Represent California is Public Access Democracy’s call for a constitutional assembly in California with delegates selected by lot. Written in 1879, California’s unwieldy constitution does not provide tools adequate to solve modern problems of housing, water, recall, districts, initiatives, commissions, budget, and taxation. An assembly with delegates selected by lot would incorporate a richness of …
On September 23, 2021, Linn Davis (Healthy Democracy) and Wayne Liebman (Public Access Democracy) traveled to Sacramento for the California League of Cities Conference, an annual gathering of mayors and city council members from across the state. They presented a workshop on Lottery Selected Panels as an out of the box technique to approach difficult …
Michigan voters exercised their right of direct democracy and put a constitutional amendment on the 2018 general election ballot, known as Proposal 2–Voters Not Politicians. The proposal put the power to draw election district maps in the hands of voters and created a fair, impartial, and transparent redistricting process. More information here. The redistricting reform …
PAD is continually on the lookout for models of how ordinary people can be involved in public decision making. In north America, one example is the Toronto Planning Panel, which represents a pioneer effort to engage citizens in the process of city planning. The Planning Review Panel is a 32-member advisory body consisting of residents …
PAD is currently campaigning to bring the Oregon Citizens’ Initiative Review process to California. In recent years big financial interests have used the initiative process to get propositions passed that were not in the voter and taxpayer interest. The flood of special interest, partisan advertising, while purporting to educate voters, in many cases misinforms the …
The Citizens Panel on Covid 19 is a project of Of By For. The panel consisted of 27 everyday people from all walks, chosen by lot. The panel listened to experts and participated in a facilitated deliberative process to produce a report of 12 recommendations in response to the pandemic. The panel was funded privately …
Rebuilding democracy starts from the bottom up. Too often, local panels and commissions selected by special interests bog down and become dysfunctional. Public Access Democracy is currently engaged in campaigning for better systems at local, non-legislative levels — neighborhood councils, COG advisory bodies. Next, we’ll advocate for better systems at local legislative levels: small city …
The Washington State Climate Assembly was a privately funded, randomly selected panel focusing on climate change and its impact in the state of Washington. The goal was to produce and publicize policy recommendations for reducing climate pollution, which are available here. The assembly illustrated how everyday people can engage in policy making, free of special …
