California Radical Transparency Financial Review

General Governmentscore 83.9

Selection: agency anchor reference.

Strict Schedule 9 General Government is a mixed statewide function driven by shared revenues, retiree health / dental benefits, Public Utilities Commission public-purpose / local-assistance programs, statewide rate and pension adjustments, pro rata / cost-recovery mechanics, tax relief, and other statewide control rows. It is not mainly Franchise Tax Board, CDTFA, DGS, Lottery, or State Controller; those sit mostly in Government Operations, Legislative / Judicial / Executive, or standalone enterprise / fiduciary contexts. In loaded FI$Cal rows, the Open FI$Cal General Government label also includes large State Compensation Insurance Fund pension-benefit mechanics, PUC public-purpose funds, Veterans Affairs, mandates, and other branches, so Schedule 9 and FI$Cal rollups must be reconciled explicitly.

Interpretation: Split General Government into shared revenues, annuitant benefits, PUC public-purpose programs, statewide adjustments, pro rata / internal recovery, tax relief, and true agency operations. Do not mix strict Schedule 9 scope with Government Operations or enterprise / fiduciary activity.

Caveat: The phrase General Government can mean different source scopes. Schedule 9 function totals, Open FI$Cal agency rollups, department displays, and fund-condition statements are not interchangeable without source-field reconciliation.

Primary source: California 2025-26 Enacted Budget Summary, Schedule 9

Other Items of Expensescore 66.8

Selection: top visible agency rollup label.

This broad account category is not one spending purpose. In promoted FY23-FY25 data through FY25 period 8, it totals about $80.20B net and $269.25B of absolute movement across 19,682,914 source rows. It is still dominated by account 5390950, SCO Inbound Interface Department Expenditures, which Open FI$Cal describes as transactions first processed by the State Controller's Office outside FI$Cal and later entered into FI$Cal. The remaining rows mix residual goods, services, miscellaneous expense, interest, vehicle-operation, supplies, and client-service accounts.

Interpretation: Use this category as a drilldown gateway. First split SCO inbound interface rows from residual goods / services / miscellaneous rows, then drill into account description, fund, program, budget reference, vendor, document, and positive / negative movement before making public claims.

Caveat: The broad category can show very large gross movement because interface and offset entries create paired positives and negatives. It should not be interpreted as a single public service, program outcome, or vendor class.

Primary source: Open FI$Cal Key Terms and Concepts; DOF Chart of Accounts crosswalk

Information Technology Account Familyscore 66.5

Selection: unresolved label queue signal.

Information Technology is a statewide accounting category, not a single technology project or public program. In loaded FY23-FY25 rows, this category totals about `$3.31B` net and `$9.74B` of gross movement across about `1.69M` rows. The nine loaded account-description branches are software maintenance, other IT services including security / archival, interagency IT services, hardware maintenance, IT equipment leases, data lines, internet service, IT supplies, and e-waste / recycling fees. The largest full-year agencies are Government Operations, Labor and Workforce Development, Health and Human Services, Legislative / Judicial / Executive, Natural Resources, Transportation, and General Government.

Interpretation: Use Information Technology as an account-family routing clue. Drill first to account description, then agency, department, fund, program, vendor / payee, and whether the row is a central-service or internal-service chargeback before interpreting the spending.

Caveat: This category mixes direct agency IT purchases, software and hardware maintenance, data / network services, security / archival services, supplies, interagency agreements, Department of Technology service billing, and corrections or allocations. Rows paid from Technology Services Revolving Fund or other internal-service funds can represent cost recovery and should not automatically be added to customer-agency IT spending without net / gross review.

Primary source: California Department of Finance Account Codes

Public Utilities Commissionscore 66.4

Selection: top visible agency rollup label.

The Public Utilities Commission combines utility regulation with large public-purpose / local-assistance programs. The 2025-26 enacted PUC display shows about $2.0B total, with state operations much smaller than local assistance. Major public-purpose funds include Universal Lifeline Telephone Service, California Teleconnect, Gas Consumption Surcharge, California Advanced Services Fund, and other surcharge-funded programs.

Interpretation: Split PUC into regulatory operations versus public-purpose subsidy / local-assistance flows. Track surcharge-funded funds separately from General Fund spending.

Caveat: Large PUC totals are often public-purpose subsidy or local-assistance mechanisms, not core regulatory payroll / operations.

Primary source: California 2025-26 Enacted Governor's Budget, Public Utilities Commission

California Department of Food and Agriculturescore 66.3

Selection: top visible agency rollup label.

The Department of Food and Agriculture should be interpreted as a mixed regulatory, inspection, grant, fairground, emergency, climate / agricultural-resilience, and capital-outlay department, not one uniform agriculture program. DOF and CDFA program materials organize the department around Agricultural Plant and Animal Health; Pest Prevention; Food Safety Services; Marketing, Commodities, and Agricultural Services; Assistance to Fair and County Agricultural Activities; General Agricultural Activities; Administration; and Capital Outlay. In loaded FY23-FY25-to-date FI$Cal rows, the department totals about $1.63B net but about $10.81B of gross dollar movement across about 780,000 transaction rows, 23 funds, 10 programs, and 220 accounts. The largest loaded branches are General Fund, Department of Agriculture Account, Federal Trust Fund, Public Buildings Construction Fund, Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund, Motor Vehicle Account, California Emergency Relief Fund, Pierce's Disease Management Account, Fair and Exposition Fund, and Harbors and Watercraft Revolving Fund. High-dollar account categories include grants / subventions, payroll and benefits, internal cost recovery / distributed cost, consulting / professional services, capital asset construction / design-build, other items of expense, and facilities / administration.

Interpretation: Split CDFA by program and fund before public interpretation: plant / animal health and pest prevention, inspection and commodity regulation, fairs / fairground support, climate-smart agriculture and resilience grants, emergency relief, capital outlay / public-building projects, fee-funded regulatory accounts, federal grants, and ordinary administration / payroll.

Caveat: Loaded Open FI$Cal program descriptions are often blank for CDFA program codes, so use the DOF Program Crosswalk and source documents to translate codes such as 6570, 6575, 6580, 6590, and 6595. Gross movement is much larger than net because the department has internal cost recovery, distributed administration, reversals, grants, capital-project accounting, and positive / negative timing entries. Do not compare the loaded multi-year gross branch to a single-year enacted budget total without fiscal-year and basis reconciliation.

Primary source: California 2025-26 Enacted Fund Condition Statements, Department of Food and Agriculture

State Operations Support (Budget Act 001)score 66.2

Selection: top visible agency rollup label.

The FY 2023-24 Final Change Book contains 690 change-book entries covering 293 item numbers for reference number 001. These entries span 91 departments and operating character(s): STATE OPERATIONS. Example issue titles: 2019 California Mass Timber Building Competition Reappropriation; 2020 Community Development Block Grant - Disaster Recovery (CDBG-DR); 2022-23 Support Capacity Net-Zero Technical Adjustment; 2023 Winter Storm Damage: Statewide Repairs and Sustainability; 2023-24 California LifeLine Enrollment Caseload and Population; 2023-24 Fire Protection Augmentation; 7A Positions, Salaries, and Wages Realignment; 9800 Technical.... Fund codes seen in the change-book entries include: 0001, 0007, 0012, 0014, 0017, 0026, 0029, 0032, 0042, 0044, 0046, 0064, 0080, 0102, 0106, 0108, 0115, 0133, 0140, 0142, 0178, 0185, 0191, 0193, 0198, 0200, 020....

Interpretation: This card summarizes official FY23 Budget Act change-book evidence by reference number. Use full item numbers and pages for precise authority.

Primary source: California Department of Finance 2023-24 Final Change Book

California Department of Veterans Affairsscore 66.1

Selection: top visible agency rollup label.

The loaded `Dept of Veterans Affairs` branch is CalVet, not the federal Department of Veterans Affairs and not all federal benefits paid to California veterans. Official CalVet budget materials describe major program areas including Farm and Home Loans to Veterans, Veterans Claims and Rights, Care of Sick and Disabled Veterans, Veterans Memorials, and General Administration. In loaded FY23-FY25-to-date FI$Cal rows, this department totals about $2.16B net and $3.01B of gross dollar movement across about 880,075 source rows. The largest loaded branches are General Fund Veterans Home operations, Fund 0592 Veterans Farm and Home Building Fund loan-financing activity, Public Buildings Construction Fund capital / facility rows, Veterans Home payroll / benefit / medical / food / facility accounts, debt service, claims representation, county subventions, cemetery operations, and internal distributed-administration offsets.

Interpretation: Treat CalVet as a mixed department with several distinct accounting stories: long-term-care Veterans Homes, veteran claims / rights services, Farm and Home loan financing, cemetery / memorial activity, housing / veteran-service grants, debt-service rows, capital / facility projects, and administration / distributed administration. Split by program, fund, account, and budget reference before comparing it to other General Government departments.

Caveat: The loaded multi-year FI$Cal total is not the same as one enacted budget-year total. Schedule 9 shows the current-year CalVet department on a narrower budget basis, while loaded FI$Cal rows include multi-year activity, loan / debt mechanics, capital projects, internal cost recovery, SCO inbound-interface rows, and offsets. Do not interpret the department total as only direct services to veterans or only Veterans Home operating cost.

Primary source: California 2023-24 Enacted Governor's Budget, Department of Veterans Affairs; California 2025-26 Enacted Budget Summary, Schedule 9

Salaries and Wagesscore 65.8

Selection: top visible agency rollup label.

The Salaries and Wages account category groups payroll earnings charged to state programs and funds. In promoted FY23-FY25 data through FY25 period 8, it totals about $42.22B net and $44.16B of absolute movement across 20,426,426 source rows. The largest salary account remains 5100000, Earnings - Permanent Civil Service Employees, followed by overtime, temporary civil service earnings, exempt / statutory employee earnings, Flex Elect contributions, and other employee-payment accounts. These rows are payroll / accounting charges, not vendor payments or claimant benefit payments.

Interpretation: Use this as a payroll-cost category. Drill into account description, department, program, fund, and budget reference; compare with SCO compensation files only when person / position-level payroll data is loaded.

Caveat: FI$Cal Salaries and Wages rows show accounting charges by fund / program / account. They do not by themselves identify individual employees, positions, headcount, vacancies, or total compensation. Staff benefits are recorded separately.

Primary source: California Department of Finance Uniform Codes Manual, Account Codes

Unscheduled Items of Appropriationscore 65.6

Selection: top visible agency rollup label.

California eBudget displays use program code 9990 for Unscheduled Items of Appropriation across multiple departments. In loaded FI$Cal rows, this label is not a single policy program; it is a budget / program control bucket that collects authority-specific rows such as State School Fund apportionment mechanics, Welfare Advance Fund local assistance, pension benefit items, lottery activity, trial-court transfer rows, and other non-Budget Act or special authority branches.

Interpretation: Do not interpret this label by itself. Drill into agency, department, fund, budget reference, year of enactment, account, and positive / negative pairings to identify the actual authority or funding mechanism.

Caveat: Public sources show 9990 as a recurring budget display / program bucket, but do not provide one universal substantive definition. The meaning must be resolved from the surrounding fund, statute, item, and accounting behavior.

Primary source: California 2025-26 Enacted Governor's Budget, Education

Staff Benefitsscore 65.3

Selection: top visible agency rollup label.

The Staff Benefits account category groups employer benefit costs recorded separately from salary earnings. In promoted FY23-FY25 data through FY25 period 8, it totals about $19.97B net and $20.68B of absolute movement across 55,785,163 source rows. Major staff-benefit accounts include Retirement - General, Health Insurance, OASDI, Workers' Compensation, OPEB Employer Contribution, Medicare Taxation, dental, vision, unemployment insurance, disability leave, and other benefit charges.

Interpretation: Use this as the benefit-cost companion to Salaries and Wages. Analyze salary earnings and staff benefits together for personnel-cost questions, but keep the categories distinct.

Caveat: Staff Benefits is not direct take-home pay and not a vendor category. It records employer-side benefit and payroll-related costs, some of which may be allocated, recovered, or adjusted through contra accounts.

Primary source: California Department of Finance Uniform Codes Manual, Account Codes

Non-Budget Act Pension Benefits 901score 63.5

Selection: top visible agency rollup label.

DOF's public reference-number guidance places Budget Reference 901-910 in the Non-Budget Act Pension Benefits range. In promoted FY23-FY25 data through FY25 period 8, 901 totals about $14.19B net and $14.21B of absolute movement across 9,992 source rows. 901 is dominated by State Compensation Insurance Fund rows under the State Compensation Insurance Fund department, with smaller Employment Development Contingent Fund, Unclaimed Property Fund, and Special Deposit Fund branches. Use the suffix as a pension-benefit reference clue and immediately split by fund, department, account, sign, and SCO interface detail before interpreting net or gross dollars.

Interpretation: Use 901 as a pension-benefit reference flag and immediately split by fund and department. The State Compensation Insurance Fund branch should be investigated separately from Special Deposit Fund and Unclaimed Property branches.

Caveat: The current repository has not located a public source that defines exact suffix 901 beyond the Non-Budget Act Pension Benefits range. Loaded behavior strongly shows where it is used, but not the internal FI$Cal setup rule that assigns this suffix. For State Fund, reconcile Budget Reference 901 / account 5390950 rows to State Fund financial statements before treating the amounts as claims, reserves, pensions, or operating expenses.

Primary source: DOF Reference Numbers and DOF Manual of State Funds, Fund 0512

State Compensation Insurance Fundscore 63.5

Selection: top visible agency rollup label.

The loaded Open FI$Cal department label is misspelled as State Compensation Insurnce Fd, but the source-backed entity is the State Compensation Insurance Fund, commonly State Fund. DOF Fund 0512 defines the fund as a proprietary / enterprise and nongovernmental public-service enterprise fund used for workers' compensation insurance premiums, claims for work-related injury or illness, and administration. Major revenue sources are insurance premiums, investment income, reimbursements from state agencies, and subrogation recoveries. State Fund's 2024 annual report describes its role serving policyholders and injured workers and reports 2024 net premiums earned of about $1.086B, net investment income of about $575M, and release of more than $540M in claims reserves. In loaded FY23-FY25 period-scope FI$Cal rows, this branch totals about $12.6B net and is almost entirely Fund 0512, Budget Reference 901 Non-BA Pension Benefits, program Unscheduled Items of Approp, and account 5390950 SCO Inbound Interface Dept Exp.

Interpretation: Treat this branch as State Fund workers' compensation insurance enterprise activity presented through a high-dollar FI$Cal Budget Reference 901 / SCO-interface accounting path. It is not ordinary General Fund program spending and should not be interpreted as a normal department operating budget without reconciling to State Fund financial statements.

Caveat: The official fund purpose is workers' compensation insurance. The loaded FI$Cal presentation is narrower and more technical: FY23-FY25 rows are concentrated in Budget Reference 901 and account 5390950. Public sources identify the fund and State Fund financial context, but no public suffix-level codebook reviewed explains why these State Fund rows use exact Budget Reference 901.

Primary source: DOF Manual of State Funds, Fund 0512; State Fund 2024 Annual Report

State Compensation Insurance Fundscore 63.5

Selection: top visible agency rollup label.

Fund 0512 is the State Compensation Insurance Fund. DOF classifies it on a GAAP basis as a proprietary / enterprise fund and on a legal basis as a nongovernmental public-service enterprise fund. It accounts for premiums collected from employers for workers' compensation insurance, payments of claims for work-related injuries and illness, and administrative costs. Its major revenue sources are insurance premiums, investment income, state-agency reimbursements, and recoveries from subrogation of claims. Insurance Code section 11770 appropriates the fund for transacting workers' compensation insurance and related costs.

Interpretation: Use Fund 0512 as an enterprise-insurance fund clue. Compare Open FI$Cal amounts to State Fund financial statements before treating high-dollar rows as final claims, operating costs, pension benefits, or state tax spending.

Caveat: Fund 0512 rows in this repository are dominated by Budget Reference 901 and SCO inbound interface account 5390950. That chartfield pattern may not equal State Fund's audited premium, claim, reserve, dividend, or operating-expense presentation.

Primary source: DOF Manual of State Funds, Fund 0512

Departmental Servicesscore 62.4

Selection: top visible agency rollup label.

Departmental Services is an internal / service-account category that includes EDP services, office services, technical services, indirect distributed cost, and other departmental service labels. In loaded FY23-FY25 rows, the category is dominated by account 5342500 Indirect Distributed Cost, which nets to about $3.96B but has about $11.64B of gross positive / negative movement. These rows often allocate internal or shared costs across programs and funds rather than identifying a final public-facing service.

Interpretation: Use Departmental Services as an internal-service / accounting category. Drill into account description and department before interpreting the work performed. In simple public spending charts, consider showing it as operating overhead / internal services rather than a final program outcome.

Caveat: Departmental Services is broader than consulting or vendor services. It can include state IT / EDP services, office services, technical services, and distributed indirect costs, many of which may be internal chargebacks or allocations.

Primary source: California Department of Finance Chart of Accounts and Uniform Codes Manual

Grants and Subventionsscore 61.6

Selection: top visible agency rollup label.

In this repository, Grants and Subventions identifies payment activity where the state provides funds to governments, local agencies, institutions, or non-government recipients for authorized public programs rather than purchasing goods or services for direct state use.

Interpretation: This is an accounting category, not a policy outcome. Drill into agency, department, fund, program, budget reference, and recipient / vendor fields.

Primary source: Open FI$Cal spending files and DOF Chart of Accounts context

Consulting and Professional Servicesscore 61.6

Selection: top visible agency rollup label.

This account category groups service payments for consulting, professional, technical, and related service activity. It is useful for vendor-concentration review because these payments can be spread across many agencies and departments.

Interpretation: Do not assume every row is a management consultant. Drill into account description, vendor, department, procurement source, and transaction detail.

Primary source: Open FI$Cal spending files and DOF Chart of Accounts context

Non-Budget Act Local Assistance 601score 61.5

Selection: top visible agency rollup label.

In the loaded education rows, budget reference 601 is prominent in Education Protection Account school-apportionment activity. CDE states that EPA provides LEAs with general purpose state aid under Article XIII, Section 36, and that EPA is a component of an LEA's LCFF entitlement as calculated in the Principal Apportionment. CDE Principal Apportionment calculation guidance says LCFF state aid is determined by subtracting local property taxes and the EPA entitlement from LCFF entitlement.

Interpretation: Interpret 601 rows beside Education Protection Account, LCFF, General Fund 610, and 698 offset context. Forensic review should compare positive EPA 601 rows to negative EPA 698 rows, matching General Fund 610 rows, and CDE EPA schedules.

Caveat: The repository has official EPA / LCFF offset context and observed FI$Cal pairings, but no public source reviewed defines exact budget reference 601 as the EPA code.

Primary source: California Department of Education Education Protection Account

State Administrative Support / Program Administrationscore 61.3

Selection: top visible agency rollup label.

The loaded `Administration` program label is a cross-agency administrative-support label, not one statewide policy program. In FY23-FY25 FI$Cal rows, it totals about $3.33B net and about $4.54B of gross movement across 620,684 rows. The dominant program code is `9900100000`, with a smaller `0740035000` branch. The largest loaded departments are CHP, CAL FIRE, Department of General Services, Department of Public Health, Public Utilities Commission, Department of Education, Department of Insurance, and Veterans Affairs. The largest object classes are salaries, staff benefits, facilities, IT, services / rentals, goods, and DGS service-fund activity.

Interpretation: Treat this as administrative overhead, headquarters / support, shared services, and program-administration cost. Always drill into agency, department, fund, account, budget reference, and whether the row is paired with distributed administration before describing the dollars.

Caveat: This label is useful for finding overhead and support costs, but it does not identify one policy outcome or one final service. It can include ordinary state operations, internal-service activity, fund-specific administration, positive allocations, reversals, and timing adjustments.

Primary source: California Department of Finance Treatment of Distributed Administrative Costs

Budget Act Local Assistance 101score 61.1

Selection: top visible agency rollup label.

Budget reference 101 is a broad Budget Act Local Assistance reference. DOF budget guidance says Budget Act item codes combine organization, reference, and fund; DOF reference guidance places 101-294 in the Budget Act Local Assistance block. In DSS Other Assistance Payments, public sources show 5180-101 rows spanning multiple funds and multiple welfare program contexts, including Other Assistance Payments and CalWORKs / Payments for Children examples. The reference identifies broad local-assistance appropriation authority, not a specific component such as Foster Care, AAP, Kin-GAP, CalFresh, CFAP, TCVAP, refugee assistance, or food programs.

Interpretation: Use 101 as broad Budget Act Local Assistance authority. Pair it with department, program code, fund, account, legal provision, issue title, project / PCA, claim schedule, and transaction text before assigning a policy component.

Caveat: Do not treat 101 as a component-level label. In DSS, program 4270019 / legacy 16.65 is a better public key for Other Assistance Payments than budget reference 101.

Primary source: California Department of Finance, Reading the Budget Act