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California Government Research Paper

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Devin Shephard
Political Science
Prof. Fong
March 1, 2017
California Politics and Government California is the wealthiest and most diverse state in the country. Just like the National government, California is comprised of three branches; Legislative, Executive and Judicial. The legislative branch is the largest, and is made up of the state Senate and Assembly. The Assembly consists of eighty representatives, one from each county, to serve for up to three two year terms. The California Senate holds forty Senators, who are allowed a maximum of two four year terms. The Executive branch consists of the state Governor and a group of elected constitutional officers. The final branch, the Judicial branch, is made up of California’s supreme court, …show more content…

Proposition 13 is a prominent initiative seen as having drastic effect on California, for it placed a cap on property tax, which decrease the source of the state’s revenue. A more lasting consequence of Proposition 140 is it created a two-thirds majority rule in the legislature to create new revenues. Having such stipulation hindered the legislature to efficiently do their jobs. A similar proposition that created fiscal constraints was Proposition 58, which created an “$8 Billion rainy day reserve fund, and prohibited future barrowing to cover deficits.” As we see in fiscally related propositions, they make the job of the legislators harder by mandating certain things or creating …show more content…

We see that the passage of these initiatives affected the ability of the legislature to create important policies. Proposition 140 is a reform initiative that drastically changed the fundamentals of the legislative system. This proposition halted the cycle of institutional knowledge for legislators who become experts in certain policies. They are barred from running for office once the term limit is fulfilled. In the bigger picture, legislative committee leaders are sometimes new legislators who do not have expertise in the policy. This is problematic because lack of expertise hinders the creation of innovative and effective policy. Proposition 140 created a better over turn thus, giving minorities and women the chance to represent their constituents; the point of the term limit was to repopulate the legislature. By creating this constant repopulation, it allows expertise to be achieved by legislators but it bars them to contribute into policy making once their term limit is achieved. Proposition 118 on the other hand intends to change the composition of the legislature but makes it harder for redistricting to occur. By passing Proposition 118, the legislature will not be able to represent the people of California accurately; thus, creating policy problems since enacted policies will not

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