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Proposition 140 In California

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Dating back to its admission into statehood, reform has been an undeniable element of California. It could even be argued that many important landmarks in our state history were defined by acts of reform, such as the implementation of direct democracy into its state constitution during the progressive era of the late 19th and early 20th century. In modern California, it could be argued that there has been no greater landmark than the passage of Proposition 140. In short, Proposition 140 was an initiated constitutional amendment that sought to reform several key aspects of its own state legislature. One such reform limited the amount the of expenditures the legislature could spend on staff. Another reform barred state legislatures from earning …show more content…

As mentioned previously, Proposition 140 was not just simply a bill to enact term limits to state legislatures but one of reducing the expenditures to the legislatives staff. Prior to Proposition 140, California had enjoyed relatively large legislative staffs and nonpartisan organizations, such as The Legislative Analyst’s Office. After the passing of Proposition 140, legislative costs of the state had to be reduced significantly, with The Legislative Analyst’s Office and the Assembly and Senate Research greatly reducing their staff, with The Legislative Analyst’s Office in particular reducing its staff from 98 to 43 during the first two years alone (Robinson, pg.8). Funding aside, term limits have also negatively impacted the legislative staff that remained. One challenge that legislative staffs now face is job instability. In contrast to the long-time incumbents of the past that would guarantee a long-term job, staff are now highly susceptible to short-term jobs that could range anywhere from a single term bosses to 14 year ones. Another challenge that staff face is their new roles in the relation with legislators. With current turnover rates of legislators, staff are now burdened with the responsibility of teaching legislators about the daily operations of the legislature. Where as in the past, legislators could rely on there long time careers as …show more content…

During the 1980s, the California legislature had built a reputation as one of the most professional legislatures in the country and for good reason. For one, the legislature enjoyed relatively low turnover rates between 1979 and 1989, with the assembly ranked in the 16th country and the senate ranked 3rd (Petracca, pg.11). But, following implementation of Proposition 140, instability was very pronounced in the in the first years particularly in the assembly. For the first 8 years after the implementation of term limits, speakers of the assembly were generally inexperienced and ineffective, lasting only for budgets and an election. It was not until the appointment of John A. Perez in 2009, that the assembly began to stabilize Another aspect of instability and ineffectualness of the assembly has been its committees. Due inexperience of assemblymen, the process of identifying flawed legislation through gatekeeping has not been used as effectively as it has in the past. Prior to term limits, the percentage of failed bills stood at around 36.3%. After term limits, it was 23.3%. So, without experienced assemblymen, bad policy is more likely to go through

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