California: Government, Politics, and Higher Education

The state's first constitution was adopted in 1849. The present constitution, dating from 1879, is noted for its provisions for public initiative and referendum—which have led at times to difficulties in governance—and for recall of public officials. The state's executive branch is headed by a governor elected for a four-year term. California's bicameral legislature has a senate with 40 members and an assembly with 80 members. The state elects 2 senators and 53 representatives to the U.S. Congress and has 55 electoral votes. In 1992, California became the first state to simultaneously elect two women to the U.S. Senate: Democrats Barbara Boxer and Dianne Feinstein. As of 2021, there are nearly twice as many registered Democrats as Republicans or Independents, who both have about equal shares of the registered voters in the state. However, Independents currently are more likely to lean Democratic than Republican, making it increasingly difficult for Republicans to win statewide offices.

Among the state's more prominent institutions of higher learning are the Univ. of California, with nine campuses; the California State University System, with 23 campuses; Occidental College and the Univ. of Southern California, at Los Angeles; Stanford Univ., at Stanford; the California Institute of Technology, at Pasadena; Mills College, at Oakland; and the Claremont Colleges, at Claremont. After a period from the 1960s through the 1970s when the state's well-financed public institutions were the envy of the nation, California's colleges have been forced to retrench by tax-cutting initiatives.

Sections in this article:

• Introduction
• Growing Pains and Natural Disasters
• Industrialization and Increased Settlement
• Statehood and Immigration
• The Gold Rush
• Russian and U.S. Settlement
• European Exploration and Colonization
• Government, Politics, and Higher Education
• Economy
• Geography
• Facts and Figures

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