Prop 11: Road to Redistricting Reform
By: State: California | Source: aarp.org
For too long, California's legislature has been embroiled in a hyper-partisan gridlock that has stood in the way of progress on critical issues facing the state. The failure of last year's health care reform legislation is a prime example of how dysfunctional our legislative process has become in California.
A significant root of this phenomenon lies in the fact that state legislators draw their own districts every 10 years, which allows them to essentially pick their own voters to ensure their re-election. This conflict-of-interest has removed accountability from elected officials, who have little incentive to produce results when they know they don't have to earn our votes.
In November, voters will have an opportunity to fix this broken system and hold elected officials more accountable by voting for Proposition 11, the California Voters First initiative. Proposition 11 will ensure that communities, neighborhoods and cities are not divided simply to guarantee the re-election of incumbent legislators. Specifically, the initiative states that "the commission must establish and implement an open-hearing process for public input and deliberation that shall be subject to public notice and promoted through a thorough outreach program to solicit broad public participation in the redistricting public review process."
Rather than work in a bipartisan manner to find sensible solutions, our politicians have the unique ability to avoid doing the hard work they're charged with. Instead, too many focus their energies on appealing to their narrow "base" and other special interests. It's time for Californians to take back the power to choose their public servants and to demand action and answers from our elected officials. We urge our 3.4 million members and all California voters to vote "yes" on Proposition 11.
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