28
California now known for budget meltdowns, not beaches or Hollywood
0 Comments | Posted by Damon Dunn in Damon Dunn
California Now Known For Budget Meltdown
Capitol Weekly
By: Damon Dunn
January 28, 2010
Around the world, California is world-renowned for our weather, pristine beaches, diversity, and famous attractions from Lake Shasta and San Francisco down to Los Angeles and San Diego. More recently, though, we’ve added another distinction to our state: historic, crushing deficits, the highest business and gas taxes in the nation, a state legislature bent on borrowing to pay for borrowed money, and a partisan gridlock unmatched anywhere in the country.
With the way our legislative districts are currently drawn, each side of the political aisle can be as stubbornly partisan and uncompromising without any fear of losing the next election. The partisans respond to special interests, not voters, and become out-of-touch with the needs of their district and constituents.
…
After decades of having political parties, politicians, and their high priced consultants dictate which voters they wanted to represent, California voters took control and approved a measure to dramatically alter the way in which legislative and Board of Equalization representation would be carried out in the future. This important vote gave life to the Citizens Redistricting Commission, an independent commission made up of five Democrats, five Republicans and four nonpartisan or minority-party members, that would be charged with drawing district boundaries for the state Senate, Assembly, and Board of Equalization.
…
Giving power back to the people can only be accomplished if all citizens participate and ensure that politicians are held accountable- those who draw the lines get to ensure that the districts are fair and that future elections are competitive, demanding responsiveness from our elected officials and cementing accountability in the process.
…
The commissioners would be in charge of hiring technical staff, conducting hearings, evaluating data, and voting on final legislative maps.
The application process ends February 12, 2010.
For more information, membership requirements and to apply to the commission, visit www.WeDrawTheLines.ca.gov, or call (866) 356-5217. You can also follow the process on Twitter at @WeDrawTheLines and tag related tweets with #WeDrawTheLines.
Updated Citizens Redistricting Commission application data is available to the public at https://application.wedrawthelines.ca.gov/statistics.
Entire Article: Citizen Commission
###
