California Radical Transparency Financial Review

Labor and Workforce Development Agencyscore 85.8

Selection: agency anchor reference.

The Labor and Workforce Development rollup is dominated by Employment Development Department insurance-benefit mechanics, especially Disability Insurance / Paid Family Leave activity in Fund 0588 and Unemployment Insurance activity in Fund 0871. EDD's official budget display separates very large local-assistance benefit flows from much smaller state operations. Other material Labor components include unemployment administration, federal workforce / WIOA funds, Employment Training Panel activity, UI loan interest, benefit-audit and penalty / interest funds, appeals operations, and EDDNext modernization.

Interpretation: Use the agency total as a benefit-finance doorway. Split DI / PFL benefits, UI benefits, UI administration, workforce grants, payroll-tax administration, UI loan interest, modernization, and smaller boards before comparing Labor to other agencies.

Caveat: Large Labor totals are not mostly agency operating costs. They combine claimant benefit payments, worker / employer-financed insurance funds, federal workforce funds, General Fund loan-interest costs, administration, and modernization spending.

Primary source: California 2025-26 Enacted Budget Summary, Labor and Workforce Development

Employment Development Departmentscore 71.6

Selection: top visible agency rollup label.

The Employment Development Department connects employers and job seekers, administers Unemployment Insurance, Disability Insurance, Paid Family Leave, employment and training programs, and collects employment payroll taxes including personal income tax withholding. In loaded FI$Cal rows, EDD totals are dominated by claimant benefit and insurance-fund mechanics: Fund 0588 for Disability Insurance / Paid Family Leave and Fund 0871 for Unemployment Insurance benefits. EDD's 2025-26 budget display shows local assistance far above state operations, while EDD forecasts show DI / PFL and UI benefit payments as the major disbursement streams. EDD operations, UI administration, WIOA / workforce grants, Employment Training Panel activity, tax administration, UI loan interest, and modernization should be analyzed as separate branches.

Interpretation: Drill into fund first. Treat 0588 DI / PFL and 0871 UI local-assistance rows as claimant benefit / insurance-finance flows, then split 0870 administration, 0869 WIOA / workforce, 0514 training, 0184 / 0185 penalty-interest / audit, General Fund UI loan interest, and modernization costs.

Caveat: EDD totals mix benefit payments, worker / employer-financed insurance funds, federal trust and workforce funds, state operations, payroll-tax collection functions, loan-interest costs, and modernization. Do not interpret the department total as discretionary agency operating spending.

Primary source: California 2025-26 Enacted Governor's Budget, Employment Development Department

Information Technology Account Familyscore 70.0

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

Department of Industrial Relationsscore 68.4

Selection: top visible agency rollup label.

The Department of Industrial Relations protects and improves worker health, safety, and economic well-being; enforces Labor Code health, safety, wage, hour, and workers' compensation laws; adjudicates workers' compensation claims; and promotes apprenticeship and on-the-job training. The official 2025-26 eBudget display shows DIR at about $1.499B all funds, with major state-operations and special-fund financing rather than ordinary General Fund-only operations. In loaded FY23-FY25 FI$Cal rows, DIR nets to about $3.36B but has about $13.53B of gross movement across roughly 3.46M rows. The gross movement is dominated by Workers' Compensation Administration Revolving Fund, Subsequent Injuries Benefits Trust Fund, Occupational Safety and Health Fund, Labor Enforcement and Compliance Fund, Special Deposit Fund, Federal Trust Fund, Uninsured Employers Benefits Trust Fund, and related internal recovery / distributed cost mechanics.

Interpretation: Treat DIR as a worker-protection, workers' compensation, labor-enforcement, occupational-safety, apprenticeship, and adjudication department funded largely through assessments, fees, penalties, special funds, trust / benefit funds, federal funds, and recoveries. Split Workers' Compensation, Cal / OSHA, labor standards enforcement, wage-claim adjudication, public works, self-insurance, benefit / trust payments, Special Deposit Fund depositor payments, and internal cost-recovery rows before comparing DIR to ordinary operating departments.

Caveat: Loaded DIR totals are not a clean one-year operating budget. Blank / placeholder program codes, Unscheduled Items of Appropriation, internal distributed costs, recoveries, benefit trust funds, and special-deposit rows create large positive and negative movement. The department total should not be interpreted as discretionary General Fund operations or as a single workers' compensation benefit stream.

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

State Operations Support (Budget Act 001)score 67.5

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

Staff Benefitsscore 67.2

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

Salaries and Wagesscore 67.0

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 Items of Expensescore 66.2

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

Non-Budget Act State Operations Support 501score 66.0

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

Unscheduled Items of Appropriationscore 66.0

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

Budget Act Local Assistance 101score 65.7

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

Other Special Items of Expensescore 65.4

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

Departmental Servicesscore 63.9

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

Internal Cost Recoveryscore 63.8

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

Consulting and Professional Servicesscore 62.6

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

Budget Act State Operations / Support 0011score 62.0

Selection: top visible agency rollup label.

The stable public Budget Act state-operations / support pattern is the 001-100 reference range, with base 001 commonly used for Budget Act support items. Public DOF reference-number guidance and UCM material do not define `0011` as a standalone Budget Act support category. Based on the same DOF / SCO evidence used for `0013`, apparent extra digits after `001` can arise from SCO legacy suffixed references, provision / carryover / account variants, or FI$Cal / PeopleSoft mapped values. In loaded FY23-FY25 rows, `BA State Operation-Support0011` totals about $1.58B net and $3.14B of absolute movement across 241,696 rows, 67 departments, 29 funds, and 221 accounts. Large branches include Department of Technology, Resources Secretary, Employment Development Department, CAL FIRE, Department of Public Health, Housing and Community Development, DHCS, CHP, and Transportation Agency, which confirms it is not one program or one department-specific support mechanism.

Interpretation: For dashboard use, display this as Budget Act State Operations / Support parsing context. Do not expose `0011` as a standalone public program label. Use the loaded label to route users toward department, fund, account, program, source document, and legal authority. If a full item string proves a separate code position, interpret the code according to that position rather than as a reference suffix.

Caveat: No public source reviewed defines `0011` as a standalone Budget Act support reference. Treat it as unresolved mapped / suffixed support context until full item / provision / SCO / FI$Cal evidence identifies the underlying authority. The current loaded profile is widely distributed across agencies, funds, and accounts.

Primary source: California Department of Finance Reference Numbers, UCM, Active Item List, and SCO Expenditures Supplement

Grants and Subventionsscore 61.0

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

Budget Act State Operations / Support 0013score 59.0

Selection: top visible agency rollup label.

The stable public Budget Act state-operations / support pattern is the 001-100 reference range, with base 001 commonly used for Budget Act support items. Public DOF reference-number guidance and UCM material do not define `0013` as a standalone Budget Act support category. User-supplied research found that apparent extra digits after `001` can arise from SCO legacy suffixed references such as `00103` or `00113`, while DOF guidance says five-digit SCO legacy references can map to four-digit FI$Cal / PeopleSoft values. If `0013` appears in a fund position, DOF fund tables identify fund code `0013` as the Federal Receipts Account, Hazardous Waste Control Account. If it appears in a reference-like field, it should be treated as a mapped / suffixed support-reference variant requiring full item, provision, department, fund, and legal-authority context.

Interpretation: For dashboard use, display this as Budget Act State Operations / Support parsing context. Do not expose `0013` as a public program label. Split the source string into BU, reference, fund, year of enactment, and legal authority before assigning meaning. Where the underlying row is really BU-001-0013, the public meaning of `0013` is fund context, not a support-reference suffix.

Caveat: No public source reviewed defines `0013` as a standalone Budget Act support reference. The loaded label totals about $1.74B net and $4.94B of absolute FY23-FY25 movement across 134,553 rows, 29 departments, seven funds, and 185 accounts, so it is an important generated-label parsing issue rather than one substantive spending category.

Primary source: California Department of Finance Reference Numbers, UCM, Active Item List, and SCO Expenditures Supplement