How does california government work

As of November 14, , there are 23 Republican trifectas, 15 Democratic trifectas, and 12 divided governments where neither party holds trifecta control. As of November 14, , there are 20 Republican triplexes, 18 Democratic triplexes, and 12 divided governments where neither party holds triplex control.

A state government trifecta is a term to describe when one political party holds majorities in both chambers of the state legislature and the governor's office. A state government triplex is a term to describe when one political party holds the following three positions in a state's government: governor , attorney general , and secretary of state. To learn more about trifectas and triplexes, click here. What's on my ballot? Elections in How to vote How to run for office Ballot measures.

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Category : Party control. Voter information What's on my ballot? Elections for the California State Senate will take place in The general election is on November 8, A primary is scheduled for June 7, The filing deadline is March 11, Elections for the California State Assembly will take place in Elections for the office of California State Senate took place in The general election was held on November 3, A primary was scheduled for March 3, The filing deadline was December 6, Elections for the office of California State Assembly took place in Elections for the California State Senate took place in A top-two primary election took place on June 5, , and the general election was held on November 6, The candidate filing deadline was March 9, The filing deadline for write-in candidates was May 22, Elections for the California State Assembly took place in The primary election was held on June 7, , and the general election was held on November 8, The candidate filing deadline was February 25, , for candidates filing with signatures.

The deadline for candidates using a filing fee to qualify was March 11, A primary election took place on June 3, The general election was held on November 4, The signature filing deadline for candidates wishing to run in this election was March 7, The primary election was held on June 5, , and the general election was held on November 6, The primary election was held on June 8, , and the general election was held on November 2, The candidate filing deadline was February 25, Section 3 of Article IV states that the Legislature is to convene in regular session on the first Monday of December in each even-numbered year to organize.

The Legislature must adjourn by November 30th of the following even-numbered year. Section 3 also provides the governor of California the power to call special sessions of the Legislature. In , the legislature was scheduled to convene on December 7, , and adjourn on September 10, In , the legislature was scheduled to convene on January 6, , and adjourn on August 31, Several state legislatures had their sessions impacted as a result of the coronavirus pandemic. The California State Legislature suspended its session, effective March 16, , through May 4, The suspension had originally been scheduled to last through April 13, The legislature adjourned on August 31, In , the legislature was in session from January 3, , through August 31, To read about notable events and legislation from this session, click here.

In , the legislature was in session from January 4 through August The formal session ended on August 31, but constitutionally the session adjourned sine die on November Major issues during the legislative session included medical marijuana, tuition in the University of California system, a proposed tax increase, internet privacy, regulation of web-based businesses, and healthcare for illegal immigrants.

Major issues during the legislative session included the biennial budget, prison overcrowding, and water bonds. Major issues in the legislative session included property taxes for education and tax breaks for students.

In , the legislature was in session from January 3 through September 9, The legislature was convened in an extraordinary session to act upon legislation that addressed the fiscal emergency proclaimed by Governor Jerry Brown R on January 20, In , the legislature was in session from January 12 to August The legislature held a special session from Aug 27, , to January 11, The legislature also held three other special sessions during the year on improving the tax system, the budget shortfall, and fiscal emergencies.

This is allowed under California's Constitution as approved in under proposition Upon issuance of a declaration of fiscal emergency, the legislature immediately reconvened and was not able to adjourn until after the fiscal situation was resolved.

The state operates on an annual budget cycle. The sequence of key events in the budget process is as follows: [16]. California is one of 44 states in which the governor has line item veto authority. The governor is required to submit a balanced budget to the legislature. In turn, the legislature is required to adopt a balanced budget.

The fringe benefit reduction applies to per-diem payments, car allowances, and medical insurance, and becomes effective on December 1, It was originally thought to be the case that the compensation commission is unable to reduce salaries of elected officials in the middle of their terms. However, in November , Jerry Brown in his capacity as California's Attorney General ruled that under Proposition from , the CCCC can "adjust the annual salaries of state officers" each year.

California does not provide pensions for legislators who took office after As of , California was one of 10 states defined as having a full-time legislature. A full-time state legislature is defined as a legislature that meets throughout the year. Proposition limited state assembly members to three two-year terms and state senators to two four-year terms, and imposed a lifelong ban against seeking the same office once the limits have been reached.

These term limits were modified in with the passing of Proposition 28, which permits a politician to serve in either or both chambers of the legislature for a maximum of 12 lifetime years. In the case of Bates v. Jones , Bates--a termed-out Assemblyman--sued in federal court to have the provisions of Proposition declared unconstitutional.

A federal court agreed with his claim, before the United States Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit ruled against him, keeping the limits in place.

California State Senate president pro tem John Burton D-San Francisco vigorously sponsored an effort in to rollback the provisions of s Proposition by putting Proposition 45 on the March ballot. Had Proposition 45 passed, it would have allowed state legislators to serve for four years beyond the limits allowed by Proposition Proposition 93, an initiated constitutional amendment supported by Don Perata was defeated Had it passed, members of the California State Legislature would have been allowed to remain in their current office up to 12 years.

Proposition 28 was an initiated constitutional amendment that was approved with The ballot measure reduced the total number of years a politician can serve in the California State Legislature from 14 years to 12 years and permitted a politician to serve in either or both chambers of the legislature for a maximum of 12 years.

The changes did not apply to any legislator who was already in office at the time that the initiative was approved; the rules governing the terms of those who are in the California State Legislature as of June 5, , were calculated under the previous rules.

There are 40 state senators. The state legislature meets in the state capital, Sacramento. The lieutenant governor is the ex officio president of the Senate.

The officers of the Senate are elected at the start of each legislative session. Prior to , state Senate districts were restricted such that one county could only hold at most one seat. This led to the situation of Los Angeles County, with 6 million residents as of , receiving times less representation than residents of Alpine County and Calaveras County, some of California's least populous counties. The Reynolds v.

Sims decision by the United States Supreme Court compelled all states to draw up districts that were apportioned by population rather than geography. As such, boundaries were changed such that equal representation was provided.

Senators serve four-year terms. The terms of the senators are staggered so that half the membership is elected every two years. The senators representing the odd-numbered districts are elected in years evenly divisible by four.

The senators from the even-numbered districts are elected in the intervening even-numbered years. Since the passage of Prop in , California senators have been limited to two terms in office. Each member represented an average of , residents , as of the Census.

Click here for a list of members of this chamber. The heavy Democratic tilt in those years was not unusual considering the chamber's history of Democratic majorities almost every year between and The table below shows the partisan history of the California Senate following every general election from to Data after was compiled by Ballotpedia staff.

Republicans controlled the state Senate with majorities from to Democrats were finally able to split the chamber in the elections, and they won a majority in After , they had almost unbroken control of the chamber through The only times when their control was threatened was when the chamber split evenly in and , both years where native Californian Richard Nixon R was elected president.

From to , Democrats maintained a consistent majority. Their low point was in , when they were brought down to 21 seats. After that, Democrats tended to keep their majority at 25 seats or more. In , Democrats captured 27 seats for the first time since , and they increased their majority to in and following the election with one vacancy. Winning 27 seats gave them a two-thirds supermajority, which is the margin needed to raise taxes, certify constitutional amendments for the ballot, and override gubernatorial vetoes.

There are 80 members to the Assembly, representing a relatively equal amount of constituencies. House of Representatives has a larger ratio. From to , the California Assembly stayed reliably blue, with Democrats ceding the majority just once as a consequence of the election.

The heavy Democratic tilt in those years was in line with the chamber's history going back to the s, where Democrats first established their majority that mostly stayed intact afterward. The table below shows the partisan history of the California Assembly following every general election from to Republicans controlled the Assembly from to But in there began an almost unbroken period of Democratic control through Before , the only election where Republicans won a majority was , the same year that Republican Richard Nixon became the first native Californian to be elected president.

Republicans next won a numerical majority in , an election where Republicans also took control of the U. House after decades of Democratic control. However, Republicans did not maintain control of the chamber after the elections. Defections from their majority gave a Democratic-led coalition control of the chamber until January Democrats retook a majority in the elections. Between then and , they increased their majority into the 40s and 50s, reaching 60 seats in and maintaining them following the election.

In , Democrats won a majority despite national Republican gains. In , they won 56 seats, which was two more than needed for a two-thirds majority. This is the margin needed to raise taxes, certify constitutional amendments for the ballot, and override gubernatorial vetoes. Democrats briefly lost their two-thirds majority in when they won 52 seats. They won it back in by gaining a edge over Republicans. State legislatures can override governors' vetoes.

Depending on the state, this can be done during the regular legislative session, in a special session following the adjournment of the regular session, or during the next legislative session. The rules for legislative overrides of gubernatorial vetoes in California are listed below. How many legislators are required to vote for an override?

Two-thirds of members in both chambers. The California State Senate is one of 16 state senates that was Democratic for more than 80 percent of the years between During the final three years of the study, California was under Democratic trifectas.

Across the country, there were Democratic and Republican state senates from to The California State House is one of 18 state Houses that was Democratic for more than 80 percent of the years between Across the country, there were Democratic and Republican State Houses of Representatives from to Over the course of the year study, state governments became increasingly more partisan. At the outset of the study period , 18 of the 49 states with partisan legislatures had single-party trifectas and 31 states had divided governments.

In , only 13 states had divided governments, while single-party trifectas held sway in 36 states, the most in the 22 years studied. The chart below shows the partisan composition of the Office of the Governor of California , the California State Senate and the California House of Representatives from to The chart below depicts the partisanship of the California state government and the state's SQLI ranking for the years studied.

For the SQLI, the states were ranked from , with 1 being the best and 50 the worst. California has never had a Republican trifecta, but did have Democratic trifectas between the years and and again after to the present. California fell steadily in the SQLI ranking until finally reaching the bottom in The state reached its highest ranking 28th in and , first under divided government and then under a Democratic trifecta.

Except for the years and , the California legislature has been consistently under Democratic control. Although the California Constitution establishes the right of California citizens to directly legislate vian initiated constitutional amendments and initiated state statutes , the state legislature develops the ground rules for most of the details of the laws governing the initiative process in California.

Through these rules, it can make the initiative process easier or harder, and less expensive or more expensive. The state legislature can also propose constitutional changes to the initiative process.

Several such changes were proposed in the session of the state legislature. The sponsors of these changes hope to gain the approval of enough of their fellow legislators to qualify their proposed changes for the ballot. The California State Legislature has the authority to refer statewide ballot propositions to the ballot; these can be:. In every state but Delaware, voter approval is required to enact a constitutional amendment. In each state, the legislature has a process for referring constitutional amendments before voters.

In 18 states, initiated constitutional amendments can be put on the ballot through a signature petition drive.

There are also many other types of statewide measures. The California Constitution can be amended in these ways:. What's on my ballot?