A California organization receives $11 million from another group based in Arizona, which received the cash from a separate group, which in turn had it funneled from a fourth, based near Washington, D.C. Drug cartel money headed for an offshore account?  No, just state electioneering in a post-Citizens United world.

The current state of campaign finance affairs, laid out in a report Thursday from Stateline, exemplifies how the growing role of independent national political groups is causing problems for state officials trying to enforce their own election laws. Independent spending had unprecedented influence on state elections this year, with millions of dollars in corporate and other outside money shaping races across the country.

By Mike Mullen

A simple Google search will produce a map and directions on how to find the state capitol, where staffers can help citizens locate legislative chambers and hearing rooms. But this seemingly easy access hardly guarantees that what takes place in open meetings is a reliable predictor for the laws that will govern the state.

Aside from regulations on legislators’ potential conflicts of interest, the Legislative Accountability category also assessed the openness of each state’s lawmaking process. These corruption risk indicators are more difficult to judge by face value, so state reporters turned to statehouse veterans who had been trying to access and influence the legislature. In state after state, sources reported that it is often hard to actually observe the sausage as it is being produced, which helps to explain the oft-surprising flavor it takes on when finally released for public consumption.

State Integrity Grade ‘Bolstered’ Need for Reform

By Caitlin Ginley

As the California legislature gears up to vote on the state budget, Republicans are demanding  greater transparency in the process, citing a C- grade for the budgeting process from  the State Integrity Investigation.  California ranked 4^th out of all 50 states overall with a grade of B-.

On Monday, Republicans called for a 48-hour public review of the budget plan, allowing time for citizens to voice their concerns to representatives before it goes to a vote. Lawmakers face a constitutional deadline to approve a budget for the new fiscal year by this Friday;  the fiscal year kicks off July 1.  California Democrats control both legislative chambers, as well as the governor’s office.

State integrity news for California, from California Watch:

In a state with nearly 38 million people, few have more influence than the top 100 donors to California campaigns – a powerful club that has donated overwhelmingly to Democrats and spent $1.25 billion to influence voters over the past dozen years.

These big spenders represent a tiny fraction of the hundreds of thousands of individuals and groups that donated to California campaigns from 2001 through 2011. But they supplied about a third of the $3.67 billion lavished on state campaigns during that time, campaign records show.

Read the rest of the story at California Watch.

State integrity news for California, from the Los Angeles Times:

The measure was proposed by Sen. Sam Blakeslee (R-San Luis Obispo) because of what he said was his concern that the Legislature is tainted when members accept spa treatments, Lakers box seats and Disneyland tickets from special interests.

"Every time an elected official receives one of these gifts, it erodes the public trust and undermines the Legislature’s ability to lead on the big issues facing our state," Blakeslee said before the 33-1 vote to approve the measure and send it to the Assembly.

Read the rest of the story at the Los Angeles Times.

Early last month, lawmakers in Iowa completed work on a new open records statute. Senate File 430 creates the Iowa Public Information Board, a nine-member commission charged with enforcing the state’s open records and meetings laws.

For good government advocates in the Hawkeye State, the new legislation was cause for celebration — sort of.

Indeed, there were smiles all around as Gov. Terry Branstad signed the law on May 3 in the ornate Capitol Building, surrounded by lawmakers and journalists — many of whom spent six years on the effort. And the law is undoubtedly a victory of sorts for open government in the state, where enforcement was spotty at best, divided among several local and state entities. If a citizen’s request for information was denied, the only option was to sue — a time-consuming and costly course of action. Now, the Board can investigate complaints and bring them to court on citizens’ behalf.

It all sounds good — except for the fine print.

State integrity news for California, from the Sacramento Bee:

Independent expenditure committees, which can raise and spend unlimited amounts, are active in more than a third of state races on the June 5 ballot, spending more than $7 million to support and oppose candidates.

The spending, which will grow as groups ramp up mail pieces, radio and television ads and in-person appeals by paid staff in the final days of the primary campaign, is expected to easily exceed the more than $7.4 million in independent spending the Fair Political Practices Commission tracked in the 2010 legislative primary contests.

Read the rest of the story at the Sacramento Bee.

State integrity news for California, from the San Diego Union-Tribune:

The California High-Speed Rail Authority’s plan to begin deleting email after 90 days is one of the worst ideas we’ve heard out of a government agency in years. We hope Gov. Jerry Brown tells the authority that’s simply not acceptable.

There is no way for outsiders to presume they know what is in the emails or what motivated rail officials to pursue the new email deletion policy.

Read the rest of the story at the San Diego Union-Tribune.

State integrity news for California, from the Sacramento Bee:

The state political watchdog agency moved Thursday to post online financial disclosure forms submitted by state judges. Judges had asked that the commission allow them to omit entirely the information they want redacted for online posting, but FPPC Chairwoman Ann Ravel said the commission felt it was important to obtain and post online a form that indicates the presence of reported interests.

"The public, when they're looking to see whether or not a particular individual, and a judge as well, has an economic interest in a matter that's before them, has a right to know that there's an issue and that the person does have an economic interest," Ravel said.

Read the rest of the story at the Sacramento Bee.

State integrity news for California, from the San Diego Union-Tribune:

We think it’s time that local school boards go beyond state Fair Political Practices Commission rules that generally limit gifts from one source to officials at local agencies to $420 a year. Instead, school and community college districts should adopt their own regulations forbidding board members or officials from accepting anything of value from contractors or potential contractors.

The usual rationale for allowing the gifts – that a contractor buying dinner for a board member or superintendent helps establish a productive working relationship – is flimsy at best. Instead, the gifts are obvious attempts to curry favor with people making decisions that could be highly lucrative for the gift-givers.

Read the rest of the story at the San Diego Union-Tribune.