Center for Governmental Studies

From Ballotpedia

The Center for Governmental Studies (CGS) is a California non-profit organization that was founded in 1983. According to the group's website, it "creates innovative political and media solutions to help individuals participate more effectively in their communities and governments."

Tracy Westen is the group's Chief Executive Officer and Robert Stern is its President.

Although CGS prepares studies on a number of different topics related to California governance, it has a special interest in California's ballot initiative process. This interest has expressed itself in two main ways, through:

• Publication of several influential reports and recommendations
• Preparation of "Voter Video". These are short videos that explain particular ballot propositions.^[1]

Initiative publications

CGS makes available or has published these studies on the initiative process:

• "Democracy by Initiative: Shaping California's Fourth Branch of Government" (2008, the 2nd edition of this publication)^[2]
• "Online Signature Gathering for California Initiatives" (2008)^[3]
• "Democracy by Initiative: Shaping California's Fourth Branch of Government" (1992)^[4]
• "To Govern Ourselves: Ballot Initiatives in the Los Angeles Area" (1992)^[5]

In November 2009, Robert Stern of CGS told the Senate and Assembly Select Committees on Improving State Government at a hearing in Oakland that "Most of the ballot-box budgeting has come from you." According to the CGS, of the 68 ballot measures approved between 1988 and 2009 that had a price tag attached to them, 51 (or 75%) were legislatively-referred constitutional amendments or legislatively-referred state statutes. The legislatively-referred measures cost $9.8 billion versus $2.05 billion for citizen-initiated measures, according to the CGS.^[6]

Donors

CGS discloses a list of its donors on its website.^[7]

The list includes organizations that are generally identified as leaning to the left in their political views, such as the ARCA Foundation, and the Joyce Foundation. The list also includes the Open Society Institute, a group funded by George Soros, who has been a significant donor to California ballot proposition campaigns over the years.

See also

• Expensive ballot propositions? Blame the legislature, says reform group

External links

• Center for Governmental Studies
• Video Voter

References

1. ↑ "Video Voter"
2. ↑ "Democracy by Initiative: Shaping California's Fourth Branch of Government", 2nd Edition
3. ↑ "Online Signature Gathering for California Initiatives"
4. ↑ "Democracy by Initiative: Shaping California's Fourth Branch of Government" (1992)
5. ↑ "To Govern Ourselves: Ballot Initiatives in the Los Angeles Area" (1992)
6. ↑ Contra Costa Times, "Legislators, not citizens, put pricey measures on the ballot", November 18, 2009
7. ↑ List of funders of the Center for Governmental Studies

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