Reforming California: Political Patchwork versus a Constitutional Convention

Abstract

With constitutional reform fever seeming to emerge from nowhere in the summer and fall of 2009, it looked as though Californians would soon get the opportunity to vote on calling a state constitutional convention. Almost as rapidly, the fever waned, and with it went the potential for a convention. For those who follow California politics, the abrupt change of political winds is nothing new. But that tailspin did manage to generate a revival of interest in restructuring California government for the 21st century and beyond. The state now lumbers along with an 1879