Members of the public can examine California legislative records based upon the provisions of the Legislative Open Records Act (“LORA”). Found in California’s Government Code, LORA was enacted in 1975 in order to allow public access to legislative records. LORA also limits the public’s right
Special districts are agencies that provide specialized services across the state. Special districts are created and governed by the local residents who vote to form them and each special district provides specified services for which they were created.
In general, special districts are governed by a Board
Members of the California judiciary are selected in one of two ways. Trial judges serve in the superior courts are elected by voters at an election for six year terms. The race is non-partisan. If there is a vacancy at the Superior Court level, the vacancy is filled by an appointment by the Governor.
Today’s post is on some of the unique aspects of California’s electoral system.
As you know, there are nine constitutional offices that are elected statewide and 120 legislative offices. Constitutional officers run once every four years and are limited to running for a constitutional office two
Article II of the California Constitution sets forth the three forms of direct democracy used in this state – the initiative, referendum, and recall.
The initiative is the power of the electors to propose statutes and amendments to the state Constitution. An initiative may be proposed by
Today’s post and podcast is a brief look at the Commission on Uniform State Laws. If you listened to either of the podcasts by Jon Wainwright with Texas A&M Professors William Henning or Thomas Mitchell you may already be somewhat familiar with the work of the Commission.
The
While California statutes don’t provide general canons of statutory construction or interpretation, we can look at the California Civil Code for the Maxims of Jurisprudence. They are found in Division 4, Part 4 of the California Civil Code. What are these maxims? A “maxim” is generally defined
Direct democracy is the term we in government use to describe the ability of the voters to take matters into their own hands. In other words, it is the ability of the voters to enact or repeal laws, or recall elected officials. California is one of two dozen
California’s Constitution was first adopted in 1849, just prior to California becoming a state in 1850. The current constitution was then ratified on May 7, 1879 and is the governing document for the state of California, similar to the U.S. Constitution being the governing document for the entire country.
The California constitution has been
California’s budget process continues to be and have a major impact on the state’s public policy agenda. From my vantage point, this is because numerous policy changes are enacted every year as part of the state budget. In other words, state public policy continues to be done as