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.
Report Adapting to Term Limits: Recent Experiences and New Directions By Bruce E. Cain, Thad Kousser Nov 10, 2004 Term limits have changed Sacramento, but exactly how have they affected the Legislature, and what can the institution do to respond? In Adapting to Term Limits: Recent Experiences and New Directions, Bruce E. Cain and Thad Kousser measure the effects of term limits and identify ways to adapt to them. Guided by the testimony of informed observers, their report offers quantitative analyses using bill contents and histories, voting behavior, budget figures, and other archival records to explore the effects of term limits. Concluding that term limits have eroded legislative capacities in unhelpful ways, they offer recommendations for restoring some of those capacities while maintaining the legislative turnover mandated by Proposition 140.
blog post California’s Quietest Reform By Eric McGhee Feb 10, 2014 California has adopted a lot of high-profile political reforms recently, including a new way of drawing district lines and a radically open primary system. But there’s another reform that is transforming the state legislature without attracting nearly as much national attention.
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.
press release PPIC Statewide Survey: Californians And Their Government, California Voters: What They Don’t Know Could Hurt Us? May 30, 2007
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.
