California Radical Transparency Financial Review

Health and Human Services Agencyscore 87.9

Selection: agency anchor reference.

The California Health and Human Services Agency includes departments and state entities that provide health and social services, public health services, health coverage, social supports, and safety-net programs. In this repository, the agency rollup is dominated by Medi-Cal, social services, developmental services, public health, state hospitals, and related federal, General Fund, and special-fund activity.

Interpretation: Use agency totals as a doorway into departments and programs. HHS is too broad to interpret without drilling into DHCS, Social Services, Developmental Services, Public Health, fund source, and program rows.

Primary source: California 2025-26 Enacted Budget Summary, Health and Human Services

California Department of Social Servicesscore 72.4

Selection: top visible agency rollup label.

The Department of Social Services operates and oversees cash assistance, food and nutrition, child care, child welfare, adult protective, disability evaluation, community care licensing, and other human-services programs. The Governor's Budget display groups the department into Welfare Programs, Social Services and Licensing, and Disability Evaluation and Other Services. In loaded FI$Cal rows, this department is a major HHS node with large local-assistance, federal trust fund, reimbursement, and county-administered program flows.

Interpretation: Use CDSS totals as a program doorway, not one service line. Drill into CalWORKs, child care, IHSS / social services, county administration, fund source, budget reference, and federal / reimbursement rows before interpreting trends.

Caveat: CDSS is state-supervised but many programs are locally administered or paid through counties, contractors, benefit systems, or federal funding streams. Department totals can mix benefits, administration, county allocations, reimbursements, and transfers.

Primary source: California 2026-27 Governor's Budget, Department of Social Services

DSH Metropolitan State Hospitalscore 71.9

Selection: unresolved label queue signal.

Metropolitan is one of the five major DSH hospital-campus branches in loaded FI$Cal data. Rows are mostly General Fund state operations with payroll and facility-driven inpatient hospital costs.

Interpretation: Use Metropolitan as a campus-level drilldown under DSH State Hospitals. Separate payroll, medical, pharmacy, facilities, and offsets before interpreting the total.

Caveat: The campus label does not identify patient commitment category or clinical service type without separate DSH operational data.

Primary source: California 2025-26 Enacted Governor's Budget, Department of State Hospitals

State Department of Health Care Servicesscore 71.5

Selection: top visible agency rollup label.

The State Department of Health Care Services administers Medi-Cal and other health care programs, including health care delivery, financing, eligibility, behavioral health, audits, data systems, and related program administration. In loaded FI$Cal rows, this department is the largest single HHS spending node.

Interpretation: DHCS totals combine federal funds, General Fund, managed care, provider payments, county behavioral health, and other health financing mechanisms. Drill to fund and budget reference before interpreting funding source.

Primary source: California 2025-26 Enacted Governor's Budget, State Department of Health Care Services

In-Home Supportive Servicesscore 71.3

Selection: top visible agency rollup label.

In-Home Supportive Services provides domestic and related personal-care services to eligible low-income people with disabilities, older adults, and children so they can remain safely in their homes rather than move into more costly institutional settings.

Interpretation: IHSS spending is a program-level rollup. Use fund, account, county / vendor, period, and budget-reference drilldowns to distinguish benefits, administration, estimates, and adjustments.

Primary source: California 2025-26 Budget Summary, Health and Human Services

Other Items of Expensescore 71.2

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

DSH Atascadero State Hospitalscore 70.4

Selection: unresolved label queue signal.

Atascadero is one of the five major DSH hospital-campus branches in loaded FI$Cal data. Rows are mostly General Fund state operations and should be read as state hospital inpatient operations.

Interpretation: Use Atascadero as a campus-level drilldown under DSH State Hospitals. Separate payroll, overtime, medical costs, facilities, and offsets before interpreting the total.

Caveat: The campus label does not by itself identify patient legal status or service outcome.

Primary source: California 2025-26 Enacted Governor's Budget, Department of State Hospitals

Budget Act Local Assistance 101score 69.8

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

Local Assistance (Budget Act 111)score 69.7

Selection: top visible agency rollup label.

The FY 2023-24 Final Change Book contains 28 change-book entries covering 16 item numbers for reference number 111. These entries span 6 departments and operating character(s): LOCAL ASSISTANCE. Example issue titles: AIDS Drug Assistance Program Estimate; Adjustment to Reflect Available Resources in Health Education Account, Cigarette and Tobacco Products Surtax Fund; Court Interpreters Workplace Pilot Program; Domestic Violence Training and Education Fund Workload Adjustment; Exploratory Committee for IHSS Statewide Collective Bargaining; Family Health Estimate; Genetic Disease Screening Program Estimate; Hepatitis C Virus (HCV.... Fund codes seen in the change-book entries include: 0001, 0080, 0203, 0231, 0642, 0890, 3023, 3037, 3397, 3428.

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

Information Technology Account Familyscore 69.2

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

California Department of Public Healthscore 69.0

Selection: top visible agency rollup label.

The Department of Public Health rollup combines public and environmental health programs, licensing and certification, emergency preparedness, infectious disease activity, family health, health statistics, laboratory sciences, environmental health, and administration. Loaded FY23-FY25 FI$Cal rows total about $11.22B across about 3.48M source rows. The largest loaded branch is program code 4045000000, which the DOF Program Crosswalk identifies as Public and Environmental Health; that branch contains most of the Federal Trust Fund Local Administration rows, WIC Manufacturer Rebate Fund rows, Genetic Disease Testing Fund rows, tobacco-prevention local assistance, and broad General Fund / Federal Trust Fund grants. Recent DPH Local Administration review shows that several large rows are not ordinary administration: Fund 3023 is WIC infant-formula rebate financing used to offset WIC food costs, Fund 0203 is fee-supported Genetic Disease Screening Program testing / service activity, and Fund 3322 / reference 611 is Prop 56 tobacco-prevention / control funding.

Interpretation: Use DPH totals as a gateway. Split Public and Environmental Health, Licensing and Certification, Emergency Preparedness, Infectious Diseases, Family Health, Healthy Communities, Environmental Health, Laboratory Sciences, state operations, local assistance, federal grants, WIC rebate-financed food benefits, GDSP fee-funded testing services, Prop 56 tobacco-control grants / programs, and other tobacco / opioid / genetic-disease funding before interpreting trends.

Caveat: DPH totals mix state operations, local administration, grants / subventions, licensing fees, federal public-health grants, rebate funds, fee-supported service funds, settlement funds, special taxes, emergency response, and distributed administration. A large Local Administration row is not automatically state headquarters cost, ordinary local administration, or one program.

Primary source: California 2025-26 Enacted Governor's Budget, Department of Public Health

Grants and Subventionsscore 68.8

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

Salaries and Wagesscore 68.7

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

Other Special Items of Expensescore 68.5

Selection: top visible agency rollup label.

This account category groups several high-dollar special-payment and accounting-transfer classes rather than one policy program. Open FI$Cal places Medical & Health Care Payments account 5442000 under this public category, while the DOF legacy object crosswalk maps that same account to Local Costs / Grants and Subventions object 661705. In loaded FY23-FY25 spending, the category is dominated by Medical and Health Care Payments, Expense Transfers and Other Disbursements, and a residual Other Special Items of Expense account.

Interpretation: Use this category only as a starting point. For forensic review, immediately drill into account description, agency, department, fund, program, and budget reference because the category mixes benefit payments, local assistance, offsets, and residual special items. Preserve the distinction between public Open FI$Cal hierarchy and legacy object-category mappings.

Caveat: Because this category combines large positive benefit-payment accounts and large negative transfer / offset accounts, net totals can hide materially different accounting behaviors. It is an account hierarchy category, not a final program or policy outcome.

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

Consulting and Professional Servicesscore 68.5

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

Department of Developmental Servicesscore 68.4

Selection: top visible agency rollup label.

The Department of Developmental Services oversees coordination and delivery of services and supports for Californians with developmental disabilities under the Lanterman Developmental Disabilities Services Act. DDS contracts with regional centers to plan, access, coordinate, and monitor services. In loaded FI$Cal rows, the department's largest branch is Purchase of Services through community and regional-center service systems.

Interpretation: Use DDS totals as a gateway to regional-center and service-purchase mechanics. Drill into Purchase of Services, regional-center / vendor rows, fund source, and program / account labels before interpreting service categories.

Caveat: DDS spending often flows through regional centers and purchased services. The department total is not the same as direct state payroll or state-operated facility spending.

Primary source: California Department of Developmental Services, About DDS

Staff Benefitsscore 68.1

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

Unscheduled Items of Appropriationscore 67.8

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

State Operations Support (Budget Act 001)score 67.8

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

Medi-Cal Benefits / Medical Care Servicesscore 67.4

Selection: top visible agency rollup label.

This FI$Cal program label is used for large medical-care benefit payments. Official DHCS budget displays describe Medi-Cal as California's Medicaid program, coordinating and directing health care services for low-income Californians through fee-for-service and managed-care delivery systems.

Interpretation: Treat this as a benefit-payment program context, not a single vendor or service line. Drill into fund, account, budget reference, period, and vendor / confidential status.

Primary source: California 2025-26 Enacted Governor's Budget, State Department of Health Care Services

Department of State Hospitalsscore 66.7

Selection: top visible agency rollup label.

The Department of State Hospitals branch is mostly state-operated inpatient psychiatric hospital operations and closely related forensic / court-driven treatment services, not a pass-through benefits program. In loaded FY23-FY25 FI$Cal rows, DSH totals about $7.35B net as a multi-year / partial-period loaded aggregation, not as a clean one-year official DSH budget total. The official 2025-26 DSH eBudget display shows about $3.1105B in state operations plus separate capital-project activity. Loaded rows are dominated by General Fund, Budget Act State Operations support, salaries, overtime, benefits, health / medical contracts, pharmacy / medical vendors, facilities, and hospital-specific programs. The largest loaded programs are the five hospitals: Patton, Napa, Coalinga, Metropolitan, and Atascadero. Material non-hospital branches include Community Based IST Programs, Jail Based Treatment Programs, Conditional Release Program, Other Contracted Services, capital outlay, Mental Health Diversion Fund activity, and Mental Health Facility Fund revenue / deduction mechanics. DSH 2025-26 materials project 5,772 state hospital patients, 1,694 contracted-program patients, and 952 CONREP participants; IST, NGI, OMD, SVP, and Coleman categories make up most of the hospital census.

Interpretation: Treat DSH primarily as state hospital operations and forensic / court-driven mental health treatment capacity. Split hospital campuses, administration, community-based IST, jail-based treatment, conditional release, contracted patient services, forensic evaluation services, Mental Health Facility Fund revenue activity, capital projects, and reimbursements before comparing to HHS benefit programs.

Caveat: The loaded Open FI$Cal aggregation, official one-year budget display, and patient / caseload tables use different bases. Loaded period data also show high dollar volume because payroll, corrections, reversals, reimbursements, and revenue / disbursement deduction rows create large positive and negative flows. Program labels identify operating branches but do not by themselves identify patient commitment type, clinical service, facility unit, or bed-day utilization.

Primary source: California 2025-26 Enacted Governor's Budget, Department of State Hospitals

Non-Budget Act Local Assistance 601score 66.0

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

Departmental Servicesscore 65.9

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

DDS Regional Center Purchase of Servicesscore 65.6

Selection: top visible agency rollup label.

DDS explains that regional centers help plan, access, coordinate, and monitor services and supports for people with developmental disabilities. Regional center services can include purchase of necessary services included in an individual program plan. In loaded FI$Cal rows, Purchase of Services is a high-dollar DDS program label and should be interpreted as service-purchase activity rather than a single vendor or object category.

Interpretation: Drill into department, vendor / payee, fund, and account details to distinguish regional-center service purchases, administrative rows, adjustments, and confidential / vendor-suppressed rows.

Caveat: This label does not identify the specific service type by itself. Pair it with regional-center, vendor, account, and program-code context before making claims about what services were purchased.

Primary source: California Department of Developmental Services, Regional Center Eligibility and Services

California Department of Child Support Servicesscore 65.4

Selection: top visible agency rollup label.

The Department of Child Support Services rollup mixes ordinary program administration with large child-support payment, advance, and recovery mechanisms. Loaded FY23-FY25 FI$Cal rows total about $11.70B. The largest branches are Fund 8031 Child Support Payment Trust Fund / Budget Reference 601 custodial State Disbursement Unit payment activity, Fund 9726 Child Support Services Advance Fund / Budget Reference 601 consolidated advance and clearing activity, Child Support Administration local-assistance rows split across Federal Trust Fund, General Fund, and Fund 8004 Child Support Collections Recovery Fund, and a smaller Child Support Automation branch.

Interpretation: Do not read the department total as ordinary state operating spending or as direct state-funded support to families. Separate administration, automation, custodial SDU payment principal, advance / clearing mechanics, collections-recovery financing, federal share, General Fund share, and trust / revolving fund timing.

Caveat: The same department contains trust / custodial principal flows, program-cost advances, local child support agency administration, and automation costs. Fund and budget-reference context is essential before making public claims.

Primary source: California 2025-26 Enacted Governor's Budget, Department of Child Support Services

Department of Rehabilitation: Federally Supported Vocational Rehabilitation and Independent Living Servicesscore 64.5

Selection: top visible agency rollup label.

The Department of Rehabilitation is the state department responsible for vocational rehabilitation, independent living, and disability-employment services. The DOF Program Crosswalk maps BU 5160 to FI$Cal programs 4210 / 4210010 / 4210037 for vocational rehabilitation and 4215 / 4215010 / 4215019 for independent living. Loaded Department of Rehabilitation rows are therefore mapped department / program branches, not unknown labels. The department's official budget is dominated by Federal Trust Fund support, and the federal vocational rehabilitation program uses a federal / state cost-share structure.

Interpretation: Treat this as federally supported vocational rehabilitation, independent-living services, client-service purchasing / administration, and related state-operations support for Californians with disabilities. Split Federal Trust Fund, General Fund match, client services, payroll / administration, SCO inbound interface, indirect-cost / recovery, and positive / negative allocation pairs before making service-level claims.

Caveat: This is not a pure local-assistance grant card. Loaded gross movement can exceed the unresolved dashboard scope because SCO inbound interface, Other Items of Expense, client-service, indirect-cost / recovery, and reversal rows inflate absolute movement. Net and gross should be interpreted separately, and FY25 remains partial in the current load.

Primary source: California 2025-26 Enacted Governor's Budget, Department of Rehabilitation

State Operations Support (Budget Act 011)score 64.0

Selection: top visible agency rollup label.

The FY 2023-24 Final Change Book contains 29 change-book entries covering 18 item numbers for reference number 011. These entries span 12 departments and operating character(s): STATE OPERATIONS. Example issue titles: 2022 California State Payroll System Reappropriation; Administrative Support for Evolving Program Operations; COVID-19 Update; Cannabis Convictions Resentencing Reversions; County Bed Billing Reimbursement Authority; Court Reporter Augmentation Reversion; Court Reporter Rate Increase Reversion; DJJ Closure; Direct Deposit Implementation; Enhanced Treatment Program (ETP) Staffing; Extend Funding for Health Insurance.... Fund codes seen in the change-book entries include: 0001, 0557, 0588, 0890, 0920, 0929, 0932, 9740.

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

Child Care and Developmentscore 64.0

Selection: top visible agency rollup label.

The loaded Child Care rows should be treated primarily as Department of Social Services / CDSS child care local assistance after the July 1, 2021 SB 98 transfer of many child care programs from CDE to CDSS. The 2025-26 CDSS budget display shows subprogram 4270020 Child Care and Development at $6.663B total, including $6.605B local assistance and $58.0M state operations. LAO's enacted child care view is broader at $7.448B across CalWORKs Stage 1 / 2 / 3, CAPP, General Child Care, Bridge, Migrant Child Care, children with severe disabilities, and support programs. CDE remains the administrator for California State Preschool and TK / UPK-related education funding, so those rows should not be folded into CDSS subsidized child care.

Interpretation: Treat Child Care as DSS / CDSS-administered local assistance and provider / subsidy mechanics. Split vouchers, direct contracts, county-administered Stage 1, APP-administered Stage 2 / 3 / CAPP, federal CCDF, provider-payment supplements, infrastructure, quality / support, State Preschool, and TK before making claims.

Caveat: Most child care dollars are local assistance or provider / contractor payment flows, not state operating costs. Older CDE child care pages can describe programs that moved to CDSS; use the CDE transition caveat before assigning FY23-FY25 department ownership.

Primary source: California 2025-26 Enacted Governor's Budget, Department of Social Services

California Health Benefit Exchange / Covered Californiascore 63.7

Selection: top visible agency rollup label.

The California Health Benefit Exchange, branded as Covered California, operates California's health insurance marketplace. Covered California's FY 2025-26 approved budget totals $496.1M and supports plan management, eligibility and health transformation, marketing / outreach / sales, service center and consumer experience, technology, and administration. Covered California's ACFR presents it as a single enterprise fund and reports FY 2024-25 operating revenue of $442.3M, operating expenses of $425.6M, and operating income of $16.7M. Operating revenues are driven by enrollment, on-exchange average carrier premiums, and participation fee rates. In loaded FY23-FY25-to-date FI$Cal rows, the CA Health Benefit Exchange branch totals about $2.59B net and $2.89B of gross dollar movement across about 105,000 source rows, dominated by Fund 3175 California Health Trust Fund / Non-Budget Act State Operations, plus smaller Fund 3381 Health Care Affordability and General Fund Budget Act Local Assistance rows.

Interpretation: Treat this as exchange / marketplace operations, enrollment and consumer-service infrastructure, carrier-participation-fee financed administration, and distinct affordability / local-assistance mechanics where Fund 3381 or General Fund local assistance appears. It is not Medi-Cal, not a General Fund health program by default, and not the total flow of insurance premiums paid by consumers.

Caveat: Loaded FI$Cal rows use broad accounts such as Health and Medical, external / interdepartmental consulting, payroll, technology, grants, and postage. These chartfields do not by themselves identify final consumers, carrier premium tax credits, or insurer-level premium flows. Reconcile Fund 3175 state-operations rows to Covered California budget / ACFR categories, and treat Fund 3381 / General Fund local-assistance rows as a separate state-affordability / subsidy review path.

Primary source: Covered California FY 2025-26 Approved Budget and FY 2024-25 ACFR

Non-Budget Act State Operations Support 501score 63.5

Selection: top visible agency rollup label.

DOF reference guidance places reference numbers 501-594 in the Non-Budget Act State Operations range. Loaded Budget Reference 501 rows total about $11.78B across FY23-FY25, but the branch is not one program or one statewide purpose. Major loaded uses include CSU auxiliary / trust and dormitory-fund SCO-interface rows, CA Health Benefit Exchange California Health Trust Fund operations and health / medical rows, State Lottery Fund interface rows, Department of Industrial Relations benefit / mandate funds, Franchise Tax Board stimulus / refund funds, DGS Natural Gas Services Program Fund activity, debt-service authority branches, Special Deposit Fund deductions, and multiple fee / special-fund state-operations programs.

Interpretation: Use 501 as a Non-Budget Act State Operations support authority flag. Drill into agency, department, fund, program, account, year of enactment, and document behavior before assigning a policy meaning.

Caveat: No public statewide suffix-level codebook reviewed defines 501 as one specific program. It is a broad reference-number category with department / fund-specific behavior, and many rows are SCO inbound interface, trust / fiduciary, debt-service, benefit, refund, or special-fund mechanics.

Primary source: California Department of Finance Reference Numbers; Open FI$Cal Key Terms and Concepts

Department of Health Care Access and Information - Workforce Grants, Facility Oversight, Data Reporting, Affordability Regulation, Cal-Mortgage, and Administrationscore 63.5

Selection: top visible agency rollup label.

The Department of Health Care Access and Information branch combines health workforce grants, scholarships, fellowships, loan repayment, facility construction and seismic oversight, health data and reporting, affordability regulation, Cal-Mortgage / facility-financing activity, and administration. In promoted FY23-FY25 data through FY25 period 8, this branch totals about $1.49B net and $1.78B of absolute movement across 252,790 source rows. Split local assistance, state operations, administration, oversight, and accounting / interface rows before assigning substantive meaning.

Interpretation: Treat HCAI as a mixed health access and regulatory department, not as one generic health program. Split major rows into workforce local assistance and awards, facilities-development fee-supported state operations, data / reporting and affordability state operations, Cal-Mortgage and facility-financing support, Health Care Payments Data implementation, and administration. Use program, fund, budget reference, account, and state / local category to distinguish direct workforce awards from program administration, regulatory oversight, data infrastructure, facility-plan review, loan-insurance activity, and transfer / clearing rows.

Caveat: FY25 transaction coverage in the local Open FI$Cal pointer is partial through period 8, and Open FI$Cal is unaudited and can include reversals and adjustments that do not reconcile directly to Governor's Budget basis. Hospital Building Fund / Program 9999 rows have very high gross and near-zero net movement and should be tagged as clearing, allocation, SCO interface, or reversal churn rather than substantive facility spending unless document-level evidence proves otherwise. Budget-reference suffix variants such as 1011, 1012, 1013, 1015, 1019, 501, 595, 601, and 605 need Active Item List or budget-bill evidence for exact suffix-level authority.

Primary source: California 2025-26 Governor's Budget, Department of Health Care Access and Information

California Department of Aging - Aging-Services Grants, Pass-Throughs, Administration, and Oversightscore 63.2

Selection: top visible agency rollup label.

The California Department of Aging branch is primarily aging-services local assistance and provider / pass-through funding, plus much smaller CDA administration and oversight. In promoted FY23-FY25 data through FY25 period 8, this branch totals about $1.44B net and $1.54B of absolute movement across 237,947 source rows. Split local assistance, state operations, administration, oversight, and accounting / interface rows before assigning substantive meaning.

Interpretation: Treat CDA totals as aging-services grants / pass-throughs and local service-network funding first, then separate CDA state operations, administration, oversight, policy / planning, and support rows. Use program, fund, budget reference, account, and state / local category to distinguish OAA / AAA service grants, nutrition, supportive services, caregiver, ombudsman, ADRC, HICAP, CBAS / MSSP, ARP / HCBS relief, and administrative costs.

Caveat: FY25 transaction coverage in the local Open FI$Cal pointer is partial through period 8, and Open FI$Cal is unaudited and can include reversals and adjustments that do not reconcile directly to Governor's Budget basis. Large zero-net 9999 / 999x program movement should be tagged as clearing, allocation, SCO interface, or adjustment churn rather than substantive aging-service spending unless document-level evidence proves otherwise. Some Budget Act Local Assistance suffix variants require budget bill or Active Item List evidence for precise suffix-level authority.

Primary source: California 2025-26 Governor's Budget, California Department of Aging

Internal Cost Recoveryscore 63.1

Selection: top visible agency rollup label.

Internal Cost Recovery is a FI$Cal / Hyperion category / code family for cost recoveries and allocated internal charges. DOF's Hyperion AC code list places AC_5700000 under category 57 Internal Cost Recovery, and the DOF Chart of Accounts crosswalk maps PeopleSoft account 5700000 to Internal Cost Recovery. In loaded FY23-FY25 rows, 5700000 nets to about -$5.12B but has about $11.94B of gross positive and negative movement. A related account, 5710000 Estimated Distributed Indirect and Recovery Cost, has about $27.51B of gross movement but nets to roughly zero across the loaded periods. This behavior indicates allocation, recovery, PFA, chargeback, and reversal / offset mechanics rather than one external public service or vendor category.

Interpretation: Treat this as an internal accounting mechanics category. Show positive charges, negative recoveries, and net separately. Drill into account code 5700000 versus 5710000, department, fund, program, budget reference, and fiscal period before interpreting the dollars.

Caveat: Do not add gross positive and negative internal cost recovery flows to public-facing program spending without context. Some rows recover central-service or departmental overhead costs already recorded elsewhere, and some are allocation / PFA mechanics, so gross totals can double count state operating activity.

Primary source: California Department of Finance AC Codes Available in Hyperion; DOF Chart of Accounts crosswalk