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To ensure California government delivers results, we need to put the Government Performance and Accountability Act on the November 2012 ballot. Sign up here to learn more and be a part of the movement.

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California Forward Action Fund Initiative to Improve CA Government Results & Accountability

Nonpartisan initiative will improve budgeting, program performance and responsiveness to Californians

SACRAMENTO – Californians want to trust their government again. But continued budget impasses and hits to critical areas - such as education, job creation, and public safety - have made it nearly impossible for Californians to put faith in the governor and lawmakers.

To fix this state, Californians must revamp how budgets and policy decisions are made and implemented and how leaders are kept accountable. With this goal in mind, the California Forward Action Fund has introduced The Government Performance and Accountability Act (GPAA), a constitutional amendment that would change the culture of governance in California.

The GPAA will make local governments the nexus for action, producing major improvements in government accountability, transparency and responsible budgeting. It is built around a simple idea: Californians need to know what they are getting for their tax dollars.

"The people of California have told us that they want to fix the state in a long-term meaningful way," said Action Fund Board co-chair Sunne Wright McPeak. "By assuring performance, participation and results, the Government Performance and Accountability Act encourages local, regional and state groups to work together to achieve positive social gains that are financially sustainable over time."

Action Fund Board co-chair Bruce McPherson said state government has been ineffective at improving outcomes, but the GPAA will change that.

"The current system often prohibits cooperation and participation," McPherson said. "As a result, Californians no longer share in the bounty the state once promised: good jobs, world class education, affordable health care and safe neighborhoods. It's time Californians have a government structure that allows for greater local responsibility and authority."

The GPAA would adjust the state role and introduce measures to manage and control the process:

  • Provides a stable and results-oriented state budget process. Local governments need a stable state budget process that helps them reach community goals. The proposal would require a two-year state budget to reduce the nearly endless wrangling and uncertainty. The State would establish goals and performance metrics and the Legislature would review all programs once every five years. Lawmakers would have to identify ways to pay for major policy choices, rather than putting all programs at risk of being cut in future years.
  • Ensures local governments are accountable for results. Californians expect local governments to spend public money wisely. To communicate clearly and manage effectively, local governments must identify goals and performance metrics as part of their budgets.
  • Encourages cooperation among local governments. Experience shows that to solve difficult public programs, public agencies must work together. Schools must work with social service agencies, and social service agencies need to work with law enforcement. Through Community Strategic Action Plans, local leaders would be given the flexibility and incentives to work together to develop integrated approaches to meet community needs.

If the signature requirements are met, the GPAA will be on the November 2012 General Election Ballot. This is a critical step toward rebuilding trust in every level of our government.

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ABOUT THE CALIFORNIA FORWARD ACTION FUND
The mission of the California Forward Action Fund is to improve the quality of life for all Californians by creating more responsive, representative, and cost-effective government. The California Forward Action Fund works with its sister organization, California Forward, to identify reforms that can allow California to fundamentally change how public dollars are spent and give Californians better tools to hold politicians accountable. The California Forward Action Fund then pursues reform priorities through legislation or ballot initiatives, with the goal of producing real change to the state's political, fiscal, and policy-making systems. The Action Fund is tax-exempt under Sec. 501(c)4 of the Internal Revenue Code.

ABOUT CALIFORNIA FORWARD
California Forward is a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization working to bring government closer to the people and move the state in the right direction - forward. We believe empowered local communities are best equipped to solve their own problems, and there is a critical link between many of the problems that threaten our future and our state government, which has become ineffective, unresponsive, and unable to fix itself. Local governments in California face several years of tight budgets – with consequences for classrooms and libraries, and services to neglected children, the elderly, and the mentally ill. These public hardships are matched with private ones – and aggravated by a growing concern that the middle-income jobs that disappeared with the recession may not come back with the recovery.