California state and Local Gov

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California State and Local Government
Question from Chapter 1. Identify and discuss any five of the ten problems presented by Scarpelli that continue to plague California. Give an example of each. X
A number of problems or challenges ranging from different social and economic dynamics have, for a long time bogged the state of California as discussed by Scarpelli. The challenges thus cut across agriculture or agribusiness, energy, transport, economy, population, health among others spanning close to ten challenges. The discussion herein would, however, focus on five challenges that are manifest in Scarpelli’s discussion as influencing the state of California’s well-being.
A transportation crisis has lately taken away the pride that Californians initially had on their cars, which were once synonymous with their liberties and sense of happiness. Over time, transportation challenges in terms of congestion have led to instances of road rage by motorists, worsened by the endless periods spent on traffic jams (Scarpelli 8). A rapid increase in population and the number of motorists on the roads have similarly outpaced efforts to address the traffic congestion through expansion of highways capacity or increasing car -pool lanes. Secondly, California has no doubt a very large economy cutting across agriculture, construction, manufacturing, entertainment, finance and real estate among others. Its large population of close to 38 million thus provides a large source of consumers and revenue pool as well in the form of taxes.

Complaints have, however, emerged regarding California’s policies on taxation and regulation of the business sector with the business lobby groups, among others drawing attention to the fact that California is bereft of a pro-business environment. The unemployment rate standing at around 10 percent is similarly higher than the national rate; a personal income tax of 9.3 percent for those earning over $40000 and couples earning over $80000 is argued to be among the highest globally(Scarpelli 2).
Thirdly, California’s rapidly growing population and the expansion of its industrial development projects or programs have precipitated a water crisis. The present water-carrying infrastructure has thus not been able to meet the demands of the agricultural and heavily populated areas of Southern California and Central Valley. There is thus a need to expand or improve on the water carrying capacity of Californian infrastructure more so given the catastrophic shortages experienced during droughts. Fourthly, California’s focus on the automobiles sector of the economy, as well as the rapidly growing population, point to an energy crisis. In as much as California derives its energy from varied sources such as oil, natural gas, nuclear power and electricity, there is currently a growing need for overreliance on foreign oil, even moving forward(Scarpelli 6).
Agriculture is no doubt a significant sector of the economy of California making it through agricultural corporates farms to be the largest agricultural producer in the United States. Challenges to the agribusiness sector have, however, manifested in the form of crises over water supplies and allocations given its giant consumption, leading to industrial and labor unrest pitting environmental and urban advocates (Scarpelli 6). A monumental national debt accrued by the federal government has similarly made Congress contemplate a reduction in agricultural subsidies in terms of farmer- crop insurance and environmental conservation cover.
Works Cited
Scarpelli, Craig. California in the American System; California State and Local Government. McGraw-Hill Education, 2016. Print.
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California State and Local Government
Question from Chapter 2.Identify and discuss California’s political history as presented by Scarpelli. Give three examples. X
California’s political history can be analyzed or discussed from its beginnings, having been founded on Spanish influence, first from exploration by Portuguese and Spanish sailors. Later on, Captain Don Portola and Father Junipero Sera (Scarpelli 20) established a Spanish mission at San Diego, California. From the original objective of colonization of California and conversion of Native Americans to Christianity and subservient to Spain, the political history of California has thus evolved. Over time, the colonial subjects grew uneasy with the dominance by the Spanish occupiers who had set up a system built around racial discrimination and socioeconomic equalities. A revolt soon occurred with Spain losing its hold on colonies in America when a new regime set up in Mexico City, which exercised administrative discretion over California. Subsequent wars between the United States and Mexico over the area Texas eventually drew in California when the US claimed Los Angeles and led to California and New Mexico becoming part of the US through a treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo (Scarpelli 20).
California then joined the United States as a free state and a constitutional assembly gathered in Monterey, California to draft the State’s first Constitution. The Constitution banned slavery ,created a boundary ,a two- house legislature ,executive branch headed by a governor, judicial branch made up of four level courts, provided for separate property rights for married women, allowed for both English and Spanish as official languages and set the voting age at 21 years but juts for white males. The constitution was then passed in an almost unanimous suffrage and followed with San Jose being designated as the state capital, with Peter Burnett as the first governor.
The discovery of gold on the banks of the American River in California necessitated the need to connect California to the rest of the country given the large immigration that shortly followed. The efforts of the big four, a group of businesspersons excited by the prospects of a civil engineer Theodore Judah seeking to build a railroad and cheap labor and skill provided by the Chinese facilitated the project. The Pacific railroad was constructed, being completed after seven hard years and was instrumental in linking California to the rest of the country and limiting the travel period.
The state of California had a second constitution coming in place on the back of economic challenges bogging California such as the end of the gold rush, unemployment crisis, harsh weather conditions on agriculture, the national panic of 1873 and the negative effects of the Big Four monopoly on the Pacific Rail Road. The State’s Irish men uneasy with the Chinese presence and the exploitation of the Pacific railroad monopoly organized into a political party, The working Men’s Party, which grew even influencing the election of judicial and political officers. However, its greatest impact emerged in ushering the second Californian constitution when a third of the delegates to the constitutional convention in Sacramento were its own membership (Scarpelli 27). The constitutional convention expanded Californian legislature to an 80 membership in the national assembly and 40 in the Senate. The governor as the executive head was granted the power to call the Legislature into special sessions, the Supreme Court was similarly, expanded to what it presently is, to one chief justice assisted by six associate judges as well as providing for the creation of lower courts. A new political wave by the progressives’ movement won elections in California in 1910, inspired by a need to end the influence of the Southern Pacific Railroad monopoly on Californian politics. After emerging victorious, the progressives initiated reforms such as allowing for women’s universal suffrage even much earlier than the nation did through the 19th constitutional amendment (Scarpelli 28).
Works Cited
Scarpelli, Craig. California in the American System; California State and Local Government. McGraw-Hill Education, 2016. Print.
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California State and Local Government
Question from Chapter 3. Identify and discuss California’s election & campaign systems and the political shifts as presented by Scarpelli that are taking place in California. Give three examples .X
Primary elections conducted in California involve the respective parties nominating candidates to represent them in the general election, marking a battle for 120 state legislature seats and 53 in the state house of representatives. Other seats under consideration during primaries include two US Senate seats, four board of equalization district seats, 8 state executive offices inclusive of the governor, and the presidency (Scarpelli 35). The US constitution however in article 1 section 4 mandates states the discretion of deciding the method of conducting elections thus primaries can be designated either as closed, open, blanket or as caucuses. California has for a long time used variations of the closed primary with Democrats allowing for both registered party members and non-registered voters to participate in their primaries, unlike Republicans who limited participation to Republican registered members.
In the recent past from 2010, California has adopted blanket primaries in which all the electoral contestants, regardless of political affiliation are listed on ballot papers from which voters in the primaries make their choices known. The first two candidates are then presented for general elections in which they face each other, unburdened by political party affiliation or influence in campaigns. It is significant that the voters in primaries do not necessarily have to be registered members of political parties like the case in closed primaries. California’s method of election primary, however, contrasts with other jurisdictions of the United States, which apply the concept of a caucus. Party leadership or at times party membership hold closed meetings to deliberate on the party candidates for elections as regularly applied in the state of Iowa(Scarpelli 36).
General elections in California occur on the first Tuesday in November, after every two years, usually coinciding with the national midterm elections. The elections for the state executive offices, however, occur after every four years, coinciding with the national midterm elections as well. Alongside the rest of the 49 states and the District of Columbia, California holds the general election for President of the United States after every four year period during which voter turnout surpasses the midterm elections for governor. In line with the constitution of the United States, the President is elected through the Electoral College an arrangement in which each state is assigned a quota of electors to the Electoral College that in turn votes for the President. Initially, states selected the electors to the Electoral College but given the advancement in democratic culture over the years, the voters simultaneously elect the electors in the Electoral College during general elections (Scarpelli 37).
Works Cited
Scarpelli, Craig. California in the American System; California State and Local Government. McGraw-Hill Education, 2016. Print.
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California State and Local Government
Question from Chapter 6.Identify and discuss the different aspects of the California Judicial Branch as presented by Scarpelli with the Federal Government’s Judicial Branch. Give three examples. X
The judicial system in the state of California is somewhat similar to the United States Federal judicial or court system, given the manner of classification. Courtesy of changes over the years, the classification of the court system divides them into trial courts and appellate courts respectively. Trial courts refer to those courts that exercise original jurisdiction over a case thus granted the express authority to hear a case first, for example, the district courts at the federal level. Appellate courts, on the other hand, are granted appellate jurisdiction thus the judicial authority to review or reconsider decisions made by a lower trial court (Scarpelli 82). The US courts of appeal thus exercise appellate jurisdiction at the federal level, reviewing decisions on federal cases made in lower federal district courts. Just like the appellate courts of California, the US courts of appeal do not allow for trials but rather review proceedings from lower courts through allowing for hearings from lawyers involved. The judges in appellate courts within California can just as their colleagues at the federal appellate courts, uphold or reverse decisions made by lower courts, or alternatively refer the case back for retrial (Scarpelli 86).
Superior courts in California are the courts with the original jurisdiction over cases touching on the civil law where an avenue is provided for the settlement of disputes between various parties involved. The superior courts similarly conduct trials on cases touching on the criminal law where offenses to the public are deemed against the society and the government through the state prosecutor thus establishes and advances a case against a violator. On a comparative basis of the judicial branches of California and the Federal level, the courts in California exercise jurisdiction over civil and criminal cases touching on Californian State law. Cases touching on Federal criminal and civil law are on the other hand subjected to the jurisdiction of the United States court or judicial system (Scarpelli 82). Judges to the California State can be removed in a number of ways such a through a recall by voters in the state or through elections at the end of their term to either retain them or expel them from the judiciary, or through a review by the board focused on judicial performance.
Other means used include impeachment, where judges within various levels of the State’s judiciary can be impeached just like federal judges (Scarpelli 85). The role of the state’s Assembly in voting to impeach a judge through a majority vote, and the hearings confirmed by a two-thirds membership of the state Senate, closely compares to the role of Congress in confirming the appointment and impeachment of federal judges of the Supreme Court. However, unlike the state of California in which judges of the Supreme Court can be removed in a number of ways, judges at the federal Supreme Court can only be impeached. At the ultimate judicial apex within the State of California, above the courts of appeal, lies the State Supreme court that serves as the final decision maker except in rare circumstances when the case involved touches on Federal law or the Constitution of the United States when it moves to federal courts (Scarpelli 84).
Works Cited
Scarpelli, Craig. California in the American System; California State and Local Government. McGraw-Hill Education, 2016. Print.
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California State and Local Government
Question from Chapter 7. Identify and discuss California’s budget as presented by Scarpelli and its impact on local government. Give three examples. X
California just like many other states within the United States faces monumental economic problems compounded by an economic recession over the last decade. Unemployment remains at around 10 percent, homeowners cannot effectively service their mortgages among other economic challenges. The recent budget proposed by Governor Jerry Brown is, however, an improvement from the previous budget cuts on education, health, welfare and local government. An analytical consideration of the budget reveals that it does not comprehensively address the debt problem in the long term, presenting the challenge of dragging the local government into long-term debt and income shortages. The budget further fails to set aside funds for teachers’ retirement allowances as well as funds for ensuring healthcare cover for the state’s retirees (Scarpelli 91). The scenarios thus, portend for difficult times ahead for the local government since the funds for retirees as well as salaries for local government workers such as police and firefighters among others would have to be serviced by the taxpayers.
The budget of the State of California heavily affects not just the close to 38 million Californians but similarly, the respective local governments at various levels be they cities or counties as well. For example faced with a budget deficit and unable to adhere to the constitutionally mandated dedication of 40 percent of the state budget to public education, the state of California took away the discretion local governments had over property tax. To that effect thus, the local governments in California were denied a significant component of revenues or cash that they very much needed to facilitate their programs (Scarpelli 92).
Recent budgetary practices by Governor Jeremy Brown similarly affect the local governments, for example, the, 2011-2012 budgets that sought to borrow funds meant for local government financing, in the face of a state budget deficit. Legislation signed by Governor Brown within the same period similarly allowed the state government to withdraw or acquire money from redevelopment agencies within the various Californian cities.(Scarpelli 92).The agencies were charged with improving on ruined sections within the cities by mandating developers to construct or renovate social amenities, official buildings, stadia, shopping facilities among others. A withdrawal of the funds from the redevelopment agencies, therefore, puts a hamper on any efforts by the local governments to undertake any development initiatives, and the treat even saw various cities moving funds away from the reach of the state government (Scarpelli 93).
Works Cited
Scarpelli, Craig. California in the American System; California State and Local government. McGraw-Hill Education, 2016. Print.