Getting to Reform: Avenues to Constitutional Change in California

Event Overview

A conference sponsored by the Institute of Governmental Studies, University of California, Berkeley, the Bill Lane Center for the American West, Stanford University, and the Center for California Studies, California State University, Sacramento.

The demand for change in California is clear, but what is the best path toward constitutional reform? This daylong conference examines the advantages and drawbacks of various paths to reform: individual amendments, a constitutional revision commission, or a constitutional convention. We will examine California’s past experience of reform, the experiences of other states, the legal and political obstacles to reform, and the next steps necessary for concrete achievements.
Free and open to the public

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Agenda

Executive Director, Center for California Studies, California State University, Sacramento

What Do Californians Think about Reform?
This panel will hear the results of new polls by the Field Poll and Polimetrix and a roundtable discussion of public opinion on reform.

Introductory Remarks: F. Noel Perry, Founder, NextTen Mark DiCamillo, Director, The Field Poll
Tammy Frisby, Research Fellow, The Hoover Institution, Stanford University
Henry Brady, Dean, Richard and Rhoda Goldman School of Public Policy, University of California, Berkeley
Jack Citrin, Director, Institute of Governmental Studies, University of California, Berkeley
Kimberly Nalder, Associate Professor of Government, California State University, Sacramento
Moderator: Thad Kousser, Associate Professor of Political Science, University of California, San Diego, and Visiting Fellow, The Bill Lane Center for the American West and The Hoover Institution, Stanford University

What can we learn from earlier efforts at constitutional reform like the Convention of 1879, the Progressive Reforms of 1911, and the Revision Commissions of the 1960s and1990s?

Lunch and Keynote Discussion
The Honorable Jim Brulte, former Republican leader, California Assembly and Senate
The Honorable Bill Lockyer, California Treasurer
In conversation with Marianne Russ, Capitol Bureau Chief, Capital Public Radio

Recent Experiences in Other States and Nations
California is not alone in considering constitutional change. What are the lessons from similar efforts?

Peter Galie, Director, Raichle Pre-Law Center, and Professor of Political Science, Canisius College
Richard Johnston, Director, Centre for the Study of Democratic Institutions, and Distinguished University Scholar, University of British Columbia
Ann M. Lousin, Professor, The John Marshall Law School, and former Research Assistant, Sixth Illinois Constitutional Convention
G. Alan Tarr, Director, The Center for State Constitutional Studies, Rutgers University
Moderator: Timothy A. Hodson, Executive Director, Center for California Studies, California State University, Sacramento

Comparing Avenues to Reform: Initiatives, Revision Commission, or Convention?
What are the legal and political opportunities and obstacles inherent in the various approaches to constitutional change?

Christopher S. Elmendorf, Professor of Law, University of California, Davis
Pamela S. Karlan, Kenneth and Harle Montgomery Professor of Public Interest Law, Stanford University
Richard Temple, Executive Vice President, McNally Temple Associates
Moderator: Mary-Beth Moylan, Professor of Law, McGeorge School of Law, University of the Pacific

Next Steps to Reform
What’s next? Are fundamental reforms needed? If so, how can the current opportunity be seized and not wasted?

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