Constitution of California
Constitution of the State of California Constitución del Estado de California (Spanish) | |
---|---|
Title pages of the original English (left) and Spanish (right) versions of the 1849 Constitution | |
Overview | |
Jurisdiction | State of California |
Subordinate to | Supreme law of the United States |
Created | 13 October 1849 |
Ratified | 7 May 1879 |
History | |
Amendments | 514 |
Location | California Capitol Museum, Sacramento, California |
Author(s) | Monterey Convention of 1849 |
Signatories | 48 delegates |
The Constitution of California (
The Constitution of California is one of the longest collections of laws in the world,[3] mostly due to provisions enacted during the Progressive Era limiting the powers of elected officials, but largely due to additions by California ballot proposition and voter initiatives, which take the form of constitutional amendments. Constitutional amendments may be proposed by the California Legislature or by popular petition through the exercise of the initiative power by the voters, giving California one of the most flexible legal systems in the world. It is currently the eighth longest constitution in the world.[4]
Many of the individual rights clauses in the state constitution have been construed as protecting rights even broader than the
History
The constitution has undergone numerous changes since its original drafting. It was rewritten from scratch several times before the drafting of the current 1879 constitution, which has itself been amended or revised (see below).[citation needed]
In response to widespread public disgust with the powerful railroads that controlled California's politics and economy at the start of the 20th century, Progressive Era politicians pioneered the concept of aggressively amending the state constitution by initiative in order to remedy perceived evils.[6] From 1911, the height of the U.S. Progressive Era, to 1986, the California Constitution was amended or revised over 500 times.[7]
The constitution gradually became increasingly bloated, leading to abortive efforts towards a third constitutional convention in 1897, 1914, 1919, 1930, 1934 and 1947.[8] By 1962, the constitution had grown to 75,000 words, which at that time was longer than any other state constitution but Louisiana's.[9]
That year, the electorate approved the creation of a California Constitution Revision Commission, which worked on a comprehensive revision of the constitution from 1964 to 1976. The electorate ratified the commission's revisions in 1966, 1970, 1972, and 1974, but rejected the 1968 revision, whose primary substantive effect would have been to make the state's superintendent of schools into an appointed rather than an elected official.[10] The Commission ultimately removed about 40,000 words from the constitution.[9]
Provisions
The California Constitution is one of the longest in the world.
Unlike other state constitutions, the California Constitution strongly protects the corporate existence of cities and counties and grants them broad plenary home rule powers.[13] The constitution gives charter cities, in particular, supreme authority over municipal affairs, even allowing such cities' local laws to trump state law.[14] By specifically enabling cities to pay counties to perform governmental functions for them, Section 8 of Article XI resulted in the rise of the contract city.[15]
Article 4, Section 8(d) defines an "urgency statute" as one "necessary for immediate preservation of the public peace, health, or safety"; any proposed bill including such a provision includes a "statement of facts constituting the necessity" and a two-thirds majority of each house is required to also separately pass the bill's urgency section.[16]
Many of the individual rights clauses in the state constitution have been construed as protecting rights broader than the
Two universities are expressly mentioned in the constitution: the public state-run University of California and the private Stanford University. UC is one of only nine state-run public universities in the United States whose independence from political interference is expressly guaranteed by the state constitution.[19] Since 1900, Stanford has enjoyed the benefit of a constitutional clause shielding Stanford-owned property from taxes as long as it is used for educational purposes.[20]
Amendments and revisions
The California Constitution distinguishes between constitutional amendments and constitutional revisions, the latter of which is considered to be a "substantial change to the entire constitution, rather than ... a less extensive change in one or more of its provisions".[21] Both require passage of a California ballot proposition by the voters, but they differ in how they may be proposed. A constitutional amendment may be placed on the ballot by either a two-thirds vote in the California State Legislature or by signatures equal to 8% of the votes cast in the last gubernatorial election through the exercise of the initiative power by the voters. The signature requirement for constitutional amendments is among the lowest thresholds for similar measures of any U.S. state.[22]
As of 2023[update], this was 874,641 signatures
Signatories of the 1849 Constitution
Many of the signatories to the state's original 1849 constitution were themselves prominent in their own right, and are listed below.[25][26][27] The list notably includes several Californios (California-born, Spanish-speaking residents).
|
|
See also
Notes
- ^ "California Secretary of State -1849 California Constitution Fact Sheet". Archived from the original on November 9, 2017. Retrieved May 1, 2018.
- ^ 1879 California constitution. Retrieved January 3, 2018.
- ^ ISBN 978-0-7425-4836-7.
- ^ "California's Constitution is Not the Longest". SCOCAblog.com. SCOCAblog. June 24, 2017. Retrieved October 2, 2017.
- ^ Linda Greenhouse, "Petitioning Upheld at Shopping Malls: High Court Says States May Order Access to Back Free Speech," The New York Times, 10 June 1980, A1.
- ^ Grodin, pp. 16–17.
- ^ Grodin, p. 21.
- ^ Grodin, pp. 18–19.
- ^ a b Grodin, p. 19.
- ^ Grodin, p. 20.
- ^ Grodin 14–15.
- ^ Grodin, p. 267.
- ^ Grodin, pp. 170–92.
- ^ "Charter Cities: A Quick Summary for the Press and Researchers". cacities.org. League of California Cities.
- ^ Grodin, p. 193.
- California Legislative Counsel. Archived from the originalon January 10, 1997. Retrieved September 23, 2011.
- ^ Grodin, p. 37.
- ^ Leslie W. Gladstone (August 23, 2004). "Equal Rights Amendments: State Provisions" (PDF). CRS Report for Congress. Congressional Research Service – The Library of Congress. Archived from the original (PDF) on May 17, 2014. Retrieved November 2, 2017.
- ^ Grodin, p. 156.
- ^ Grodin, p. 311.
- ^ Lee, p. 1.
- ^ Grodin, pp. 1, 3.
- ^ "How to Qualify an Initiative". Elections & Voter Information. California Secretary of State. Retrieved June 5, 2023.
- ^ Lee, p. 7.
- ^ Report of the Debates in the Convention of California on the Formation of the State Constitution (PDF). 1850. p. 498. Retrieved July 24, 2017.
- ^ "California's Constitution". JoinCalifornia. Retrieved July 24, 2017.
- ^ Wayne, R. Shepard; George R., Dorman (2020). "Profiles of the Signers of the 1849 California Constitution" (PDF). California Genealogical Society. Archived (PDF) from the original on August 19, 2023.
References
- Grodin, Joseph R.; Massey, Calvin R.; Cunningham, Richard B. (1993). The California State Constitution: A Reference Guide. Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press. ISBN 978-0-313-27228-8.
- Korey, John L. (2002). California Government (Third ed.). Boston, Massachusetts: Houghton Mifflin Company. ISBN 978-0-618-12284-4.
- Lee, Eugene C. (1991). "The Revision of California's Constitution" (PDF). CPS Brief. 3 (3). Archived from the original (PDF) on December 26, 2016. Retrieved September 3, 2010.
External links
- Official current text of the California Constitution
- Records of the Constitutional Convention of 1849, California State Archives
- 1849 California Constitution, full original English text, California State Archives
- 1849 California Constitution (Spanish:Constitución del Estado de California), full original Spanish text, California State Archives
- 1879 California Constitution, original unamended full text, California State Archives
- 1878–1879 Constitutional Convention Working Papers, California State Archives