CALIFORNIA POLITICAL SYSTEM This research paper

The California constitution is the result of two constitutional conventions, one in Monterey in 1849 called just before the state was admitted to the Union, a second in 1879 and, as of 1992, a total of 445 amendments approved by the voters out of the 685 proposed by the legislature and another 35 amendments resulting from 115 initiatives on the popular ballot. The Constitution is a cumbersome document, containing over 34,000 words, much longer than the U.S. Constitution. The Constitution in its Bill of Rights contains "a host of enumerated and described rights," "broader language and protection . . . than in the Federal Constitution," including such rights as an inviolate right to trial by jury, explicit guarantees of the right of free speech and the exercise of religion, a prohibition against slavery, freedom from imprisonment for debt, the subordination of the military to civilian authority and the right of privacy. A liberal document, its 1879 version restricted the employment in California of persons of Chinese descent which was later ruled to be unconstitutional by the U.S. Supreme Court.

Since the late 19th century, the Constitution has been an important tool for curbing t

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y has taken a less controversial stance; however, in Raven v. Deukmejian, it rejected Proposition 15, a ballot initiative approved by the voters in 1990, and which purported to vest all judicial interpretive powers relating to the fundamental rights of criminal defendants in the United States Supreme Court. The California Supreme Court held that such a change was a 'revision,' which could only be proposed by the legislature or a constitutional convention and could not be enacted by a popular initiative. Goldberg says this case indicates that "the California Supreme Court will stand firm against any attempt by the voters or the legislature to limit the independent force and effect of the California Constitution." (3) Hyink, Brown & Thacker said that one of the distinctive features of the decades of the 60s, 70s and 80s "has been the rapid growth of independent commissions composed exclusively of appointed officials" and [which] "exercise great power." Good examples of heavy-handed and much feared regulatory agencies have been the Coastal Commission, responsible for protection of the environment along the coast, and the Air Resources Board and Air Quality Management Districts which are responsible for reducing fuel emissions
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Approximate Word count = 2248
Approximate Pages = 9 (250 words per page)

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