Voice for Democracy

Newsletter of Californians for Electoral Reform

Winter 2006

Call to Action: ACA 28 Needs a Hearing!

At press time ACA 28, the Richman/Canciamilla proposal for a California Citizens’ Assembly, had not yet been assigned to a committee for hearings.  This is in spite of widespread favorable commentary in the daily press (see this article for a few samples). The Rules Committee, which assigns bills to policy committees, needs to hear from us--loud and clear--that California voters want this proposal discussed and debated by the state legislature.

Write to the members of the Assembly Rules Committee (see the table below).  This is especially important if you live in a committee member’s district.

You should cc: Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez and Assembly Member Canciamilla’s office (both are included in the table below). Please bcc: CfER, Attn: ACA 28 tracking, P.O. Box 128, Sacramento, CA 95812.  The fax number is 1-866-331-6033 and the email is .

A good summary of the Citizens’ Assembly concept and of ACA 28 is on the New American Foundation website. See Voice for Democracy, Summer 2005 and Fall 2005, for our previous coverage.

As a rule of thumb, legible handwritten letters are better than typed or computer-printed ones. Letters (handwritten, typed or computer-printed, as long as they’re legible) are better than faxes. Faxes are better than emails. Emails are better than phone messages.   Phone messages are better than illegible handwritten letters. But individual legislators’ preferences vary, so the best approach of all is to call your legislator’s office and ask which form of communication she or he pays the most attention to.

Bob Richard, VP of Communications

Assembly Rules Committee Contact Info

Here is contact information for the members of the Assembly Rules Committee, plus Speaker Nunez and ACA 28 coauthor Canciamilla, whom you should cc:. Fax numbers are all (916) 319-21xx, where “xx” is the district number.

Here is the postal address for all assembly members.  Replace “xx” in the zip code with the district number.

State Capitol

P.O. Box 942849

Sacramento, CA  94249-00xx

Please bcc: CfER, Attn: ACA 28 tracking, P.O. Box 128, Sacramento CA 95812.  Fax number 1-866-331-6033.