_GBYTES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "PROXY_RESIDENTIAL_TRANSFER_GBYTES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "PROXY_SERPS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 } } }, "usageTotalUsd": { "type": "number", "example": 0.00005 }, "usageUsd": { "type": "object", "properties": { "ACTOR_COMPUTE_UNITS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "DATASET_READS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "DATASET_WRITES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "KEY_VALUE_STORE_READS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "KEY_VALUE_STORE_WRITES": { "type": "number", "example": 0.00005 }, "KEY_VALUE_STORE_LISTS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "REQUEST_QUEUE_READS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "REQUEST_QUEUE_WRITES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "DATA_TRANSFER_INTERNAL_GBYTES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "DATA_TRANSFER_EXTERNAL_GBYTES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "PROXY_RESIDENTIAL_TRANSFER_GBYTES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "PROXY_SERPS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 } } } } } } } } } } ```