Ask Californians what policies would improve their quality of life and, it turns out, you’ll get a wide range of answers — from free mental health care to one-stop shops for public services to a ban on home sales to foreign purchasers.
A new poll released Friday by Stanford University’s Deliberative Democracy Lab lays out a vision for the direction Californians are hoping to see the state take in the years and decades ahead.
The poll, conducted in collaboration with the California 100 Initiative and the Goldman School of Public Policy at UC Berkeley, brought more than 700 people together for a weekend in February to weigh 56 diverse policy proposals in the realms of housing, energy, health care and education.
Participants were polled at the start of the weekend and then again at the end, after multiple small group discussions and panels with experts. In many instances, the deliberation led participants to adjust their thinking.
For instance, support for one-stop shops for local business permits soared from 62% to 76% after deliberations. Opposition to California opening foreign offices in its top trading countries, to strengthen its economy and international ties, grew from 19% to 32%.
“There was an appreciation that California faces big problems and it only became more obvious when (the participants) got into the details,” said James Fishkin, director of the Stanford Deliberative Democracy Lab. Given the immensity of the problems, they weren’t giving into simple solutions.”
In broad strokes, the poll results demonstrated that Californians are yearning for more transparency and want the government to work more effectively for its residents and businesses, said Karthick Ramakrishnan, executive director of California 100.
“Do these findings spell hope or doom for California’s future? I’d say it’s a qualified hope,” Ramakrishnan said. “The kind of solutions people are pushing are pragmatic and aspirational — and some are also quite bold.”
Below are the top 10 most supported proposals identified in the poll, and how that support shifted over the weekend.
- California should strengthen its high school civics requirement to include experiences with participation, discussion, negotiation, and compromise in a democracy. (68.9% → 80.4%)
- Should California should develop a “one-stop shop” for easier public access to government services dealing with unemployment and poverty? (68.5% → 78.0%)
- California should require companies to pay users for the use of their data. (64.7% → 69.6%)
- California should invest in rural areas to ensure that they have adequate funding for infrastructure, such as roads and digital broadband. (70.8% → 73.7%)
- California should ban home sales to foreign purchasers who do not reside in them. (67.1% → 67.3%)
- California should increase support for K-12 education by enough to be in the top third of student achievement among the states. (73.4% → 73.2%)
- California should examine its regulations for business to make sure the benefits are greater than the costs. (73.4% → 73.2%)
- California should require plaintiffs and defendants in California Environmental Quality Act, CEQA, lawsuits to identify every person or entity who contributes $1,000 or more to either the plaintiff or the defendant in the lawsuit. (61.4% →67.2%)
- California should encourage the expansion of “one-stop shops” for local permits on a range of items, including water, sewer, electricity, parking, land use, and business licensing. (62.4% → 75.8%)
- California should provide universal, free mental health care. (73.3% →77.0%)
