blog post Where California Stands with Women in the Legislature By Jennifer Paluch Nov 19, 2020 Following the 2020 election, women will account for about one-third of California’s state legislators—as they did before the election. This is a smaller share than in neighboring states.
blog post Diversity in the California Statehouse By Jennifer Paluch Dec 17, 2020 White lawmakers account for a disproportionately large share of the legislature, while Latinos are underrepresented. But the legislature has gotten more diverse in recent years.
blog post New Term Limits Add Stability to the State Legislature By Eric McGhee Nov 12, 2018 Proposition 28, passed by California voters in 2012, relaxed term limits and has provided some stability to both chambers of the state legislature.
blog post Redistricting and the Changing Demographics of the California Legislature By Eric McGhee, Jennifer Paluch Feb 1, 2023 The November 2022 election has transformed the demographics of California’s state legislature and congressional delegation, adding greater numbers of Latinos and women in particular. Newly redrawn political districts are one of the factors driving this change.
Report The Effect of Minority Districts and Minority Representation on Political Participation in California By Claudine Gay Jun 1, 2001 Benefiting in part from the creation of majority-minority districts—those in which minority groups constitute a majority of the voting population—California’s Latino and black congressional representatives have emerged as visible political actors in an institution traditionally dominated by whites. Advocates argue that majority-minority districts are beneficial because they encourage more Latinos and African-Americans to participate in the political process. Although this claim has met with considerable skepticism, so far neither the advocates nor the skeptics have offered firm evidence for or against the link between majority-minority redistricting and increased political participation. Claudine Gay’s The Effect of Minority Districts and Minority Representation on Political Participation in California provides this evidence by investigating Latino, African-American, and white turnout rates in California’s 13 majority-minority districts.
Report Political Reform and Moderation in California’s Legislature: Did Electoral Reforms Make State Representatives More Moderate? By Eric McGhee May 8, 2018 California implemented several important election reforms at the start of this decade. Each was intended in part to promote more flexible, moderate decision-making among California’s elected officials in an era of increasingly acrimonious partisan conflict. This report looks at the moderating effect of three reforms: the shift of authority to draw legislative and congressional districts from the state legislature to an independent redistricting commission; the loosening of term limits for state legislators; and a highly open “top two” primary system.
blog post The 100th Anniversary of Women in the California Legislature By Mark Baldassare, Deborah Gonzalez May 10, 2018 It has been 100 years since the first women were elected to California's legislature, yet men still vastly outnumber women in the state government.
interactive California Poverty by County and Legislative District Oct 18, 2023 These interactive maps show average poverty rates from the first quarter of 2023 for counties, congressional districts, state senate districts, and state assembly districts, according to the California Poverty Measure (CPM).
blog post Testimony: Adapting California’s Water Rights System to the 21st-Century Climate By Ellen Hanak, Brian Gray, Jeffrey Mount Feb 28, 2023 PPIC Water Policy Center director Ellen Hanak and senior fellows Brian Gray and Jeffrey Mount testified before the Assembly Water, Parks, and Wildlife Committee Informational Hearing, “How Should California’s Water Right System Adapt to a 21st Century Climate?” today. Read their prepared remarks.
blog post New Progress in California Water Rights Reform By Sarah Bardeen Dec 5, 2023 Many have argued that California’s water rights laws are sorely in need of modernization. Is recent legislation taking a step in that direction? We spoke with two legal experts to find out.
