Democracy Wire

Only five months into his term as a newly elected Los Angeles City Councilmember, David Ryu is already starting to shake things up at City Hall when it comes to campaign finance reform.

In boosting local voter turnout, SB 415 is an important step in strengthening our democratic system.

Sacramento City Council unanimously approves comprehensive ethics reform package, which includes the creation of an independent ethics commission, an ethics code, and an independent redistricting commission.

Late last week, the Court announced that they will hear oral arguments in Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association v Padilla on October 6th. The hearing will determine if Prop 49 will be restored to California’s November 2016 ballot.

The falling out of the proposed Comcast-Time Warner Cable merger has been one of the greatest public interest victories in 2015 thus far. California Common Cause intern, Laura Slote, talks about her experience seeing everyday people come together to oppose this disastrous decision at a public hearing for the merger in Los Angeles.

How do you solve a problem like low voter turnout? This is the first question that California’s new Secretary of State Alex Padilla’s asked when he took office earlier this year.