California government and politics
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This article is about California government and politics.
California is governed as a republic, with three branches of government, the executive branch consisting of the Governor of California and the other elected constitutional officers, the legislative branch consisting of the Assembly and Senate, and the judicial branch consisting of the Supreme Court of California and lower courts. The State also allows direct participation of the electorate by referendum, recall, and ratification.
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Constitution
California's constitution is one of the longest laws in the world, taking up over 10,000 sheets of paper. Part of this length is caused by the fact that most voter initiatives take the form of a constitutional amendment, as the state Legislature can easily overturn any law with the governor's consent, while a constitutional amendment requires an election to be ratified.
Many of the individual rights clauses in the state constitution have been construed as providing rights even broader than the Bill of Rights in the federal constitution. An excellent example is the Pruneyard Shopping Center case.
Executive Branch
California's executive branch is headed by the Governor. Other executive positions are the Lieutenant Governor, Attorney General, Secretary of State, State Treasurer, State Controller, Insurance Commissioner, and the State Superintendent of Public Instruction. All offices are elected separately to concurrent four-year terms. Each officer may be elected to an office a maximum of two times.
The Governor has the powers and responsibilities to: sign or veto laws passed by the Legislature, including a line item veto; appoint judges, subject to ratification by the electorate; propose a state budget; give the annual State of the State Address; command the state militia; and grant pardons for any crime, except cases involving impeachment by the Legislature. The Governor and Lieutenant Governor also serve as ex officio members of the University of California Board of Regents.
The Lieutenant Governor is the President of the California Senate and acts as the governor when the Governor is unable to execute the office, including whenever the Governor leaves the state. As the offices are elected separately, the two are likely to be from separate parties; currently this is the case with Republican Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and Democrat Lieutenant Governor Cruz Bustamante. This has led to interesting scenarios, such as when Republican Lieutenant Governor Mike Curb was temporarily in power while Democratic Governor Jerry Brown was out of the state, Curb appointed judges to vacant seats and signed or vetoed bills which Brown would have vetoed or signed, respectively.
The Government Proper
As for the actual state government which the Governor oversees, it is organized into several dozen departments, of which most (but not all) have been grouped together (somewhat confusingly) into agencies to reduce the number of people who report directly to the Governor. For example, the California Department of Transportation is part of the Business, Transportation, and Housing Agency.
Many of the groupings are bizarre and counterintuitive. The Department of Managed Health Care is part of Business, Transportation, and Housing, rather than the Health and Human Services Agency. And the Department of Industrial Relations (which, among many duties, inspects most elevators in California) is part of the Labor and Workforce Development Agency, not Business, Transportation and Housing.
The Overregulation Issue
During the 2001-2002 recession, California was heavily criticized by conservatives as unfriendly to business, and one of the major reasons given was that it "overregulates" everything so much in comparison to the majority of states. The Department of Consumer Affairs has many constituent agencies that closely regulate a huge number of jobs in California, beyond the traditional professions that are regulated by all states (law, medicine, and accounting).
Examples include: acupuncturists, barbers and hairdressers, electronic and appliance repair technicians, physical therapists, family therapists, social workers, guide dog trainers, cemetery owners, court reporters, private investigators, security guards, vocational school operators, landscape architects, anyone involved in boxing and martial arts, pest exterminators, and geologists.
In 2004, Governor Schwarzenegger proposed that as part of his "blowing up the boxes" plan, nearly all DCA agencies would be consolidated into the Department — at present, each agency is separate from the others and has its own offices and staff. After much public uproar, Schwarzenegger abandoned his proposal. His critics had argued that the advantage of the current system is that the personnel of each agency have developed in-depth experience with the particular nuances of the job that they regulate; the line between professional and unprofessional conduct is not always easy to draw.
Legislative Branch of California
Main article: California State Legislature
Constitutional Basis
The basic form of law in California is a republic, governed by democratically elected state Senators and Assembly members. The governing law is a constitution, interpreted by the California Supreme Court, whose members are appointed by the Governor, and ratified at the next general election. The constitution can be changed by initiatives passed by voters. Initiatives can be proposed by the governor, legislature, or by popular petition, giving California one of the most flexible legal systems in the world. The constitution makes the California legislature bicameral, with a Senate and an Assembly.
Redistricting
California's legislature has engaged in some rather unusual redistricting practices (noted in detail further below). The result is that virtually all Assembly and Senate district lines have been drawn in a way so as to favor one party or the other, and it is rare for a district to suddenly shift party allegiance. The state government is dominated by the Democratic Party, which controls the heavily populated coastal cities in Central and Southern California. The Republican Party is stronger in the Central Valley, most rural areas, and certain conservative suburbs like Orange County.
Codification In California
California was one of the first states, along with New York, to codify its statutes into named codes (Civil Code, Code of Civil Procedure, and so on). Why this is important requires a little explanation. Prior to the 1840s, legislatures in all common law jurisdictions passed "Acts" in a completely haphazard manner and published them in the order passed. The result was that to determine what the current statutory law was, a lawyer would have to find the earliest relevant act and then trace a path from past to present through a series of acts passed at different dates to determine which rules had been expanded, overruled, or superseded. The advantage of a code is that once the legislature gets into the habit of writing acts as amendments to the code, then the official copy of the code will reflect what the current statutory law is.
Since then, virtually all states and the federal government have followed the lead of California and New York and codified their statutes. However, they have preferred to write unitary codes (all statutes packaged into a single code) divided into subject-specific titles. Today, only California, New York, and Texas have systems of separate subject-specific codes.
Many of the code sections have become famous throughout the U.S., like Business and Professions Code Section 17200 (unfair competition), Code of Civil Procedure Section 425.16 (anti-SLAPP special motion), Penal Code Section 187 (murder), and Penal Code Sections 667 and 1170.12 (both codifying the state three-strikes law). Also, the Federal Rules of Evidence were inspired by the success of the California Evidence Code.
Judicial Branch
The judicial system of California is the largest in the United States, with about 1,600 judges hearing over 8 million cases each year (with the assistance of 19,000 staff members and 400 judicial "equivalents" like commissioners and referees). The system is divided into three levels, with the Supreme Court and Courts of Appeal serving as appellate courts reviewing the decisions of the Superior Courts.
The California Supreme Court
The California Supreme Court consists of a Chief Justice and six Associate Justices, who are appointed by the Governor and confirmed by the California Commission on Judicial Appointments. Justices are also ratified by the electorate at the next general election following their appointment and at the end of each twelve year term. The Supreme Court's decisions are binding on all lower state courts.
The Court has original jurisdiction in a variety of cases, including habeas corpus proceedings, and has the authority to review all the decisions of the California Courts of Appeal, as well as an automatic appeal for cases where the death penalty has been issued by the trial court.
The Court deals with about 8,800 cases per year, although review is discretionary in most cases, and it dismisses the vast majority of petitions without comment. It hears arguments and drafts full opinions for about 100 to 120 cases each year, of which about 20 are automatic death penalty appeals.
The Supreme Court is headquartered in San Francisco, with branch offices in Los Angeles and Sacramento. It hears oral arguments each year in all three locations.
The Supreme Court supervises the lower courts through the Judicial Council of California, and also supervises California's legal profession through the State Bar of California. All lawyer admissions and disbarments are done through recommendations of the State Bar, which are then routinely ratified by the Supreme Court. California's bar is the largest in the U.S. with 200,000 members, of whom 150,000 are actively practicing.
The California Courts Of Appeal
The California Courts of Appeal were added to the judicial branch by a constitutional amendment in 1904. The courts are organized into six districts, the First Appellate District in San Francisco, the Second District in Los Angeles, the Third District in Sacramento, the Fourth District in San Diego the Fifth District in Fresno, and the Sixth District in San Jose. The districts are further divided into 19 divisions sitting throughout the state at 9 locations, and there are 105 justices serving on the Courts.
Unlike the state supreme court, the Courts of Appeal have mandatory review jurisdiction under the informal legal tradition in common law countries that all litigants are entitled to at least one appeal. In practice, this works out to about 16,000 appeals per year, resulting in 12,000 opinions (not all appeals are pursued properly or are meritorious enough to justify an opinion).
Under the common law, judicial opinions themselves have legal effect through the rule of stare decisis. But because of their crushing caseloads (about 200 matters per justice per year), the Courts of Appeal are permitted to take the shortcut of selecting only the best opinions for publication. This way, they can draft opinions fast and quickly dispose of the vast majority of cases, without worrying that they are accidentally making bad law. About 7% of their opinions are ultimately selected for publication and become part of California law.
Court of Appeal justices are selected, confirmed, and ratified just like the Supreme Court justices, although only the electorate in the appellate district vote to ratify the justices.
The Superior Courts Of California
Each county in California has a Superior Court that hears all civil and criminal cases. Before 1998, each county also had a municipal court that heard some of the cases. In June, 1998, California passed Proposition 220, which allowed the judges in each county to determine if the county should have only one trial court. By 2001, all 58 counties had consolidated their courts into a single Superior Court.
Judges are elected by the county residents for 6 year terms in nonpartisan elections. In the case of a vacancy the Governor fills the position by appointment. All Superior Court judges must have been either a member of the State Bar of California or a judge in the state for the 10 years prior to taking office. There are a total of about 1,500 Superior Court judges, assisted by 380 commissioners and 35 referees.
Because Los Angeles County has the largest population of any county, it also has the largest Superior Court. The Los Angeles County Superior Court is organized into dozens of highly specialized departments dealing with everything from moving violations to mental health. It handles over 2.5 million legal matters each year, of which about 4,000 terminate in jury trials; this works out to about 4,300 matters per judge. Its 429 judges are assisted by 140 commissioners and 14 referees.
In contrast, many of California's smallest counties, like Alpine, Del Norte, Inyo, Lake, Lassen, Mono, and Trinity, typically have only two Superior Court judges each, who are usually assisted by a single part-time commissioner.
The Power Of The Courts Of Appeal Over The Superior Courts
In California, the power of the intermediate Courts of Appeal over the Superior Courts is quite different than the power of the Courts of Appeals of the federal government over the federal district courts.
The first Court of Appeal to rule on a new legal issue will bind all lower Superior Courts statewide. However, litigants in other appellate districts may still appeal a Superior Court's adverse ruling to their own Court of Appeal, which has the power to fashion a different rule. When such a conflict arises, all Superior Courts have the discretion to choose which rule they like until the California Supreme Court grants review and creates a single rule that binds all courts statewide. However, where a Superior Court lies within one of the appellate districts actually involved in such a conflict, it will usually follow the rule of its own Court of Appeal.
Political Issues
There have been several constitutional crises over the last twenty years: The passage of term limits for the California legislature and elected constitutional officers (which was hotly argued state-wide, and debated in the Supreme Court of California); a test of the ratification process for the Supreme Court (in which a liberal chief justice, Rose Bird, was ousted); a full-fledged tax revolt, "Proposition 13," which resulted in the freezing of real estate tax rates at 1% of the property's last sale price; and a test of the state recall provision (in which Governor Gray Davis was recalled in a 2003 special election). Various anti-tax organizations remain well-funded and active.
Northern California's inland areas and Southern California (outside of Los Angeles) tend to be conservative, mostly Republican areas. Los Angeles and the Northern California coast tend to be liberal, mostly Democratic areas. Because most of the population is in Los Angeles and the northern coast, California tends to be liberal.
However, it has to be noted that until 1992, California was a Republican stronghold in Presidential elections since the 50s. The immigration of Chicanos, who tend to vote Democratic, and the flight of middle-class Republicans away to Rocky Mountains' states, shifted the balance in favor of the Democratic Party.
Among the state's divisive issues are water and water rights. Water is limited, mostly from mountain runoff (70%), wells (limited by salt-water incursion and overuse), and some Colorado River water (strictly limited by treaties with the other western states and Mexico). Waste water reclamation in California is already routine (for irrigation and industrial use). City-dwellers' property taxes pay for most water projects, but 75% of the water is used by farmers. This causes periodic water-rights initiatives and tax revolts in the cities, especially during droughts, when city water is rationed so farmers can keep fruit trees and vineyards alive. Also, most water is in the north of the State, while most people are in the south. This causes many north vs. south disputes, the most famous being the Peripheral Canal, a proposed project to divert water from the Sacramento River delta (the San Francisco Bay Area) to Southern California (Los Angeles).
Land use is also divisive. High land prices mean that ordinary people keep a large proportion of their net worth in land. This leads them to agitate strongly about issues that can affect the prices of their home or investments. The most vicious local political battles concern local school boards (good local schools substantially raise local housing prices) and local land-use policies. In built-up areas it is extremely difficult to site new airports, dumps, or jails. Graft and developer influence on local politics might be rife, since many cities routinely employ eminent domain to make land available for development. A multi-city political battle was fought for several years in Orange County concerning the decommissioning of the huge El Toro Marine airbase. Orange County needs a new airport (pilot unions voted the existing airport, John Wayne, the least safe in the U.S.), but the noise could reduce land prices throughout the southern part of the county, including wealthy, politically-powerful Irvine.
Gun control is another divisive issue. In the cities, California has one of the U.S.'s most serious gang problems, and in some farming regions, some of the highest murder rates. The state also contains many individuals who desire to keep and bear arms in defense of themselves, their families and property. The legislature has passed restrictive gun-control laws. Private purchase of semi-automatic rifles that look like military rifles is a felony. The law does not prohibit sales of semi-automatic hunting-style civilian weapons, which might be intended to be a distinction without a real difference. Pistols may be purchased and kept in one's home or place of business, but it is illegal to carry weapons or ammunition outside these areas without a concealed weapons permit, except in a locked area (car trunk) to licensed practice ranges or other legitimate uses (hunting, repair, collection, etc.) Most people find it impossible to get concealed weapons permits since they are issued at the arbitrary discretion of the local law enforcement officials. California is not a "shall issue" state for concealed weapons permits. (This information should not be taken as legal advice.) (ref. section 12000 of the California Penal Code (http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/cgi-bin/calawquery?codesection=pen))
An excellent reference is California, Its Government and Politics by Michael J. Ross.
Bi-partisan gerrymandering
After the 2000 year census, the legislature was obliged to set new district boundaries, both for the state Assembly and Senate and for Federal Congressional Districts. This would normally be expected to create a divisive political fight between the Republicans and the Democrats. Instead of fighting, the politicians of these two parties made a bargain with each other that ultimately greatly reduced the power of most of the voters of the state. It was mutually decided that the status quo in terms of balance of power would be preserved. With this goal, districts were assigned to voters in such a way that they were dominated by one or the other party, with almost no districts that could remotely be considered competitive. Instead of the democratic ideal of voters selecting their political representatives, it was the other way around, with politicians choosing the voters. In only a few cases did this require extremely convoluted boundaries, but the results are easily seen by examining the results of the 2004 election (http://vote2004.ss.ca.gov/), where a win by less than 55 percent of the vote is quite rare (five out of eighty Assembly districts, two out of 39 Senate district seats). Within the state legislature, term limits previously imposed by the voters through the initiative process may have prompted a desire of party leadership to avoid costly and risky elections in cases where there is no incumbent running. Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has proposed placing the redistricting process in the hands of retired judges, which may be placed before the voters as an citizen initiative in a special election (called by the Governor) on June 14, 2005. The special election will be held on November 8, 2005. Since the term limit initiative was intended to reduce the disconnect of entrenched politicians from the electorate and passed by a substantial majority and the gerrymandered districts are generally considered a countering reaction to this, it is speculated that an initiative changing the redistricting procedures would have a good chance of passage. Governor Schwarzeneggar has demonstrated an ability to significantly influence the initiative process through direct participation in political advertising.
The Federal House of Representatives districts are even more biased with only three out of 53 congressional districts being won with less than 60 percent majority. To some extent this reflects the coastal vs. inland and urban vs suburban political divisions within the state, but the nearly complete lack of competitiveness results in little necessity for congresspersons to consider their duty to represent other than their core supporters. This portion of the official California returns may be found here. (http://vote2004.ss.ca.gov/Returns/usrep/all.htm)
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Combined with the state's term limits, the effect on state legislative offices is to move the action from the general election to the primaries, which restricted to members of particular political parties. This excludes from effective electoral participation the great fraction of voters who decline to state any party affiliation (independents). As party primary participation tends to be largely by those with opinions and viewpoints away from the center, the effect will likely lead to a greater partisanship by holders of these offices – in only a few areas could either a Republican or a Democrat win a primary with a declaration that they are somewhere in the middle of the political spectrum. Previously, candidates would usually move to centrist positions after the primary, and would sometimes have to moderate their primary positions so that their own statements would not be used against them by an opponent in the general election.
That this situation can lead to a disconnect from the electorate is not mere conjecture; the Representative from one of the most circuitously drawn districts in California (the 11th, Republican Richard Pombo) was recently challenged about his direction of over 25 percent of his campaign funds to the campaign employment of two close relatives (his wife and his son). Rather than respond to this, his office simply refused to release any comment concerning the matter. (This technically legal conversion of corporate contributions to household income was largely enabled by the safety of his seat owing to the gerrymander.)
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Consider also, the adjoining 10th CD. In earlier elections the nearly evenly divided district was a focus of national attention, owing to its balanced electorate with a slight Republican edge in registration and a Republican advantage in electoral participation. The district had been held since its creation in 1990 by a Republican, Congressman Bill Baker, a former State Assembly member, for whom the district was designed. After several weak challenges to the seat by Democrats the election was hotly contested in 1996 by a newcomer to politics, Ellen Tauscher, a candidate with sufficient funds of her own to be competitive against the incumbent. Receiving a great amount of "grass roots" support from local Democratic clubs and votes from moderate Republican women, her defeat of Congressman Baker was considered a great victory for what many consider a "middle of the road" Democrat. Her district is now "safe" (she won reelection with 65.8 percent of the vote in 2004) and the recent congressional election drew no national attention to California.
The safest seat is undoubtedly that of Congresswoman Grace Flores Napolitano, who in her unopposed reelection in California's 38th CD obtained 100 percent of the vote with a mere 116,851 votes cast [1] (http://vote2004.ss.ca.gov/Returns/usrep/3800.htm).
The redistricting was completely successful in accomplishing its goal of the total disenfranchisement of the voters for the offices involved. There was no change of political party in any of the district elected offices at either the State or Federal level - no member of the State Assembly, State Senator, or U. S. Representative was not of the same party as their predecessor.
Congressional Representation
Many leading members of Congress are from California. Among the Republicans representing California in the House in the 108th Congress are Rules Committee Chairman David Dreier from the 26th District, Ways and Means Committee Chairman Bill Thomas from the 22nd District, Armed Services Committee Chairman Duncan Hunter from the 52nd District, Resources Committee Chairman Richard Pombo from the 11th District, and Homeland Security Committee Chairman Chris Cox from the 48th District. Cox also chairs the Republican Policy Committee, making him the 4th ranking member in the House Republican leadership. Among the Democrats are Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi from the 8th District, Education and the Workforce Committee ranking member George Miller from the 7th District, and Intelligence Committee ranking member Jane Harman from the 36th District.
Californians are the most underrepresented Americans in the United States Senate. Though Californians make up over 12 percent of Americans, Californians, like residents of the other 49 states, are only entitled to two Senators. California is underfunded by the federal government in block grant disbursements.