A century ago, Governor Hiram Johnson led an historic reform movement in California. Under his leadership California adopted many of the time honored (and often controversial) traditions of initiative, recall and referendum. It made California a leader in direct democracy, a leadership position the state still enjoys.
A century later, we are in another era of reform in California—the results of which are already paying off thanks to a strong Governor and a number of citizen reforms that have been enacted:
- The Citizens Redistricting Commission (which took the power of drawing legislative and congressional districts out of the hands of elected officials and in the hands of everyday Californians),
- The Open Primary–the so-called Top Two primary which means that the two leading vote getters in a primary advance to the general election regardless of political party.
- The Term Limits Law which allows a legislator to serve his/her entire term in one house and thus to concentrate on policy more than politics.
And then just last November, we overwhelmingly approved Proposition 2–the so-called “Rainy Day Fund’ which mandates that the state both save money and reduce debt–putting the state on a saner economic course.
One organization that has been involved in each of these reforms is California Forward.
Ca Fwd is a catalyst for a better California that works on enacting policies that can grow more middle class jobs, promote cost effective public services and create more accountability for results in government.
As he looked back on 2014, CA Fwd CEO Jim Mayer saw progress in each of the organization’s priorities.
