Dec 06 2008
Should California’s Legislative System be Overhauled?
In the wake of the discussion on the budget, the lack of competitiveness in the elections, and the general divisiveness of the legislators, there has been some speculation on what would happen if California’s legislative system was overhauled.
In Berkeley (yes, I know, liberal Berkeley) a think tank has put forward the proposition to hold a Constitutional Convention and change California’s legislative system to a Parlimentary system.
There suggestion: Have one house of 320 members. 120 of those would be chosen by their districts. The other 200 seats would be alloted based on various party’s representation in California (I was unable to find how this would be evaluated). This means that the Green party would have seats - so would the Independents. Then the prevailing party in the Legislature would choose the Head of Parliment and the State’s Chief Executive.
Now - this kind of sounds interesting to me. This would provide a means of representation that would allow more than just the Democrats and the Republicans to be represented in California. I mean, it has been a long time since there was a third-party (or even fourth-party) representative in the Legislature in California. Someone that the sides would have to work with. It would be interesting.
Additionally, while I am not a huge fan of the Parlimentary system, this would provide for a more respresentative government in California. More people would be represented, and people would feel like they have more choices.
I doubt that, at the begining, anyone intended this country to have 2 parties, and only 2 viable parties. The Founding Fathers came from a country with a variety of parties. They expressly chose a system other than Parlimentary (which they were familiar with). But I doubt they ever thought two parties was all we would have.
So this system would provide more representation. It would also cost more. Unless you moved the Legislature to part-time. Members of the Legislature howl that they have too much to do. But the truth of the matter is they don’t have enough to do. Instead of working on the serious issues facing California: education and drop-out rates, water storage, infrastructure, and fiscal issues….the Legislature works on what size pens animals must have, whether 13 year olds need to be in car seats, and other ridiculous bills.
Maybe a part-time Legislature is another answer.
