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RewriteLA is a coalition bringing civic assemblies to Los Angeles’s Charter Reform process. The coalition partners—Public Democracy LA, Healthy Democracy, Metagov, and Public Access Democracy—are working together to ensure everyday Angelenos have a direct voice in shaping the city’s foundational document. Los Angeles is rewriting its City Charter for the first time since 1999. The

In February and March 2026, Public Democracy LA will achieve a historic milestone: catalyzing Los Angeles’s first full civic assembly. This marks the realization of PDLA’s primary mission—bringing sortition-based deliberative democracy to address real governance challenges in the Los Angeles area. The LA Charter Reform Civic Assembly will bring together forty Angelenos, selected through a

Demo assemblies are educational simulations that introduce participants to the deliberative process used in civic assemblies. Unlike sprint-assemblies, which address real policy issues with demographically representative panels, demo assemblies are designed as learning experiences open to anyone interested in experiencing deliberative democracy firsthand. A typical demo assembly runs 3-4 hours and walks participants through structured

Public Democracy LA (PDLA), a project of Public Access Democracy, has pioneered a model for single-day civic assemblies that demonstrate how everyday residents can tackle complex policy questions when given time, information, and structured deliberation. Sprint-assemblies differ from full civic assemblies in their compressed timeline—typically 6-8 hours rather than multiple sessions over weeks or months.

Lottery drawn groups of everyday people have been helping governments tackle difficult policy questions for the decades. The now familiar citizens’ assembly focuses on a single issue. But lottery as a democratic tool has wider application, and can also be employed to constitute standing panels, commissions, and boards. Why might a city want to use

On December 8, 2022, Public Access Democracy sponsored Public Democracy LA, “What if the People Governed?” an interactive online introduction to citizens’ assemblies and how they can empower breakthroughs in local democracy. Co-hosted by the Berggruen Institute, The American Public Trust, Hannah Arendt Center at Bard College, and Public Access Democracy, this 90-minute online teach-in brought together advocates and experts on

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

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

Rebuilding democracy starts from the bottom up. Elections are subject to a highly problematic political process. Local panels and commissions are appointed and not representative. Civic engagement in the form of public comment is usually limited to a minute or two per person. Public polling represents spur of the moment opinion, not considered judgment. Randomly