Current Issue: Volume 2, Issue 2 (2010)
Is a Constitutional Convention the Best Way to Reform California's Troubled Government?

Introduction

Fourteen years after the demise of the last serious attempt to revise California's much maligned Constitution, the state's deepening budget crisis and gridlocked political processes have brought renewed demands for fundamental reform. In this special issue of California Journal of Politics and Policy, editors Bruce Cain, Director of the University of California Washington Center, and Roger Noll, professor of economics emeritus at Stanford University and a Senior Fellow at the Stanford Institute for Economic Policy, revisit the issue. In this, the first of a two part series on constitutional reform, they offer research by seven leading academic experts and commentary by nine civic leaders. Their assessments probe various aspects of the problem as well as a range of proposed solutions. While there are, as one might expect, some fundamental differences in emphasis regarding how best to address the problems, the depth of analysis and breadth of ideas expressed suggest California is not without a range of options that might attract a consensus, even in this polarized and seemingly fractured political environment.

Research Articles

Commentaries