In response to the recent salary scandal in Bell, California, Controller John Chiang issued an order last week requiring that all California cities and counties report taxpayer-funded salaries in more detail. Local governments currently submit summary information about their finances. As a result of Chiang's order, cities must now itemize salaries paid to elected officials and public employees beginning this fall. These reports will be due in October of each year and be posted on the Controller's website in November. Governments that do not submit their disclosure in time will be fined as much as $5,000. Salary information has always been a public record available upon request from local governments, and some already publish this information online. The Controller's website disclosure will however, create the first searchable statewide salary database.
Read more about the salaries paid to public employees in Bell here and here.