SACRAMENTO, Calif. - Nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization CalMatters today publicly launched Digital Democracy, a powerful website that gives journalists, policy professionals and the public knowledge of every dollar given to a California legislator, every bill introduced, every vote taken, and every word uttered in public hearings – along with AI-powered tools to make sense of them.
Digital Democracy brings potentially game-changing transparency to the often opaque California Legislature, whose decisions affect 39 million people and the world’s fifth-largest economy.
"This has the possibility of transforming how newsrooms cover state government. Connections that would have taken years to make can be made in minutes,” said CalMatters board member Dean Baquet, former executive editor of the New York Times. “It will mean that newsrooms struggling with staffing shortages will be able to robustly cover their legislators and most important issues."
Journalists from CalMatters and a few other outlets are already using Digital Democracy to unearth stories. Recent stories on how “Big Oil” wins legislative battles, how psychedelic drug therapy became a rare bipartisan
issue, and the multimillion-dollar battle for gambling rights were all informed by the database. Today, CalMatters published two new pieces: One on the rise in gifts and sponsored foreign travel disclosed by legislators, and one on the way dozens of bills have been allowed to die in committee without any “no” votes, including tougher penalties on fentanyl.
"Digital Democracy has already changed the way I do my job. As an accountability journalist, this tool has become a second set of eyes and ears inside the Capitol,” said Julie Watts, CBS TV California correspondent. “It’s part time machine, part Google, part whistleblower… and so much more. With a few clicks, Digital Democracy reveals the story behind the vote – or lack of a vote – and takes me directly to the audio/video I need to share that story with my viewers."
The free website allows anyone to browse the powerful database of donations, votes and hearings, and look up any of California’s 120 legislators to see data and stories about their activities, politics, policy interests, campaign finance, and personal backgrounds. Users can also see the latest state agenda on six major topics, as curated by CalMatters reporters.
One of the most powerful features is still in development: Artificial intelligence that scours the database for patterns and anomalies, and generates tip sheets that journalists can use as the starting point for stories. For example, if a legislator suddenly changes their voting pattern on a particular issue, the AI will look at the donations they received. Journalists will decide whether there’s a story, and they – not the AI – will write it.
Large advocacy organizations such as the California League of Conservation Voters and Health Access California have long created influential scorecards to rate legislators on their issues; now, smaller advocacy groups have the same information at their fingertips.
“As a journalist who has been watching the California state government for nearly 30 years, it’s clear to me that the politicians and the decision-making process have become more opaque,” said David Lesher, the CalMatters co-founder and senior editor leading the Digital Democracy initiative.
“The transparency created by Digital Democracy is about how the people we elect are weighing the special interests and the public interest when they make important decisions about our education, environment, health care, housing, transportation, prisons, taxes and more.”
The development of Digital Democracy is supported by Arnold Ventures, which supports evidence-based public policy; Knight Foundation, a leading funder of journalism, democracy and community engagement; The Lodestar Foundation, which seeks meaning from philanthropy, and CalMatters’ broad base of supporters.
Learn more:
Media contact: Andrew Sherry, Communications Partners, andrew@communications.partners, (315) 954-7571
Please let us know if you have any questions or feedback.
Thank you,
Andrew Sherry
Communications Partners
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