A troubling influx of California dark money into state elections has subsided for the most part

From Capital Public Radio:

A recent report finds California tracks political contributions more closely than other states. The Brennan Center for Justice at New York University studied how much money is spent in state political campaigns where the donor isn’t disclosed. Study co-author Doug Keith says the center looked at six states, including California.

“Dark money in California did increase from 2006 to 2010,” Keith said. “But it actually dropped from 2010 to 2014. That was the only state in which we saw that.” Keith says one reason is a rule the state implemented in 2014. It requires any organization that spends over a certain limit to report all political donors.

The report finds only about one percent of outside spending was from untraceable donors. But about half of spending was still funneled through multiple organizations, making contributions difficult to track.