Voice for Democracy

Newsletter of Californians for Electoral Reform

Fall 2005

Citizens’ Assembly on California’s Agenda

Two members of the California legislature will introduce a bill in January to implement a Citizens' Assembly process modeled on what was done in British Columbia last year.

Assembly Members Joseph Canciamilla (D-11) and Keith Richman (R-38) will co-author legislation that would create a Citizens' Assembly of two members selected from each legislative district in California, for a total body of 160 members. Its mandate would be extremely broad, and would include all aspects of how we elect both the legislature and our executive officers.

While it isn't clear what limits, if any, might eventually be placed on the deliberations of the Assembly, it would likely be able to consider IRV for executive offices, multimember districts and proportional voting, and might also be able to consider expanding the size of the legislature.

News of the Richman/Canciamilla proposal first appeared in the Sacramento Bee on December 20. For background on the Citizens’ Assembly model, see the Summer 2005 issue of Voice for Democracy, Steven Hill’s op-ed in the November 16 San Jose Mercury News, and the British Columbia Citizens’ Assembly website.

This development is extremely significant for the electoral reform movement in California. It provides an opportunity to educate the public about electoral systems and hopefully to implement meaningful reform in the not too distant future.

Supporting this bill and any other related efforts to promote the idea of a California Citizens’ Assembly will be top priorities for CfER for 2006. We are just beginning to plan our campaign in support of the Richman/Canciamilla bill, and we will need the ac­tive involvement of all of our members in order to give this bill its best chance for success. Please join our all-member conference call on January 16 (see this article) to learn more, and watch for breaking news via email.