California’s Legislature Is Too Small, Reform is Needed

With this post, I hope to start a discussion about how to improve government.

Government and, in particular, government reform is of great interest to me.

I believe our local, state and national governments can be much more effective in responding to the needs and wants of the public. In other words, there is room for improvement.

Currently, I am in the process of writing my policy proposal for the Harry S. Truman Scholarship. For those unfamiliar with the Truman Scholarship, visit http://www.truman.gov/ for more information.

For the most part, the mission statement of the scholarship describes it best: “to find and recognize college juniors with exceptional leadership potential who are committed to careers in government, the nonprofit or advocacy sectors, education or elsewhere in the public service; and to provide them with financial support for graduate study, leadership training, and fellowship with other students who are committed to making a difference through public service.”

My policy proposal will seek to increase the number of seats in the California legislature from the current 120 (40 Senate and 80 Assembly) to a number greater than 120 by amending the California Constitution.

For the past couple months, I have been reading research reports, newspaper articles and editorials and talking with people about my policy proposal. So far, I have received great feedback and I would appreciate more.

On June 24th, California Connected posted an interactive flash animation named “Two’s Company, 423,395 Is A Crowd.” The animation highlights that even though population has grown in California, the legislature has not and I believe this is a major problem.

Today, I read an article in the Fresno Bee by political columnist Dan Walters titled “By the numbers, Capitol has become less relevant to California.”

Walters writes about how “the Capitol’s institutional malaise is not primarily a product of partisanship, although ideological conflict has certainly increased, but has much deeper roots. It has lost touch with reality and has become an arena in which economic and cultural interest groups squabble over relatively trivial matters, while it distances itself from the big issues, ceding them to the initiative process.”

I agree. The California Legislature has lost touch and will continue to lose touch if change does not occur. Redistricting is an issue, as exhibited by the upcoming vote on Proposition 77, but the fundamental problem lies in the small size of the California Legislature.

According to the National Conference of State Legislatures, for example, Texas has a population of a little over 20 million people and a total of 181 legislators (31 Senate, 150 House) that is approximately 139,000 people per State House representative. California, in comparison, the ratio is about 423,000 people per State House (Assembly) representative.

How could 120 (80 specifically) people effectively represent the interest of 30 million plus people?

Comments

One Response to “California’s Legislature Is Too Small, Reform is Needed”

Adam on November 1st, 2005 10:30 pm

By this logic, how can one man (the governor) represent the intrests of all 30 million californians or represent the intrests of 280 million people (the president)?

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