The Policy Making Process

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The policy making process in CA plays an instrumental role in the prosperity and quality of life that exist today, and will exist in the future for CA. Public policy can be defined as a public response to public problems. It’s what the government says and does about these problems. Policy is when government and nongovernmental agents work together to create solutions for the public at large. The policy actors are formal, as well as informal; they are individuals or groups, which bring about the influence needed to implement public solutions.
There are numerous issues within CA that are increasing the strain placed on the policy making process. The biggest challenge CA faces in the next few decades is meeting the needs of a growing population. It is estimated that by 2020 CA’s population is going to expand to surpass 45 million people. How is the policy process going to create an infrastructure to accommodate the needs of a not only an expanding, but also a largely socially diverse population? There are going to be strings pulled in so many directions, that the policy making process is going to have a very difficult time efficiently making decisions to deal with pressing problems. And, the scary part about all this, is the fact that the policy making process is basically a game.
Policy actors are using every means possible to get the results they want, and they aren’t necessarily representing the public interest. They have strategies that they use to maximize their interests. The essential skills needed are bureaucratic knowledge, networking (or access to individuals within the bureaucracy), an understanding of the size of constituency, money for political contributions, and the resources to mount a media driven campaign. But ever all this isn’t enough; they also need to know all the rules and the culture of the policy environment.
The strengths of the policy making process are few, but worth mentioning. One of the strengths of the policy making process lies in the Executive Branch. Our CA constitution requires that seven non governor related individuals are elected directly, which limits the power of the governor. This is to ensure that the governor doesn’t have the ability to implement the policies he wants, limiting his power to the power of using influence, and ...

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...cy outcomes. Within the state of CA, when a governor is elected, it determines what direction policy making is going to take. This justifies the idea that we the voters aren’t the ones who make the decision. If the person we voted for doesn’t win, we are left our of the policy making process even more than ever.
In California, we are often times seen as separate from the Nation, “given its huge population, its breathtaking diversity, its historical independence, and its immensely powerful economy” (Michaels and Walters). Our legislature is extremely powerful, in not only state, but also national and international affairs. However, the power of the state isn’t being used to its greatest advantage. It’s being used by the elite, by the politicians, and the lobbyist. Money is the main concern of the Capital, what is gained, and what is lost by interest groups pursuing their goals, and the money that they donate to politicians to secure access and favorable votes. Being that CA has the 5th most powerful economy on the planet, I think it’s time that some of this power is used to reshape our policy process to better represent the people, not the interests.

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