#317 / More Government

Would you like to be an Assembly Member? Or maybe even a State Senator? If you would, you might want to check out the so-called "Neighborhood Legislature" movement. 

An effort is now underway to qualify an initiative for the ballot that would radically transform California government. The Assembly currently has 80 members. The Senate has 40. The "Neighborhood Legislature" initiative would significantly increase the number of Assembly Members and Senators. In fact, the initiative would create Senate districts with approximately 10,000 persons per district. Each Assembly District would have approximately 5,000 persons. Since California currently has a population of about 38,000,000 people, that means there would be something on the order of 3,800 State Senators and 7,600 Assembly Members. 

As you might imagine, all these folks aren't going to fit into the current State Capitol. Looks like there would still be 80 Assembly Members meeting in Sacramento, along with 40 State Senators, but they wouldn't be called the "Legislature;" they would be called the "Working Committee."

I heard about this idea at last night's meeting of the UCSC College Democrats.

Who is sponsoring this initiative? A Republican from Chicago, who was a former Presidential candidate.

You can read the text of the "Neighborhood Legislature" initiative by clicking this link. 

Image Credit: 
http://neighborhoodlegislature.com/legislature/