| Constitution of the State of California Constitución del Estado de California (Spanish) | |
|---|---|
 _(cropped).jpg) Title pages of the original English (left) and Spanish (right) versions of the 1849 Constitution | |
| Overview | |
| Jurisdiction | State of California |
| Subordinate to | Supreme law of the United States |
| Created | 13 October 1849 (1849-10-13) |
| Ratified | 7 May 1879 (1879-05-07) |
| History | |
| Amendments | 514 |
| Location | California Capitol Museum,Sacramento, California |
| Author(s) | Monterey Convention of 1849 |
| Signatories | 48 delegates |
TheConstitution of California (Spanish:Constitución de California) is theprimary organizing law for theU.S. state ofCalifornia, describing the duties, powers, structures and functions of thegovernment of California. California's constitution was drafted in bothEnglish andSpanish byAmerican pioneers,European settlers, andCalifornios (Hispanics ofCalifornia) and adopted at the1849 Constitutional Convention of Monterey, following the AmericanConquest of California and theMexican–American War and in advance of California'sAdmission to the Union in 1850.[1] The constitution was amended and ratified on 7 May 1879, following theSacramento Convention of 1878–79.[2][3]
Many of the individual rights clauses in the state constitution have been construed as protecting rights even broader than theUnited States Bill of Rights in theFederal Constitution. An example is the case ofPruneyard Shopping Center v. Robins, in which "free speech" rights beyond those addressed by theFirst Amendment to the United States Constitution were found in the California Constitution by the California courts.[4] One of California's most significant prohibitions is against "cruelor unusual punishment," a stronger prohibition than the U.S. Constitution's Eighth Amendment prohibition against "crueland unusual punishment."
The Constitution of California is among the longest in the world.[5] This is predominantly due to additions byCalifornia ballot propositions, which allow enacting amendments by a simple majority vote in a referendum. Since its enactment, the California constitution has been amended an average of five times each year.[6] As a result, if California were a sovereign state, its constitution would rank as the second- or third-longest in the world by total word count.[6][7] This has led politicians and political scientists to argue the procedures for amending the California constitution are too lax, creating a state constitution that is filled with irrelevant detail and incoherent policies created byconflicting majorities attempting to impose their will on each other by the ballot process.[6]
The Constitution of California has undergone numerous changes since its original drafting. It was rewritten from scratch several times before the drafting of the current 1879 constitution, which has itself been amended or revised (seebelow).[citation needed]
In response to widespread public disgust with the powerful railroads that controlled California's politics and economy at the start of the 20th century,Progressive Era politicians pioneered the concept of aggressively amending the state constitution by initiative in order to remedy perceived evils.[8] From 1911, the height of the U.S. Progressive Era, to 1986, the California Constitution was amended or revised over 500 times.[9]
The constitution gradually became increasingly bloated, leading to abortive efforts towards a third constitutional convention in 1897, 1914, 1919, 1930, 1934 and 1947.[10] By 1962, the constitution had grown to 75,000 words, which at that time was longer than any other state constitution but Louisiana's.[11]
That year, the electorate approved the creation of a California Constitution Revision Commission, which worked on a comprehensive revision of the constitution from 1964 to 1976. The electorate ratified the commission's revisions in 1966, 1970, 1972, and 1974, but rejected the 1968 revision, whose primary substantive effect would have been to makethe state's superintendent of schools into an appointed rather than an elected official.[12] The Commission ultimately removed about 40,000 words from the constitution.[11]
The California Constitution is one of the longest in the world.[5] The length has been attributed to a variety of factors, such as the influence of previous Mexicancivil law, a lack of faith inelected officials and the fact that manyinitiatives take the form of a constitutional amendment.[13] Several amendments involved the authorization of the creation of state government agencies, including theState Compensation Insurance Fund, theCalifornia Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control, and theState Bar of California; the purpose of such amendments was to insulate the agencies from being attacked as an unconstitutionally broad exercise ofpolice power or inherent judicial power.[14]
Unlike other state constitutions, the California Constitution strongly protects the corporate existence of cities and counties and grants them broad plenary home rule powers.[15] The constitution gives charter cities, in particular, supreme authority over municipal affairs, even allowing such cities' local laws to trump state law.[16] By specifically enabling cities to pay counties to perform governmental functions for them, Section 8 of Article XI resulted in the rise of thecontract city.[17]
Article 4, Section 8(d) defines an "urgency statute" as one "necessary for immediate preservation of the public peace, health, or safety"; any proposed bill including such a provision includes a "statement of facts constituting the necessity" and a two-thirds majority of each house is required to also separately pass the bill's urgency section.[18]
Many of the individual rights clauses in the state constitution have been construed as protecting rights broader than theBill of Rights in thefederal constitution.[19] Two examples include (1) thePruneyard Shopping Center v. Robins case involving an implied right tofree speech in privateshopping centers, and (2) the first decision in America in 1972 found that the death penalty isunconstitutional.California v. Anderson, 6 Cal. 3d 628. This noted that under California's state constitution a stronger protection applies than under the U.S. Constitution's Eighth Amendment; the former prohibits punishments that are "cruelor unusual", while the latter only prohibits punishments that are "crueland unusual". The constitution also confers upon women equality of rights in "entering or pursuing a business, profession, vocation, or employment." This is the earliest state constitutional equal rights provision on record.[20]
Two universities are expressly mentioned in the constitution: thepublic state-runUniversity of California and theprivateStanford University. UC is one of only nine state-run public universities in the United States whose independence from political interference is expressly guaranteed by the state constitution.[21] Since 1900, Stanford has enjoyed the benefit of a constitutional clause shielding Stanford-owned property from taxes as long as it is used for educational purposes.[22]
The California Constitution distinguishes betweenconstitutional amendments and constitutional revisions, the latter of which is considered to be a "substantial change to the entire constitution, rather than ... a less extensive change in one or more of its provisions".[23] Both require passage of aCalifornia ballot proposition by the voters, but they differ in how they may be proposed. A constitutional amendment may be placed on the ballot by either a two-thirds vote in theCalifornia State Legislature or by signatures equal to 8% of the votes cast in the lastgubernatorial election through the exercise of the initiative power by the voters. The signature requirement for constitutional amendments is among the lowest thresholds for similar measures of anyU.S. state.[24]
As of 2023[update], this was 874,641 signatures[25] compared to a 2020 population of 39,538,223. A constitutional revision originally required aconstitutional convention but today may be passed with the approval of both two-thirds of the Legislature and approval by a majority of voters; while simplified since its beginnings, the revision process is considered more politically charged and difficult to successfully pass than an amendment.[26] Voters exercising the initiative power are not permitted to propose a constitutional revision.
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Many of the signatories to the state's original 1849 constitution were themselves prominent in their own right, and are listed below.[27][28][29] The list notably includes severalCalifornios (California-born, Spanish-speaking residents).
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