In Research

The Bill Lane Center for the Study of the North American West
Stanford University

Superlatives abound in all discussions of California. It is the most populous and the most immigrant-rich state in the American union, among the world’s largest economies, home to a globe-girdling entertainment industry, and a peerless engine of technological innovation.

Less well known is the almost unsurpassed prolixity and complexity of California’s Constitution. Originally ratified in 1879 and amended profligately since – especially through the initiative process – California’s Constitution is now said to be the world’s second-longest governing charter, exceed only by that of India.

The political system that has shaped and is shaped by California’s constitutional system is now widely perceived to be badly broken. Opinion polls reveal that Californians hold their legislature and a succession of governors in historically low esteem. Behind those attitudes lie the sorry realities of uncompetitive electoral districts, rancorous and paralyzing partisanship, chronic budget crises, deteriorating educational, transportation, and energy infrastructures, huge unfunded liabilities for public employees, looming environmental catastrophes, and the threatened loss of economic competitiveness in the dynamic global economy. 

It is time, more than 120 years after California’s last full-dress constitutional convention, to have a serious and sustained look at the constitutional structure that has led to this regrettable state of affairs. The Bill Lane Center for the Study of the North American West is in the process of organizing a multi-year project culminating in a mock California Constitutional Convention.

For more information about this initiative, please contact Dr. Tammy Frisby at frisby@stanford.edu.