Terms

Question 1

Federalism

Answer 1

Power is divided between state and federal. Initially made to balance out the government, very muddled now.

Question 2

Police Power of State Governments

Answer 2

State government makes laws to control health, safety, and morality hence why you can get a ticket for speeding. Can get tricky when laws interfere with individual rights etc.

Question 3

Local Governments as “Creatures of the State”

Answer 3

States are large, which makes local government to better manage everyone. Local government gets power from the state but are not protected by the constitution and is not regulated.

Question 4

Expressed/Enumerated Powers

Answer 4

Explicit powers granted by the Constitution to the federal government.
Ex: declare war, regulate interstate commerce, coin money

Question 5

Supremacy Clause

Answer 5

Says the constitution and (usually) federal law are stronger than state constitutions/laws.

Question 6

Reservation Clause/Reserved Powers

Answer 6

Powers not given by the Constitution or prohibited to states are given to the state government
Ex: Regulating interstate commerce and trade, building schools, establishing local governments etc.

Question 7

Dual Federalism/Layer Cake Federalism

Answer 7

Government power divided between state and federal distinctly
(think of vanilla and chocolate cake, it’s a clear division :) )

Question 8

McCulloch v Maryland

Answer 8

Federal government tried to build a bank using constitutional powers, Maryland tried to tax, Supreme Court said they can’t tax a national bank, which leads expansion of power for the federal government.

Question 9

Wickard v Filburn

Answer 9

Farmer(Filburn) didn’t want to limit wheat production, federal government says this affects interstate commerce, supreme court decides that federal government can interfere with interstate commerce if it significantly affects interstate commerce

Question 10

Cooperative Federalism/Marble Cake Federalism

Answer 10

Federal and state have flexible relationship w/ shared powers to address issues easier, shows how U.S government is always changing.

Question 11

Regulated/Coercive Federalism

Answer 11

federal government basically tried to force state government into submission by making them pass laws that gives federal government more power in the states, often did this through withholding funding from states.

Question 12

US v Lopez

Answer 12

Federal government tried passing law to make schools gun free zone, supreme court overturned this law and said it was unconstitutional and then said that in Wickard v Filburn the federal government overreached.

Question 13

California Racial/Ethnic Composition

Answer 13

Has largest amount of foreign born citizens, whites, hispanics, asians. Became a beacon of immigration hence the diversity of the state.

Question 14

California Partisan Composition

Answer 14

California = Democratic state, used to be Republican not that long ago. Republican cities are more inland, and democratic are more coastal. Legislature underrepresents black and white people and undocumented individuals are counted in census hence why we have 7 extra seats

Question 15

California Economics

Answer 15

Richest state
-The biggest sector = tech because of Silicon Valley
-large income disparity
-California used to have affordable housing, not so much anymore :(

Question 16

California Quality of Life

Answer 16

Lowest on quality of life
-Every ethnic group besides asians are below academic standards
-California Dream -> California Nightmare

Question 17

Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986

Answer 17

Employers cannot hire unauthorized immigrants, immigrants have to now gain Lawful Permanent Residence
-made border security stricter and immigrants had to gain Lawful Permanent Residence

Question 18

California Constitution vs. Federal Constitution

Answer 18

Federal Constitution more of a framework, very broad/outline
California Constitution very concise, mentions things that aren’t really needed like rockfish(?)
-Basically shows how different constitution are because they have different purposes

Question 19

Veto

Answer 19

Ability to say no basically
-Govenor/president can reject a bill even after it passes the house, but congress can override the veto with a 2/3rd vote
-Exemplifies checks and balances

Question 20

Line Item Veto

Answer 20

Ability to veto certain things in a bill
-Ex: I can say I like pineapple but not pineapple on pizza

Question 21

Plural Executive

Answer 21

Every major individual voted in by the people, utilized by CA

Question 22

Gerrymandering

Answer 22

manipulating district lines to try and change the outcome of elections

Question 23

Mandatory Referendum

Answer 23

Certain bills need to be voted in by the people for it to take effect, example of direct democracy

Question 24

Optional Referendum

Answer 24

Petition signed by 5% of office of governor to appeal amendment

Question 25

Recall Elections (2003 and 2021)

Answer 25

12% of voters wanted a recall. A recall is basically an attempt to replace the individual being recalled
Ex: Newsom was recalled in 2021 but it failed, 2003; Gray Davis is recalled and gets replaced by Arnold Schwartzenegger

Question 26

Proposition 11 (2008)

Answer 26

Wanted to stop gerrymandering, would give redistricting power to Citizens Redrawing Comittee instead of legislative branch. It passed and its drawn by people picked out of a populace

Question 27

Proposition 98 (1988)

Answer 27

Minimum funding required for k-14 schools (40%)
-Prop happened because funding kept getting cut from schools

Question 28

Proposition 13 (1978)

Answer 28

The proposition that altered the real estate tax to 1% of the assessed value, the assessed value may only raise by 2% per year unless there is a change in ownership

Question 29

Road Repair and Accountability Act (RRAA)

Answer 29

Raised taxes on gas in order to get more funding for roads, voters volunteered to raise their tax to gain the benefits of better infrastructure

Question 30

Proposition 6 (2018)

Answer 30

A proposition to repeal RRAA to make gas cheaper, it failed. Voters like trade-off of higher taxes for better roads

Question 31

Regressive Taxes

Answer 31

Tax burden decreases as income increases; if you make less it hurts you more
Ex: gas tax

Question 32

Progressive Taxes

Answer 32

Tax burden increases as income increases; if you make more you get taxed more
Ex: income tax

Question 33

Flat Taxes

Answer 33

Taxes that applies to everyone despite income; Theoretically very good, practically very bad because the states don’t tax enough with this to sustain itself

Question 34

State General Fund

Answer 34

Money allocated for usage in governmental expidentures
Ex: K-12 funding, health and human services, corrections, etc.
-However, due to other sections such as K-12, Health and Human, and corrections not being able to be lowered, higher level education such as UC and CSU’s have an increased tuition because their money is being cut

Question 35

“Boom and Bust” Cycle of State Budgets

Answer 35

Economies having periods of economic growth and then decline; when there is growth there will be a decline that follows
-Currently in a deficit even though we were in a growth about 18 months ago

Question 36

Unfunded Pension Liabilities

Answer 36

When the pension that is required does not match the assets that is available
Example: Person A has a required pension of 35k, Company A does not have enough money to pay for said pension.

Question 37

Major Areas of Expenditure in California Budget

Answer 37

The big 3:
-K-12 Education
-health and human services
-Corrections
Issue:
-Those 3 cannot have their budget slashed because it’ll be impractical, therefor they slash the budget of higher education such as UC and CSU

Question 38

Major Areas of Revenue in California Budget

Answer 38

Big 3
-Personal income tax
-Sales tax
-corporation tax
Issue:
-Income is counted as general income & capital gains, capital gains dependent on economy -> becomes unpredictable/unreliable
-Cannot raise taxes too high or rich people will leave (we receive more money from the 15% of the rich we tax than the regular 90%)

Question 39

Medi-Cal

Answer 39

CA version of Medicaid; gives healthcare to those with lower incomes
-this is what takes up a good chunk of human health and services
-reliant on state funding, if state funding gets cut then they would have very little revenue

Question 40

Proposition 47 (2014)

Answer 40

Changed it so that crime has to exceed $950 in damages for it to be considered a felony, important because it helped reduce prison population/overcrowding -> leads to decreased prison spending

Question 41

Proposition 57 (2016)

Answer 41

Increase parole chances for people with good behavior as long as their crime was non-violent
Issue:
-Never defined what makes a crime nonviolent
-Leads to voters voting on laws that could lead to loopholes because of an unclear definition

Question 42

Proposition 1A (2008)

Answer 42

Allotted $10 billion for the construction of high-speed rails
Issue:
-No construction of rails but cost is rising
-Good on paper, many issues including funding

Question 43

Proposition 2 (2014)

Answer 43

1.5% of general fund revenues would be set aside in a state reserve on top of the 3% that is already required for 15 years; half would be used in the fund, and the other half would be used to pay off state liabilities

Question 44

Potential Reforms to Direct Democracy:

Answer 44

Ballot Box Budgeting: Change if people can directly vote on fiscal issues through the ballot
California Vote Requirements for Initiatives Requiring Supermajority Votes Amendment: Whatever vote is required by the house to pass, the same needs to be required by voters to pass

Question 45

Split Roll Property Tax System (Proposition 15):

Answer 45

Owners with large commercial properties pay higher property taxes; doesn’t affect small businesses, agricultural lands, or residential properties.
Importance:
-Consumers are afraid of raised prices
-Argument for the fact that this would help solve fiscal problems

Question 46

The state of California’s Constitution creates a system of government that is similar to and Different from the system of government created for the federal government under the United States Constitution. Discuss at least four similarities and four differences between the structure and outcomes of the government in the state of California and at the Federal level.

Answer 46

Similarities: Both share judicial, executive, and legislative branch in government, raise taxes, can amend constitution
Differences: The constitution is more broader framework, CA has a more concise constitution (refer to rockfish), the executive for CA is the governor, the federal is the president, CA can have recall elections (Newson) whilst the federal level does not have recall elections but rather impeachment (Trump)
-Difference between recall and impeachment; recall is based on the general population and their votes whilst impeachment can only be enacted by the House of Reps and Senate