Citizens' Initiative Review to Evaluate Prop 10 Local Rent Control

The Pepperdine School of Public Policy and the Davenport Institute for Public Engagement and Civic Leadership will partner with Healthy Democracy on a project to evaluate Prop 10 local rent control in our California Initiative Process (CIR).

The CIR is a public, open democratic process. Members of the public, as well as media and policy makers are invited to drop by at any time to see this exciting democratic reform process in action. Observers will receive materials outlining the process and have an opportunity to speak to CIR staff throughout the event.

The Problem: California is the most active state in the Union when it comes to ballot initiatives. Voters support the initiative process but dislike complicated, confusing initiatives and undue special interest influence. A MapLight analysis of campaign spending on the 2016 statewide ballot also revealed that four measures received more than 75% of their funding from outside California.

The Solution: The CIR is an innovative, democratic method of engaging citizens to help their fellow voters make better informed policy decisions that arise from the initiative process. This deliberative process brings together a randomly-selected, demographically-balanced "jury" of citizens and gives them the time and resources to fairly evaluate a ballot measure. At the conclusion of each review, panelists draft a statement highlighting the most important fact-based findings about the measure and the most strong and reliable pro and con arguments. 

It offers an opportunity to cut through fake news and campaign-finance driven rhetoric to dig down to facts and arguments that both sides can agree are valid—without weighing in on which arguments voters should prioritize.

For more information, watch this video from a smaller demonstration process.