California Ungovernability Analysis

The legislation of the state of Arizona is bicameral, with a Senate and a House of Representatives. Each Senator and Representative is elected for a two year term. There is a limitation of four consecutive terms. After serving four terms, they must be out of office for one term before they can be reelected to that office. There are certain qualifications to become a legislator. Those seeking office in the state Senate or House of Representatives must be at least 25 years of age, be a United States citizen, reside in the state for three years prior, and live in the county for one year prior to election. The job of a legislator in Arizona is part time, due to the limited time of the regular session. Their salaries, currently at

For instance, in the late 1700’s, states had different forms of money which made taxation between states extremely difficult. This caused many states to pay with paper money, which at the time, were not worth as much as gold or silver. This resulted in the value of American currency to fall and tarnish the country with a bad economic reputation. Next, presidential primaries are run by each state with each one trying to hold their primary first. In 1992 California made the mistake of waiting too long to hold its primary which made all of its votes irrelevant. Because of this, all of the states held their primaries earlier in 1996 for fear that it may happen to them which resulted in them all being “bunched up” with California’s votes being just as irrelevant as before. Lastly, antipollution laws are important in a federal system. Donahue predicts that if each state made up their own environmental laws, then they would spare their citizens, businesses, and government agencies from “economic burdens.” This results in the pollution to “drift away” to do its damage elsewhere throughout the nation. Donahue uses these examples to explain how devolution has affected the past and how we must prevent it from happening to better the future.

The relationship between States and their localities in many cases is strained. State government gives their local governments life, they create the laws for them. However, throughout history, state governments have not treated their localities as they suppose to. That is why the National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL) stated on the state-local relation “Legislators should place a higher priority on state-local issues than has been done in the past. The time has come to change their attitude toward local governments.” They want the state governments to see localities as partners in the federal system.

The United States government system is very interesting and complexly designed. The state and federal government is a mirror of each other when it comes to the generics of the executive branch, legislative branch, and judicial branch, however, internally the state government has major differences on how the branches are conducted. Throughout this paper we will discuss the greatest difference between state and federal, which is the state cannot change or remove laws passed by the federal government but they could change how they execute the federal laws to their liking as long as it is constitutional.

To define the terminology of federalism to a simplistic way is the sharing of sovereignty between the national government and the local government. It is often described as the dual sovereignty of governments between the national and the local to exert power in the political system. In the US it is often been justified as one of the first to introduce federalism by the ‘founding fathers’ which were developed in order to escape from the overpowered central government. However, federalism in the United States is hitherto uncertain where the power lies in the contemporary political system. In this essay I will outline and explain how power relationship alternates between states and federal government. Moreover I will also discuss my

When the United States was founded, the theme behind the new government was to establish an efficient system without doling out too much power to any one person. The Founders intended to prevent a rebirth of tyranny, which they had just escaped by breaking away from England. However, when members of Congress such as Tom Foley, who served as a Representative from 1964 through 1995, and Jack Brooks, who served as a Representative from 1952 through 1994, remain in the legislative system for over forty years, it is evident that tyranny has not necessarily been eradicated from the United States (Vance, 1994, p. 429). Term limits are a necessity to uphold the Founders’ intentions, to prevent unfair advantages given to incumbents, and to

The structure of the legislative arm is simple. It comprises of the assembly and the senate just like the federal government. In California, the state assembly comprises 80 members who are elected on a two-year term. The state senate comprises 40 members elected on a four year term. The requirements for election into office are: US citizen 18 years of age, resident

John Dingell, a member of the United States House of Representatives, served fifty-nine years and twenty-one days at this position. With no term limits set for the federal legislative positions in the United States, is this representation becoming redundant? Term limits can potentially be crucial in political reform of the United States that would bring new perspectives to federal legislative positions, warrant regular federal legislative turnover, and reduce incentives for wasteful election-related federal spending. Term limits can also pervert the entire understanding of what democracy is, by substituting the people’s will with term limits that may go against what the people want. United States federal legislative term limits have previously

As a remedy to the issues in Congress, term limits should be implemented in the US Congress because they can prevent corruption and provide turnover in Congress. Throughout the years, working as a Congressman has become

Congressional terms have no limits. Controversy exists between those who think the terms should be limited and those who believe that terms should remain unlimited. The group that wants to limit the terms argues that the change will promote fresh ideas and reduce the possibility of decisions being made for self-interest. Those who oppose term limits believe that we would sacrifice both the stability and experience held by veteran politicians. They also point out that our election process allows the voter to limit terms, at their discretion. While experience and stability are important considerations, congressional terms should be limited to a maximum of two.

There are many reforms that have been discussed one being to extend the term for members of the Texas Legislature. Many feel that if the Senate is extended to six years and the House of Representative to four years it will allow the members to obtain more experience in fields and be able to not have to worry about when the next election is as often. Many critics feel that the time members are in session are too short to make any real progress, reformers would like to increase the length of legislative sessions from the current 140 days. Others feel that increasing the sessions would allow for more laws and regulations. This will be an ongoing debate where there will always be two sides to the possibility of reform which will impact the possibility of it being passed.

California's Proposition 13 had a big impact on American government and public policy because it put to vote the reduction of property taxes. This Proposition had a great impact as it swept the county and made headlines in newspapers around the world. People used this initiative process to gain a greater control over their lives. The California taxpayers stood up and said no more to excessive taxes because they were tired of out of control property taxes and losing their homes because they could not pay property taxes while the government did nothing to help them. This in turn hurt the schools, cities, counties and special districts. From this proposition, we have a few others like

Proposition 35 simply gives state and local government the flexibility to use private sector engineers and architects to complete long overdue highway, rail transit and other projects sooner, safely, and at $2.5 billion savings to taxpayers. Supporters of Proposition 35 highlight a few important points, including thousands of overdue highway and rail transit projects that must be completed to alleviate traffic and prepare us for the next quake. In order to complete these thousands of projects both Caltrans and private sector engineers and architects are needed to complete those projects. However, Caltrans bureaucrats stand in the way of accomplishing this by severely restricting government's ability to contract with the private sector. Proposition 35 is the answer to these problems. Proposition 35 is

The first chapter of the book is an introduction to the economy, politics and people of California. It encompasses the economy, politics and demography of the state for the past, present and the future. The edition features updated demographic information of the state from the census that took place in 2010. The chapter explains the state’s transition from colonization to rebellion and statehood. It discusses California’s past, including the great depression, political turmoil, infrastructure, workingmen’s party and World War II. The growth, reform and progressive change of the state to what it is today is also highlighted in the book. California previously faced budget deficits

This week’s topic focused on the executive branch of California, more importantly, we discussed how California executive branch is different from the federal government’s executive branch because California has a “plural executive”. A “plural executive” is when the power of the executive branch just doesn’t go to one person it is split between elected individuals that are within the branch (CA Executive Branch.1:05-1:26). This differs from how the executive branch on the federal level because the president gets to pick who is in the executive branch with him/her. While the “plural executive” give more power to the people and allows us to choose who we would like to see with tour state’s executive branch. This can be both a positive and negative because