How It Began :: 1880-1913 In the 1800s, railroads transformed California from a frontier to a modern society, giving a handful of railroad companies unrivaled access to government officials and the legislative process. By the early 1900s, Democratic and Republican politicians in California and across the United States would join a populist movement to limit the influence of Industrial Age monopolies like the railroads. Their rise to power ushered in the Progressive Era, led by President Theodore Roosevelt and Governor Hiram Johnson in California. Special Interests A survey conducted by the Public Policy Institute of California in 2001 found that 52% of Californians believe initiatives reflect special interests rather than those of average residents. In addition to key labor and antitrust reforms, Governor Johnson gave California women the right to vote, regulated the previously autonomous railroad companies and added three instruments of direct-democracy to the state constitution: the referendum, the initiative and the recall. Johnson believed these tools would prevent wealthy interests from usurping the people's right to both responsive and responsible legislators and laws. In the century to follow, both the people and private interests of California would learn to adapt the tools of direct democracy to their needs. All the while, the Golden State would wrestle with its own promise of prosperity. In 1913, Governor Johnson signed the Alien Land Law, prohibiting Asian immigrants, mostly Japanese, from owning property in California.

Taking Notice Direct Mail Democracy? Today's eligible voting population is more than 10 times greater than in Governor Johnson's era, a factor that makes mass-media essential to a successful campaign. view sources

A Modern Budget :: 1929-1935 The unprecedented economic crisis of the Great Depression prompted California's lawmakers, along with their counterparts in the federal and most state governments, to revise their fiscal policies. Prior to the 1930s, California's revenues came primarily from taxes on public utilities, inheritances and gifts. Local governments derived their revenues — and education funding — primarily from property taxes. But as mass unemployment ravaged the economy, property taxes cut deeper into the resources of the general population, threatening California's public school system. The Cost of Consensus "Although conventional wisdom indicates otherwise, the two-thirds vote requirement does not seem to limit higher levels of spending. In practice, it encourages it." California Constitution Revision Commission In 1933, relief came in the form of the Riley-Stewart initiative, a constitutional amendment that would reduce property taxes, shift the burden of education costs to the state and introduce the retail sales tax to California. The Riley-Stewart amendment also required two-thirds or super-majority approval from both the Senate and Assembly for each state budget to follow and paved the way for the introduction of the income tax in 1935. Over the next 70 years, California's mix of taxes and the onerous task of obtaining a two-thirds vote for each budget would repeatedly be cited as both obstacles to progress and necessary constraints on the powers of government.

Higher, Lower California's mix of taxes now leans heavily on a very progressive personal income tax, making state revenues more susceptible to the fluctuations of higher bracket wages. According to the Legislative Analyst's Office, "California's revenue boom in the late 1990s and its subsequent revenue bust in the early 2000s were primarily related to the personal income tax." view sources

The Boom Years :: 1945-1967 Between 1940 and the mid-1960s, the number of cars in California triples to 10 million while the state's population doubles at a rate of 127% — to this day, the fastest pace in state history. In 1963, California surpasses New York to become the most populous state in the union with 16.4 million inhabitants. California's university system also matures in this era, with capital outlays alone growing from $23.5 million in 1948 to $136.6 million in 1957. To accommodate this explosive growth, Californians approve a $1.75 billion bond in 1960 to build an aqueduct system that stretches from Sacramento to San Diego. The Platinum Era? The California Department of Finance projects that as the population of California reaches 40 million in 2009, the state will need to add $40.4 billion to its current infrastructure spending in order to manage this growth. Most of these long-term investments were subsidized to varying degrees by the federal government. But California's social fabric had been stretched taut. In 1964, as the Civil Rights Act was passed by the U.S. Congress, 65% of Californians rejected a law that prohibited racial discrimination in the housing market when they voted for Proposition 14. A year later, the Watts riots in Los Angeles would claim the lives of 34. The state's fiscal means had also been overextended as expenditures began to exceed taxes in the 1960s. When Ronald Reagan replaced Democrat Pat Brown in 1967, the Republican governor inherited a $200 million budget deficit and a Democratic legislature. In his first year, Governor Reagan cut spending by 10% and raised taxes by $1 billion.

view sources People Between 1930 and 1960, California's population increased by 190 percent. view sources view sources

Prop 13 :: 1973-1978 During the early 1970s, changes in national economic policy, the business cycle and an energy crisis created the highest levels of inflation ever experienced during peace-time in the United States. Meanwhile, as California's population continued to grow, housing construction declined, and the value of non-commercial property doubled in just two years. As property values rose, so did property taxes. Even though wages also increased as a result of inflation, many Californians — especially those on fixed incomes — feared they would be left destitute if not homeless by the seemingly uncontrollable rise in property taxes. Their fears were heightened by political inaction. By 1977, the state had accumulated a $2.5 billion dollar budget surplus as inflation magnified personal income tax revenues. Yet, the Legislature would fail to reach a two-thirds consensus on property tax-relief until February of 1978. By then, two citizens, Howard Jarvis and Paul Gann, had successfully campaigned for a constitutional amendment initiative to permanently cap property taxes: Proposition 13. Their measure passed and a year later Gann returned with "The Spirit of 13," Prop 4, which also restricted future government revenues and spending.

view sources Proven Strategies In the 67 years prior to Proposition 13, only 42 initiatives had been passed. After 1978, another 40 would be passed in just 18 years. view sources

Prop 98 :: 1980-1988 In the wake of Proposition 13, California would be quietly reshaped by a major shift in fiscal policy and political power. Because local governments had funded education through property taxes, that duty and discretion shifted almost entirely to the state government after 1978. The state's budget surplus quickly disappeared. As inflation settled and the economy rebounded, state revenues would eventually run into the limits imposed by Prop 4, the "Spirit of 13." Services - Taxes = Fees? By the end of 1980s, city and county governments had replaced property tax revenues with new fees and assesments — these, too, would be limited by a 1996 initiative, Prop 218. When Republican Governor George Deukmejian and a Democratic Legislature failed to agree on how to spend funds threatened by Prop 4, the $1.1 billion balance was returned to tax-payers, at an average of $71 per rebate. Faced with such unstable funding, the California Teachers Union joined California School Superintendent Bill Honig to campaign for Proposition 98, a constitutional amendment initiative requiring that at least 40% of the state's General Fund go to K-12 education and community colleges. The measure passed in 1988. Now, with restricted revenue sources, the state would also contend with mandatory spending requirements.

Taxes & Spending view sources view sources view sources view sources view sources

Prop 140 :: 1990 In 1990, the initiative process would again reorganize the way in which laws are made in California by redefining the role of the legislator. That year, Pete Schabarum, a Los Angeles County supervisor for 19 years, champions and funds a constitutional amendment initiative to limit Senate and Assembly terms to eight and six years, respectively, and reduce legislative staff budgets by nearly 40 percent. Approved by 52% of California's voters, Prop 140 reverses a 30 year-trend towards a professional legislature. One Limit Fits All? Lamenting that "rapid turnover has resulted in large numbers of freshmen legislators who are not knowledgeable about the complexities of the legislative process," the State's Constitution Revision Commission nonetheless believes extending those limits "will continue to assure voters that legislators cannot make careers out of service in either house." In 1966, a constitutional amendment had set legislative salaries on an annual basis and in 1972, another constitutional amendment had required the Legislature to meet every year. In the election's Official Voter Guide, the proponents of Prop 140 singled out Assemblymember Willie Brown, the urban, liberal, African-American Speaker of the Assembly who had played a central role in the Legislature for most of his 34 years in office, as a "legislative dictator" beholden to special interests and power brokers. By 1996, the State Assembly had an entirely new roster while the staff of the non-partisan Legislative Analyst's Office, which provides analysis and data for the state's budget process, had been cut from 105 to 50. Between 1980 and 1995, Willie Brown served as the sole Speaker of the Assembly. Between 1995 and 1998, there would be six different speakers.

Careerism vs. Professionalism view sources view sources view sources view sources

Prop 187 :: 1991-1994 In 1991, the Federal government slashes entitlement and mandatory spending by $120 billion in order to reduce a $2 trillion budget deficit. That year, consumer spending contracts for the first time in a decade. As the Cold War comes to an end, the United States will enter a short-lived but deep recession. By 1994, California's unemployment rate was 2.7% higher than the national average. In the face of dimished state and federal funds and increases in social program spending necessitated by the recession, Republican Governor Pete Wilson raised the state's retail sales and highest bracket income taxes. In the midst of economic hardships, the state's rising immigrant and illegal immigrant population is thrust into center stage. Between 1988 and 1992, Governor Wilson had awaited federal compensation for costs stemming from the state's decade-long influx of immigrants. In 1993 Wilson sued the federal government for $2 billion in reimbursements. A year later, the issue had been transformed from an intergovernmental dispute to a virtual referendum on the future of California. A 1994 Los Angeles Times poll found that 69% of Californians thought illegal immigration to be "a major problem" while 70% reported it was difficult to "tell the difference between illegal and legal immigrants." The Governor would then back an initiative to deny illegal immigrants public services such as non-emergency healthcare and education. Proposition 187 was passed by 59% of voters in 1994. It would eventually be ruled unconstitutional.

Rethinking Initiatives view sources view sources view sources view sources

The Present :: 2000-2003 In the Spring of 2000, the Nasdaq stock exchange loses 34% of its value as the Dow Jones shrinks by 12 percent. That summer, a combination of increased demand, reduced supply and illegal manipulation by several power generators drives up electricity costs in southern California and eventually produces rolling blackouts throughout the state. The state's recently deregulated electric power sector is in crisis and the nation is, once again, in a recession. By 2001, the state's record budget surpluses, a product of dramatic personal income growth in the late 1990s among top bracket wage earners, had disappeared, consumed by the growth of spending on education, health care and tax relief in years prior. Faulted for avoiding the core of the energy crisis, and in the shadow of a growing budget deficit, Governor Davis begins his campaign for re-election in 2002. Using negative television commercials, Davis targets the liberal stance of his would-be Republican challenger Richard Riordan in the months prior to the Republican primary. Nine months later, Davis narrowly defeats a relatively unknown Republican challenger, Bill Simon in an election with the lowest voter-participation in state history. In 2003, Davis struggles in budget talks with a legislature that, according to one Republican consultant, is "ideologically polarized." After three decades of redistricting, roughly 95% of the Legislature are elected in safe districts where "hardcore liberals and hardcore conservatives dominate the selection process."

Voters & Districts view sources view sources view sources view sources view sources

Sources for Figures & Charts Initiative Campaign Spending Public Policy Institute of California, "Interest Group Influence in the Initiative Process" California Secretary Of State, "Campaign Receipts and Expenditures through December 31, 1998" California Secretary of State, "A History of California Initiatives: December 2002" [PDF] California Voter Foundation, "Top Ten Contributors to California Propositions" The Personal Income Tax California Legislative Analyst's Office Percent Increases in California's Cars California Air Resources Board, "California's Air Quality History Key Events" Percent Changes in Population California Department of Finance, "E-7 Historical California Population Estimates" Bureau of the Census, "National Archives Opens 1930 Census Records to the Public" Higher Education Capital Outlays and Other Expenditures California State Department of Education, "A Master Plan for Higher Education in California, 1960-1975" Personal Income Tax vs. Property Tax Legislative Analyst's Office Michael Shires, Pepperdine University School of Public Policy Californias Initatives California Secretary of State, "A History of California Initiatives: December 2002" Gross State Product Legislative Analyst's Office U.S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of Economic Analysis, "Gross State Product, California " Per Capita Income California Legislative Analyst's Office U.S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of Economic Analysis, "Total and Per Capita Personal Income, California" Per Capita Tax Burden Public Policy Institite of California, "Has Proposition 13 Reduced the California Tax Burden?" California Legislative Analysts Office Per Capita State Spending Legislative Analyst's Office Budget Surplus & Deficit Legislative Analyst's Office Representation Ratios U.S. Census Bureau,"State & County QuickFacts" New York State Legislature Texas State Legislature Florida State Legislature Illinois State Legislature Revising the Governor's Budget Thad Kousser, Dept. of Political Science, University of California, San Diego, "Term Limits: Undoing the Professionalization of America's State Legislatures," forthcoming, Cambridge University Press Total Lobbying Expenditures California Secretary of State, "Lobbying Expenditures and The Top 100 Lobbying Firms" (Courtesy of the Political Reform Division, created in 1974 by Proposition 9) Incumbent Campaign Spending California Secretary of State, "Average Expenditures, Incumbents and Challengers, 1976-1998, General Elections California State Legislature" Rethinking Initiatives Speaker's Commission on the California Initiative Process, 2002 The California Constitution Revision Commision, 1996 Long-term Population Growth California Department of Finance, "Historical California Population Estimates, with Components of Change and Crude Rates, July 1, 1941-2002" Population Demographics California Department of Finance, "Race/Ethnic Population Projections with Age and Sex Detail" Voter Demographics University of California Berkeley, "UC Berkeley California Latino Demographic Databook" Voter Participation California Department of Finance, "Historical California Population Estimates, with Components of Change and Crude Rates: 1941-2002" CA Secretary of State, "Comparative Voter Registration and Participation in Statewide Elections: 1910 through 2000 (General Election and Primary Election" Redistricting and "Safe" Districts California Secretary of State, "Report Of Registration as of September 12, 1997" California Secretary of State, "February 10, 2003 Report of Registration " Institute of Governmental Studies, UC Berkeley "California Registered Voters 1994 General Election Gender and Party Registration by Assembly District"