About Prop 54.

Prop. 54 restores integrity to the California legislative process by:

• Giving the public and their elected representatives time to read new legislation before it is passed,
• Putting legislative meetings online so that all Californians can stay informed, and
• Allowing the people to make their own videos of legislative meetings and share them among the public.

More than 50 California organizations supported Prop. 54 on the 2016 election ballot. The diverse coalition in support of Prop. 54 included:

• California Association of Non-Profits, represents 10,000 non-profit organizations in California;
• California Common Cause, a non-partisan, grassroots advocacy organization that serves as a vehicle to strengthen public participation
• California Chamber of Commerce, represents 14,000 California business whose members employ a fourth of California’s private sector workforce;
• League of Women Voters of California; informs and encourages citizens to be active participants in government;
• National Federation of Independent Business/California, the Voice of Small Business in California
• League of California Cities, whose members include California city officials and leaders
• California Taxpayers Association, the state’s oldest and largest organization representing California taxpayers
• Latin Business Association, represents over 800,000 Latin businesses in California

See the full list of supporters here.

Prop. 54 was endorsed by every major California newspaper including:

• Los Angeles Times
• San Diego Union-Tribune
• Sacramento Bee
• San Francisco Chronicle
• Orange County Register
• Mercury News

See the full list of endorsements here.

There were two proponents of Prop. 54 on last year’s ballot, who have a history of successfully advocating for government reform and transparency.

Sam Blakeslee represented the Central Coast for eight years in the State Legislature, first in the Assembly and later in the State Senate. Sam served as Minority Leader during his time in the Assembly, directly negotiating major policy initiatives with Governor Schwarzenegger and Democratic leadership. Following his time in the Legislature, Sam founded the Institute of Advanced Technology and Public Policy at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, which focuses on integrating emerging technology with public policy. The Institute notably developed Digital Democracy, an online platform connecting the public with videos and transcripts for legislative hearings. Sam is also a successful business owner, managing his own investment and financial planning firm Blakeslee & Blakeslee.

Charles Munger, Jr. is an experimental physicist who crossed into the realm of government reform as the driving force behind several key statewide initiatives. Charles advocated for the passage of Proposition 14 in 2010, which gave California its current “top-two” primary system, and played an integral role in critical redistricting reform efforts. Charles was the lead supporter of Proposition 11, which successfully passed in 2008. Prop. 11 put an end to state legislators drawing their own districts by entrusting a new, independent Citizens Redistricting Commission to draw legislative districts in an open, transparent process. Charles was also the co-author and proponent for Proposition 20, passed by voters in 2010, ensuring the Citizens Redistricting Commission would also draw California’s 53 Congressional districts.

Last year, the proponents of Prop. 54 testified on behalf of Prop. 54 (the California Legislature Transparency Act) in response to SCA 14/AB 884, legislative proposals introduced at the 11^th hour in an attempt to weaken Prop. 54.

See their video testimonies below (Trouble playing videos?  Click here):

Joint Informational Hearing – Assembly Rules Committee and Senate Elections and Constitutional Amendments Committee

Senate Standing Committee on Elections and Constitutional Amendments

Senate Appropriations Committee

Assembly Rules Committee

Assembly Appropriations Committee