California GovernmentPublic Attitude Towards

Dispelling the myth that California is ungovernable

www.SovereignCA.org • Research by Marcus Ruiz Evans Page 2

You would not be off if you believed that California’s government doesn’t work, or is the worst government ever.

Many national news sources in just the last few years have said that California is “ungovernable”, while many others have said California “is the worst run state.”

We have a lot of issues here in California, and many things that are holding us back, but demonizing Sacramento doesn't solve these problems or move us forward. We believe some criticism of Sacramento is fair, yet much of it is out of context - even to the point that it's inaccurate.

Is CalIfornIaUngovernable?

As one of the top 10 economies in the world (equal to the size of Russia and Brazil), we need our leaders to act more like they are running a powerful nation on the world stage, as opposed to running an ordinary state. This means that Sacramento has to take on more responsibilities. We believe that Sacramento can do this. This white paper by Sovereign California is designed to support this idea.

We’re not saying that Sacramento runs perfectly – but the image that Californians have and the reality are seriously distorted. "SovereignCalifornia.org

www.SovereignCA.org • Research by Marcus Ruiz Evans Page 3

When Sacramento is compared to 49 other states:California’s government has one of the best track records at managing money. 1. California has the most professional legislature in the Nation. 2. Californians have the most control over their government.3. California has the least bureaucratic government.4. California ranks at the top at fighting corruption.5.

When Sacramento is compared to the Federal Government: Polls show Californians trust Sacramento far more than Washington, D.C.1. California’s leaders work together far better than Federal leaders.2. California’s Government is more transparent than the Federal government.3. California’s Government is better at balancing a budget than the Federal government.4. California’s Government is overall just as capable as the Federal government.5.

On the next pageS yOu will find a liSt Of faCtS diSpelling pOpular mythS abOut SaCramentO frOm uS at SOvereignCa.Org

Californians' belief that their elected leaders have issues with corruption, managing money well, being effective, enlarging bureaucracy, and being out of the voters control is absolutely correct. Our leaders do have these issues. HOWEVER, the belief that California is worse at governing itself than the 49 other states or the Federal Government is simply not true.

www.SovereignCA.org • Research by Marcus Ruiz Evans

Myth:

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An academic group designed to study California concluded that Californians share a common identity in seeing “success as our birthright.“

The first ever statewide poll on opinions toward state government found that Californians do believe that their government can work well; it just needs improvement. They also generally had enough trust in their elected leaders to believe that they need longer terms in office.

“Californians say change possible with dialogue and healthier system” 2011, California Forward

“The California fix: It takes a community” 2009, California Forward

Californians have no faith in Sacramento.

faCt: Californians believe in their State government.

www.SovereignCA.org • Research by Marcus Ruiz Evans

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Sacramento is the worst at managing money.

In the last decade, California ranked well in comparison to other states in regards to financial management: The Public Coordinating Council of the National Association of State Retirement Administrators has ranked public retirement system management and administration since 2002. Thirty one states make the list - almost half of the states aren't even mentioned for any sort of excellence. Of those 31 states, only 11 are mentioned more than once. And of those mentioned more than once, only Texas and Missouri are as good as California.www.nasra.org/ppcc

Report21 States’ Pension Systems Not Fiscally Sound:

A new report examines the financial health of state pension systems.By: Mike Maciag, Governing States & Localities, 11/29/12http://www.governing.com/blogs/by-the-numbers/state-pension-systems-funded-ratios-financial-health.html

“A study by investment research firm Morningstar, Inc., published earlier this week assesses the financial health of each state system, highlighting a wide disparity in the actuarial adequacy of funding levels.”

Of the map linked on the article – only seven states are doing substantially better than California at managing their money. California

does as well or better than 43 other states.

Of the six times that Money Management Letter has given out awards for excellence in investment for governments, California won in 2005, 2006, and 2007.http://www.moneymanagementintelligence.com/default.html

Federal report “Grading the states”, in 2008, said that California was excellent in: Capital planning, project monitoring, inter-government coordination, performance auditing and evaluation, online services and information. This means California does an excellent job allocating funds, ensuring that funds are spent correctly, and evaluating after the fact how funds were spent.http://www.pewtrusts.org/en/research-and-analysis/reports/2008/03/03/grading-the-states-2008-report “State Budget Update: Spring 2014” by National Conference of State Legislatureshttp://www.ncsl.org/documents/fiscal/SPRING_SBU_2014_free.pdf

California is only one of nine states, or 1/5 of the Nation that has actually spent less than its projected budget. “Table 2: Budget Agency Functions” From “Budget Processes In The States” by National Association of State Budget Officers, Summer 2008, PG 9-10http://www.nasbo.org/sites/default/files/BP_2008.pdf

California is one of three states in the Nation that has the most extensive review process for overseeing the state budget. Forty seven other states have less exhaustive review processes set up to

faCt: California has one of the best track records at managing money.

ensure budget oversight. This isn’t a new standard for California – this level of oversight goes back 20 years. Table E: Budget agency functions” from “FROM “BUDGET PROCESSES IN THE STATES” BY National Association of State Budget Officers, December 1989, Pg 10-11http://www.nasbo.org/sites/default/files/BP_1989.pdf

In 1989, California had the most extensive review process for the budget of any state in the Nation. California was one of three in the Nation recognized for excellence in Government finance by International Review in 2014.http://www.gfoa.org/award-programs/awards-excellence-government-finance/gfoa-s-2014-awards-excellence-government-finance California is one of four states in all of U.S. recognized for excellence in government finance in 2013. http://www.gfoa.org/award-programs/awards-excellence-government-finance/awards-excellence-government-finance-award-0

California is the only state to receive an award two years in a row by the International Review Organization. Center for Achievement in Excellence in Financial Reporting 2010-2014 - California won the most awards of any state every year2010 http://www.gfoa.net/cafrwinners/2010/index.html2011 http://www.gfoa.net/cafrwinners/2011/index.html2012 http://www.gfoa.net/cafrwinners/2012/index.html2013 http://www.gfoa.net/cafrwinners/2013/index.html

www.SovereignCA.org • Research by Marcus Ruiz Evans

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California has one of the few highly professional legislatures

According to a study by Columbia University, California is one of the relatively few state legislatures that are "highly professionalized." In comparison to most other states, California has one of the “more-professionalized legislatures”. Pg 58 and 63.Professional legislatures were found by the study to “possess an increased intelligencecapacity” over less professional legislatures. Pg 59“Who Blinks First? Legislative Patience and Bargaining with Governors” by THAD KOUSSER, University of California, San Diego and JUSTIN H. PHILLIPS, Columbia University , LEGISLATIVE STUDIES QUARTERLY, XXXIV, Columbia University, February 1 2009http://www.columbia.edu/~jhp2121/publications/WhoBlinksFirst.pdf a more professional legislature has been shown to be one that delivers quality governance:

“Professionalism has been used to explain a legislature’s…increased legislative efficiency.” Pg 5

“Legislators in professional chambers also obtain more success in public policy implementation.” Pg 6

“In general, more professional legislatures have a higher percentage of members identifying as full-time legislators.” Pg 6

“Explaining Public Attitudes on State Legislative Professionalism” by Lilliard Richardson, David Konisky, Jeff Milyo, University of Missouri, October 2008http://web.missouri.edu/~milyoj/files/State%20Legislative%20Professionalism%20APR.pdf

For the last 30 years, California has had the best staff support

One of the ways that the Columbia University study in 2009 measured professionalism of a state’s legislature was by the amount of support staff they had to process all of the governing information they needed to consider. For the last 30 years, California has had more support staff to support its legislature than any other state in the Union, making the California legislature the most resourced legislature of all 50 states.“Size Of State Legislative Staff: From 1979, 1988, 1996, 2003, 2009” By National Conference of State Legislatureshttp://www.ncsl.org/research/about-state-legislatures/staff-change-chart-1979-1988-1996-2003-2009.aspx

faCt: California has the most professional legislature in the nation.

Sacramento is the least functional government of all of the states.

“Table 1. Red, White and Blue Legislatures” from “full and part-time legislatures” by National Conference of State Legislatures , 6/1/2009http://www.ncsl.org/research/about-state-legislatures/full-and-part-time-legislatures.aspxCalifornia is one of the four most professional legislatures out of all 50 states.

“Governing States and Localities” by Kevin Smith, Alan Greenblatt, John Buntin, CQ Press: A division of Congressional Quarterly Inc., 2005

California’s legislature is one of the best equipped and most professional in the country.”

www.SovereignCA.org • Research by Marcus Ruiz Evans

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“In California, a state with a long, policy-specific constitution that provides for a high degree of direct democracy, they often attempt to amend the constitution instead. While the majority of political scientists wring their hands about this tendency, it undeniably gives Californians a role in shaping their constitution that voters in other regions of the county like New England lack.” Page 83

“In California, voters have used initiatives to impose some of the Nation’s strictest term limits on elected officials…”Page 88

“Unlike other judges in pure appointive systems, however, judges appointed in California serve short initial terms and are then subject to retention elections…” page 272

“California may be the best example of a state that had such a progressive reaction against machines. The state was hostile toward parties, lacked any type of patronage system, and held nonpartisan elections. Precinct and war organizations were weak, while individual candidates were assertive…California was the exception to the rule. Throughout the 1800s, most states essentially treated parties as private associations and choose not to regulate them.” page 140

“Governing States and Localities” by Kevin Smith, Alan Greenblatt, John Buntin, CQ press: A division of Congressional Quarterly Inc., 2005

California’s democracy is not at all like America’s, as conceived by founders such as James Madison...California thus stands as a rare, and perhaps unique, counterpoint to the many countries whose main problem is a lack of democracy. ”“The people’s will” The Economist, April 20 2011http://www.economist.com/node/18563638

They turn voters into legislators, since a successful initiative becomes statute. In states like California, initiatives can even turn voters into founding fathers who amend the state constitution. There are worlds of nuance in the detail. The package that California chose was especially powerful. ” “Origin of the species”, The Economist, April 20 2011http://www.economist.com/node/18548119?zid=311&ah=308cac674cccf554ce65cf926868bbc2

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the legislature does what it wants regardless of the will of the voters.

faCt: Californians have the most control over their government compared to all other states.

www.SovereignCA.org • Research by Marcus Ruiz Evans

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to support this concept above, a comparison of the size of each legislature in each of the 50 states, shows that California is in the bottom 3rd of states with the smallest legislatures. This is even though California has the largest population of any state in the Nation by far. Two-thirds of American states, which are much smaller in population than California, have larger, more bloated governments.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_U.S._state_governments

California has the lowest amount of government workers per capita in the nation, except for 4 states: Florida, Illinois, Arizona, Nevada. California state government employees number some 400,000 in a general population of over 38 million. In

other words, just 1.08% of the population are state employees. Only four other states have a smaller percentage of their population that works for the state government while 45 other states have a higher percentage of their population working for the state government. Meanwhile, the Federal government employs about 1.4% of the total national population meaning that California has a lower per capita ratio of government workers to the population than the Federal government.

This data is the result of comparing the population of all states and the Nation in 2011: “Cumulative Estimates of Resident Population Change for the United States, Regions, States, and Puerto Rico and Region and State Rankings: April 1, 2010 to July 1, 2011” from “State Totals: Vintage 2011” by US Census

http://www.census.gov/popest/data/state/totals/2011/index.html...to the amount of state government workers for each state and the nation in 2011:“Table 8.5: state government employment (full-time equivalent) for selected functions, by state: 2011” from “Book of the States 2013”, “Chapter 8: State Management, Administration, and Demographics” By Audrey Wall, Council of State Governments, Monday, July 1, 2013http://knowledgecenter.csg.org/kc/system/files/8.5_2013.pdf California was ranked the least bureaucratic state in comparison to all other states in 2000. Pg 309 “Governing States and Localities” by Kevin Smith, Alan Greenblatt, John Buntin, CQ Press: A division of Congressional Quarterly Inc., 2005

California New Jersey Virginia Tennessee Alabama Minnesota Arkansas Kansas Alaska Maine0

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Californians expect their legislators to serve almost three times as many people as legislators in other states are expected to serve. The graph below shows how many people each legislator serves for each state in America. “The Size of State Legislatures” By BRUCE BARTLETT, New York Times, December 31, 2013 http://economix.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/12/31/the-size-of-state-legislatures/

the California legislature is the most bloated bureaucracy in america.

Californians expect the most out of their legislators in comparison to any other state in America by far.

faCt: California has the least bureacratic government in the nation.

www.SovereignCA.org • Research by Marcus Ruiz Evans

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California has the most transparent laws on corruption

California has the most organized and easily searchable set of laws on fighting against corruption, meaning that it has provided the easiest to understand interface on its corruption laws. Therefore, Californians can easily understand the state's anti-corruption laws and hold their elected officials accountable.

“LINKS TO STATES’ LEGISLATIVE ETHICS AND LOBBYING LAWS” BY National Conference of State Legislatures, March 2013 - http://www.ncsl.org/research/ethics/50-state-legislative-ethics-and-lobbying-laws.aspx

“America’s Least Corrupt States” 24/7 Wall street, March 22 , 2012http://247wallst.com/special-report/2012/03/22/americas-least-corrupt-states/California was ranked the fourth least corrupt state out of 50.

“California: Corruption Risk Report Card” by State Integrity Investigation, Center for Public IntegrityCalifornia was ranked as the fourth least corrupt state in the nation.http://www.stateintegrity.org/california

"California: The story behind the score" by Carol Goodhue Shull and Robert Shull, State Integrity Investigation 2012http://www.stateintegrity.org/california_story_subpage

“States with the most lax anti-corruption laws” By Michael B. Sauter, Charles B. Stockdale, NBC News, March 27 2012http://business.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/03/27/10812551-states-with-the-most-lax-anti-corruption-laws

California was listed as one of the top three states where politicians are “honest and information readily available” to the public on their actions.California 2nd most aggressive of 50 states in pursuing convictions for corruption

"Grading the nation: How accountable is your state?" by Caitlin Ginley, Center for Public Integrity 2012http://www.publicintegrity.org/2012/03/19/8423/grading-nation-how-accountable-your-state

"The most corrupt state(s) in America" by Reid Wilson, Washington Posthttp://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/govbeat/wp/2014/01/22/the-most-corrupt-states-in-america/

Sacramento is the softest place on corruption.

faCt: California ranks at the top of fighting corruption.

www.SovereignCA.org • Research by Marcus Ruiz Evans Page 10

CalIfornIa state vs. feDeral governMent

public opinion polls often show that citizens place more trust in state and local governments than in the federal government.” pg 16

“Governing States and Localities” by Kevin Smith, Alan Greenblatt, John Buntin, CQ Press: A division of Congressional Quarterly Inc., 2005 Californians have said they trust their state elected officials far more than their federally elected officials: http://www.ppic.org/content/pubs/other/APR_CalLegislature1211.pdf2011 - 25% approve of State Legislature, 55% disapprove of Legislature (when California's government was most disliked) http://www.ppic.org/content/pubs/other/APR_Congress1211.pdf2011 - 20% approve of Federal Congress, 75% disapprove http://www.ppic.org/content/pubs/other/APR_Obama1211.pdf2011 - 43% disapprove of President Obamahttp://www.ppic.org/content/pubs/other/APR_Brown1211.pdf2011 - 30% disapprove of Governor Brown

There is a lot about how Californians don’t trust their state government, however, Californians trust their Federal government even less.

“Few Californians trust their state or federal government” by Stephen Frank, California Political news and views, 12/14/2011 http://capoliticalnews.com/2011/12/14/few-californians-trust-their-state-or-federal-government/“As to the national government, Congress should hope for approval ratings like those of the California Legislature.”

CALIFORNIA’S GOVERNMENT CAN WORK TOGETHER BETTER THAN THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT“Pew Research Center: America Is More Polarized Than Ever” By Justine Hofherr, Boston.com, June 12, 2014

http://www.boston.com/news/nation/2014/06/12/pew-research-center-america-more-polarized-than-ever/K46PCkzrWPu9rKeIKR2MLK/story.htmlThe share of Americans who express consistently conservative or consistently liberal opinions has doubled over the past two decades, from 10 percent to 21 percent.”

Republicans with unfavorable opinions of Democrats has jumped from 17 to 43 percent, while Democrats with highly negative opinions of Republicans has more than doubled from 16 to 38 percent.

“New Study Shows California Legislature Less Polarized Following Reforms” by USC Schwarzenegger Institute, February 25, 2014http://216.243.142.19/institute-in-action/article/new-study-shows-california-legislature-less-polarized-following-reforms

“Meanwhile, research shows that ideological polarization between the parties has increased in the U.S. Congress during the time period in which we show it has declined in the California state legislature.” From: “The Adoption of Electoral Reforms and Ideological Change in the California State Legislature” By Christian Grose, USC Schwarzenegger Institute, 2013 pg 2

CALIFORNIA’S GOVERNMENT IS MORE TRANSPARENT THAN THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENTCalifornia recently passed massive transparency bills: “California Voters Tell Cities That Transparency’s Non-Negotiable” by Nancy Scola, Next City, June 30, 2014http://www.publicceo.com/2014/06/california-voters-tell-cities-that-transparencys-non-negotiable/“Big transparency win by California Legislature” by Matthew Grant Anson, CA FWD, 06/14/2013http://www.cafwd.org/reporting/entry/california-legislature-

makes-big-win-for-transparencyin contrast:In the last 10 years President George W. Bush introduced redacted reports which removed information from the public that was previously available to the public. “Inside the Saudi/9-11 cover-up” By Paul Sperry, New York Post, December 15, 2013http://nypost.com/2013/12/15/inside-the-saudi-911-coverup/President Obama has been rated the least transparent in history “Barack Obama: Least Transparent President in History” by Joe Otto, Before its news, March 18, 2014http://beforeitsnews.com/politics/2014/03/barack-obama-least-transparent-president-in-history-2606158.html

CALIFORNIA’S GOVERNMENT IS BETTER AT BALANCING A BUDGET THAN THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENTCalifornia passed a balanced budget law in 2004“California Proposition 58, Balanced Budget Act (March 2004)” Ballotpediahttp://ballotpedia.org/California_Proposition_58,_Balanced_Budget_Act_(March_2004)

It’s a decade later and the Federal government still has not passed this law.“Balanced budget amendment” Wikipediahttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Balanced_Budget_Amendment

CALIFORNIA’S GOVERNMENT IS AS CAPABLE AS THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT“…today, the most professional legislatures have resources that rival Congress.” Pg 204“California’s legislature is one of the best equipped and most professional in the country.” Pg 205“Governing States and Localities” by Kevin Smith, Alan Greenblatt, John Buntin, CQ Press: A division of Congressional Quarterly Inc., 2005

Californians trust State Goverment far more than federal Government