Update: The Oakland City Council voted unanimously on Tuesday to require all local candidates and committees to file their campaign finance reports online. The ordinance goes into effect immediately.
The bill's sponsor, Councilwoman Libby Schaff, says it will increase political transparency and save the city money. City Attorney Barbara Parker and City Clerk Latonda Simmons are also sponsoring the ordinance.
A public database of campaign finance reports will allow voters, the media and watchdogs to more easily know who is financing campaigns and provide a deterrent for pay-to-play politics, Schaff said. Files will be searchable and downloadable.
"The public will have much easier access to the information in those campaign reports, Schaff said. "It will be easy to search for donors, and it will be easy to create tools that analyze the information in the reports. That has never existed before in Oakland."
In California, 15 other cities offer electronic filing of campaign finance reports, including San Francisco and San Jose, which both require it.