California’s Real Safe Districts

California’s Proposition 50, slated for Nov. 4, “replaces California’s current congressional district maps with new, legislatively drawn maps,” according to the state’s nonpartisan legislative analyst. Whatever voters decide, the state’s biggest and most powerful districts are not going to change.

California’s coastal zone, mapped by the legislature, covers an area larger than the entire state of Rhode Island. From the Oregon state line to the Mexican border, the zone in some areas extends five miles inland. Congressional districts cover this area, but share power with the unelected California Coastal Commission (CCC) which overrides elected governments, and the voters, on land-use issues.

The commissioners are appointed by the governor, the speaker of the Assembly, and the Senate rules committee. Commissioner Dayna Bochco, an entertainment lawyer, is the widow of Steven Bochco, producer of television shows such as Doogie Howser M.D. First appointed in 2011, Bochco was reappointed in 2019 to a term ending in 2027, a span of 16 years without ever facing the voters.

In 2022, the commission rejected a desalination project, supported by a bipartisan coalition, that would have provided 50 million gallons of fresh water daily. Commissioner Bochco contended, “[T]he ocean is under attack from climate change already.” In 2021, the state Senate appointed to the commission Rick Rivas, brother of assemblyman Robert Rivas, now speaker of the state assembly, but there’s more to it than nepotism.

Commissioner Mark Nathan was sentenced to four and a half years in prison for shaking down Hollywood celebrities for bribes. Corruption aside, the commission blocks development and runs roughshod over property rights. This year, the commission unanimously opposed stepped-up SpaceX launches from Vandenberg Space Force Base, a federal facility that has been launching missiles and jet fighters for decades.

Democrat and Republican governors have made no move to eliminate the CCC, an affront to democracy and property rights. As the people should know, the coast is not the only district that Proposition 50 will not change. The state’s nearly 1,000 K-12 school districts have elected boards, but unelected superintendents run the show.

These officials usually boast an Ed.D, essentially a bureaucratic credential from a non-discipline. Ontario-Montclair superintendent James Hammond was paid a total annual package of $743,596. These overpaid bureaucrats form part of the bureaucratic sediment through which taxpayer dollars must trickle down before reaching the classroom. The spending has not improved student achievement.

“California students were stuck in low gear again in 2024,” EdSource explains, citing the National Assessment for Education Progress. According to the nation’s report card, California students “performed significantly below their pre-pandemic scores in math and reading.”

California’s government schools hold a virtual monopoly. If parents choose an independent school, their tax dollars remain with the district, forcing parents to pay twice. The 1993 Proposition 174 allowed the dollars to follow the scholars. Republican Gov. Pete Wilson opposed the measure, which failed to pass. Since then, no California governor, including Republican Arnold Schwarzenegger, has made parental choice in education a priority.

Gov. Gavin Newsom sends his children to private schools including the elite Branson School, whose annual tuition of $68,225 is comparable to $68,544 for Stanford University. The governor, who lives in a $9 million mansion, supports education establishment, and shows a curious attitude to choice itself.

The Taxpayer Protection and Government Accountability Act required all new taxes to be approved by voters and easily qualified for the November 2024 ballot. Gov. Newsom and former Gov. Jerry Brown leaned on a compliant state supreme court to take the measure off the ballot, effectively silencing the 1.43 million Californians who put it there.

With Proposition 50, Gov. Newsom now wants voters to approve legislatively drawn maps. Whatever voters decide will bring no change to the massive coastal zone and nearly 1000 school districts. Californians can be forgiven for believing that, on property rights, government reform, and school choice, their state is the most resistant to change.