Amid the state’s budget crisis, pros and cons of having a constitutional reform in California were discussed through panels and Q & A sessions on Oct. 14 at the Sacramento Convention Center. The purpose of the conference was to present the positive and negative aspects of reforming the state constitution. The event was sponsored by Sacramento State’s center for California Studies, University of California, Berkeley’s Institute for Government Studies and Stanford’s Bill Lane Center for the Study of the American West. Speakers and discussion participants included Jim Brulte, former Republican leader of the California Assembly and Senate; Bill Hauck, CEO of the California Business Roundtable; and assemblymen Anthony Portantino, D-Pasadena. “We must pay attention to the greater good and the future of the state,” Hauck said. “And we need to restore the trust in our government.” The California Opinion Index released data that showed 51 percent of the state’s voters believe some fundamental changes are needed to the California Constitution.However, Field Research Corporation said majority of California voters oppose the reform proposals such as changing the current two-thirds vote requirement of the legislature to pass a state budget to a simple majority. The California Opinion Index also showed that 59 percent of voters think constitutional reform deliberations should be limited to operational matters of the government rather than social issues such as same-sex marriage. Before any changes are made, the politicians need to gain back the voters’ trust, Portantino said. “We have approval rate of 13 percent,” he said. “That’s because we are not doing our job.” The state was in trouble long before the country’s economy started to have problems, Hauck said. “We were in trouble before the recession hit,” he said. “And now we face years of potential state deficit.” In addition to opposing to change the two-thirds system, the majority of voters do not support the tax proposals that aim to help the current state debt. Many of the panel discussions participants agreed that a change is needed for California but not all agreed to which change to make. While he says he believes in the current two-thirds vote system, Brulte said he believes the state needs a reform. “Our system is structurally dysfunctional,” Brulte said.

Miyu Kataoka can be reached at [email protected].