State Treasurer Fiona Ma has announced an enhanced version of the DebtWatch website, DebtWatch.treasurer.ca.gov, a public source of data and documentation on the debt that the state and local government agencies issued and reported to the California Debt and Investment Advisory Commission (CDIAC), which is chaired by Ma as treasurer.

The new DebtWatch site launched on May 1 and will contain a host of new features and data, including:

A new home page designed to provide “fast stats” on California’s public debt and expedited access to CDIAC’s entire data collection.

Daily Updates – New issuance data updated daily as it is reviewed.

More Data – Issuance, annual debt transparency, Marks-Roos, Mello-Roos, documentation, and election data all available to view and download.

Enhanced Issue-level Detail Grid – A new issue-level detail grid that allows users to view, analyze, and export all types of debt data collected by CDIAC.

Visualizations – Customizable graphs and tables with the latest CDIAC data.

New Documents Portal – A new interface for viewing and downloading documents submitted to CDIAC that allows users to search, filter, and sort documents based on multiple field types.

Automated Report Summaries – Summaries of Annual Debt Transparency, Mello-Roos Yearly Fiscal Status, and Defaults-Draws reports that can be generated for specific issuers and across issuer groups.

“Giving taxpayers easy access to data and information about how the government borrows money is at the heart of public transparency,” said Treasurer Ma. “CDIAC is a fantastic resource for public issuance data and education, particularly for local government officials. The new DebtWatch site only makes them more invaluable.”

Additional DebtWatch functionality is under development and will be unveiled in the coming months. CDIAC plans to host online trainings and demonstrations of the new site shortly after the official launch.

“We now have a technology platform capable of presenting all of the debt data we collect in a clearer, more timely, and ultimately, more useful format,” said Robert Berry, CDIAC’s executive director. “The new DebtWatch is the culmination of a multi-year effort to modernize our database systems to deliver more value to our stakeholders in the public finance community and the public.”

DebtWatch was created to promote transparency in government and make it easier for taxpayers to track over $2 trillion in bonds, notes, and other public debt issued by more than 6,000 State and local governmental entities over the past 40 years. These financings were used to build important public infrastructure and provide valued public services. About one-third of the total debt was issued to refinance outstanding debt, a strategy used by public agencies to lower interest costs, improve debt repayment terms and save taxpayer money.