The Voices of Reform Project - Commonwealth Club

MAKING CALIFORNIA WORK
A Multi-Newspaper Editorial Board Partnership
Exploring How State Government Can Be More
Effective and Responsive

A partnership of Voices of Reform and:

Making California Work is the product of a landmark collaboration involving the editorial boards of ten major California newspapers. Coordinated by Voices of Reform, the effort brings editorial board members together with issue experts representing a diverse range of views on topics related to state governance.

Newspapers take turns hosting roundtables and have the option of publishing material based on the discussions. Voices of Reform also makes the abridged transcripts from roundtables available below.

The resulting editorials, articles and transcripts provide in-depth analyses of the state of governance in California.

2006 ROUNDTABLES

JUNE 21, 2006
CALIFORNIA’s FLAWED FISCAL SYSTEM: ARE LOCAL TAXES MEETING LOCAL NEEDS?

Host	The Commonwealth Club
Panelists	HENRY GARDNER , Executive Director, Association of Bay Area Governments
	JOHN LAIRD , Member, California State Assembly
	STEVE SZALAY , Executive Director, California State Sheriff’s Association
	BETTY YEE , Acting Board Member, Board of Equalization
	FRED SILVA , Senior Advisor, Public Policy Institute of California
Publications	Modesto Bee: Tax reform requires hard look at Prop.13 9/5/06
Resources	Audio [MP3]
	Transcript [pdf]
	Spanish Translation [pdf]
	Panelist Bios [pdf]
	California Channel Video

JANUARY 19, 2006
REDISTRICTING REFORM IN 2006

Host	Sacramento Bee
Panelists	EDWARD J. COSTA , CEO, People’s Advocate
	JEANNINE ENGLISH , Policy Advisor, AARP
	FRANCISCO ESTRADA , Director of Public Policy in Sacramento, MALDEF
	KATHAY FENG, Executive Director, California Common Cause
	JAY HANSEN , Legislative & Political Director, State Building and Construction Trades Council
	JACKIE JACOBBERGER, President, League of Women Voters of California
	DOUGLAS JOHNSON, Fellow, Rose Institute, Claremont McKenna College
Resources	Transcript [pdf]
	Panelist Bios [pdf]

2005 ROUNDTABLES

March through October 2005: A series of roundtable discussions addressing the fundamentals of state governance.

OCTOBER 19 2005
FORGING A NEW CALIFORNIA
Host	All Partners
Panelists	MARK BALDASSARE, Director of Research, Public Policy Institute of California JEANNINE ENGLISH, Former Executive Director, California Little Hoover Commission ANTONIA HERNANDEZ, Executive Director, California Community Foundation EVA PATERSON, Founder and President, Equal Justice Society THE HONORABLE KEITH RICHMAN, Member, California State Assembly PETER SCHRAG, Journalist and Author THE HONORABLE LEON PANETTA, Director, the Leon & Sylvia Panetta Institute for Public Policy, former Member of Congress and White House Chief of Staff [Moderator]
Publications	Fresno Bee: Public must demand that politicians fix state's woes 10/23/2005 San Diego Union-Tribune: (transcript published) 11/27/2005
Broadcasts	The California Channel (10/21/05, 10/24/05)
Resources	Abridged Transcript [pdf] Panelist Bios (includes panelists for all Roundtables) [pdf]

SEPTEMBER 15 2005
CIVIC PARTICIPATION AND CALIFORNIA'S NEW DEMOGRAPHICS
Host	Vida en el Valle
Panelists	THE HONORABLE JUAN ARAMBULA, Member, California State Assembly LUIS ARTEAGA, Executive Director, Latino Issues Forum ROSALIND GOLD, Sr. Director of Policy, Research and Advocacy, National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials (NALEO) KIMIKO KELLY, Research Analyst, Asian Pacific American Legal Center ROSARIO MARIN, Chairwoman, California Integrated Waste Management Board CAROL WHITESIDE, Founder and President, Great Valley Center
Publications	San Diego Union-Tribune: (transcript published) 10/23/2005 Fresno Bee: (transcript published) 12/4/2005
Broadcasts	Valley Public Television (10/24/05, 10/30/05)
Resources	Abridged Transcript [pdf] Panelist Bios (includes panelists for all Roundtables) [pdf]

JULY 27 2005
CAMPAIGN FINANCING IN CALIFORNIA
Host	La Opinion
Panelists	REBECCA AVILA, Associate Dean for Administration, USC Annenberg School for Communication; former Executive Director, Los Angeles City Ethics Commission THE HONORABLE ERIC GARCETTI, City Councilmember, Los Angeles City Council SUSAN LERNER, Executive Director, California Clean Money Campaign THE HONORABLE DAVID LUJAN, Member, Arizona State House of Representatives LIANE RANDOLPH, Chair, California Fair Political Practices Commission JAIME A. REGALADO, Executive Director, Edmund G. “Pat” Brown Institute of Public Affairs ALLAN HOFFENBLUM, Political Consultant; Publisher and Co-Editor, California Target Book TRACY WESTEN, Vice Chairman and CEO, Center for Governmental Studies
Publications	San Diego Union-Tribune: (transcript published) 8/7/2005 San Jose Mercury News (transcript published) 9/6/2005
Resources	Abridged Transcript [pdf] Spanish Translation (abridged version) [pdf] Panelist Bios (includes panelists for all Roundtables) [pdf]

JULY 20 2005
THE STATE PENSION SYSTEM
Host	San Diego Union-Tribune
Panelists	MARK BATTEY, Former Trustee, California State Teachers Retirement System (CalSTRS) APRIL BOLING, Former Chair, City of San Diego's Pension Reform Committee DAVE LOW, Assistant Director of Gov’t Relations, CA School Employees Association THE HONORABLE KEITH RICHMAN, Member, California State Assembly DWIGHT STENBAKKEN, Deputy Executive Director, California League of Cities
Publications	San Diego Union-Tribune: (transcript published) 7/31/2005 San Jose Mercury News (transcript published) 8/22/2005
Resources	Abridged Transcript [pdf] Spanish Translation (abridged version) [pdf] Panelist Bios (includes panelists for all Roundtables) [pdf]

JUNE 29 2005
THE STATE BUDGET
Host	Sacramento Bee
Panelists	DAVID GORDON, Sacramento County Superintendent of Schools ELIZABETH HILL, Legislative Analyst, State of California PHIL ISENBERG, former State Assemblymember BILL LEONARD, Member, State Board of Equalization JEAN ROSS, Executive Director, California Budget Project DAN WALL, Chief Lobbyist for L.A. County
Publications	San Jose Mercury News (transcript published) 7/31/2005
Resources	Abridged Transcript [pdf] Spanish Translation (abridged version) [pdf] Panelist Bios (includes panelists for all Roundtables) [pdf]

JUNE 15 2005
STATE TERM LIMITS
Host	Fresno Bee
Panelists	PAUL JACOB, Senior Fellow, U.S. Term Limits KARL KURTZ, Director of State Services, National Conference of State Legislatures SARAH REYES, former State Assemblymember
Publications	Fresno Bee: Term limits open door to diversity in solutions 6/16/2005 Fresno Bee: (transcript published) 7/3/2005 San Diego Union Tribune: (transcript published) 7/8/2005 San Jose Mercury News (transcript published) 7/4/2005
Broadcasts	Valley Public Television (07/11/05, 07/17/05)
Resources	Abridged Transcript [pdf] Spanish Translation (abridged version) [pdf] Panelist Bios (includes panelists for all Roundtables) [pdf]

APRIL 20 2005
THE STATE INITIATIVE PROCESS
Host	San Francisco Chronicle
Panelists	EDWARD J. COSTA, CEO, People's Advocate ELIZABETH GARRETT, Professor of Law, USC; Director, USC/Caltech Center for the Study of Law and Politics ROBERT HERTZBERG, Former Speaker of the California State Assembly MATHEW D. MCCUBBINS, Professor of Political Science, U.C. San Diego, and Professor of Law, University of San Diego HARVEY ROSENFIELD, Founder, The Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights JEAN ROSS, Executive Director, California Budget Project FRED SILVA, Senior Advisor for Government Relations, Public Policy Institute of California
Publications	San Francisco Chronicle: State's voters like system and would fight to keep it 4/21/2005 San Francisco Chronicle: How to Fix the Initiative Process 4/28/2005 San Jose Mercury News (transcript published) 5/4/2005 San Diego Union Tribune: A Twisted Tool: Initiatives Empower the Special Interests 5/8/2005 Fresno Bee: Controversial initiative process cuts both ways 5/15/2005 La Opinion (transcript published) 7/10/2005
Resources	Audio [MP3] Abridged Transcript [pdf] Spanish Translation (abridged version) [pdf] Panelist Bios (includes panelists for all Roundtables) [pdf]

MARCH 17 2005
REDISTRICTING IN CALIFORNIA
Host	San Jose Mercury News
Panelists	BRUCE CAIN, Director, Institute of Governmental Studies, U.C. Berkeley KATHAY FENG, Executive Director, California Common Cause PAUL MCKASKLE, Professor of Law, University of San Francisco School of Law DOUGLAS JOHNSON, Consulting Fellow, Rose Institute ROBERT STERN, President, Center for Governmental Studies
Publications	San Jose Mercury News (transcript published) 3/27/2005 San Diego Union-Tribune: (transcript published) 3/27/2005 Fresno Bee: Redistricting reform no longer matter of if, but when 3/27/2005 Fresno Bee: Redistricting basics 4/10/2005 San Jose Mercury News (editorial not available) 3/31/2005 San Francisco Chronicle: Redistricting – let’s do it right 5/4/2005 La Opinion: Los distritos electorales 8/21/2005
Resources	Abridged Transcript [pdf] Spanish Translation (abridged version) [pdf] Panelist Bios (includes panelists for all Roundtables) [pdf]