The California Legislature

California is largely governed according to the principles of representative democracy through its legislature, and this assumes a legislature that is influential, representative, and independent. The California legislature has been criticized for the same things as other legislatures have, including gridlock, waste of time, waste of money, failure to heed the will of the people, and failure to offer needed leadership. The fact that these criticisms have been raised does not mean they are true or that they are descriptive of the behavior and achievements of the legislature as a whole. Americans seem constantly unhappy with their leadership and their representatives even in good times, and in bad times--especially bad economic times such as the nation and California in particular have been facing--it is easy to blame those seen as in control. At the same time, such criticisms do raise issues that need to be examined, and at various times it has been charged that the California legislature fails on all three criteria noted above--it has been described as lacking influence, as not being representative, and as not being independent. An examination of the actions of the legislature in recent years should offer some evidence for how representative the California legislature is.

California is seen as a national bellwether in many ways, and the political changes that take place in California are often precursors of what will happen elsewhere in the coming years. One of the re

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ginning in the 1960s) and that its influence was often less than might seem the case because of the ability of the courts and the people to block legislative moves through court decisions and the power of the referendum. While it might seem that the court and the people possess all the power while the legislature fails to get anything done, the legislature shows that at times it can have a stronger influence and overcome opposition. The legislature in 1984 enacted new apportionment plans and included an urgency clause that caused the bill to take effect immediately, thus forestalling any referendum attempt. However, this did not end the matter, and an initiative petition was started, though the Supreme Court this time stopped the petitioners. The legislature failed to reapportion properly in 1991, and again the Supreme Court imposed a reapportionment plan (Wilson 73-77). The legislature has obviously been ineffective in this area, which deals with the central issues of the legislative mission--influence, representation, and independence. The reason for reapportionment is to make the legislature representative, and the legislature has failed again and again to impose this value on itself. The influence of the legislature has

Category: Government - T