1.
Betty Yee
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Betty T. Yee is an American politician and member of the Democratic Party who has served as California State Controller since 2015. She previously served as a member of the California Board of Equalization from 2004 to 2015 and she won the open seat for Controller in the 2014 election, with 54% of the vote. A native of the Parkside district of San Francisco, Yees parents emigrated from Guangdong Province and she handled the books in her familys neighborhood laundry and dry cleaning business while she grew up. She went on to attend Golden Gate University, from which she earned a degree in Public Administration. Yee worked for the Legislature and was then Governor Gray Daviss Chief Deputy Director for Budget, the governor and legislative leaders made decisions that sometimes didnt agree with our recommendations. She then became the Chief Deputy to Board of Equalization member Carole Migden and she was appointed to fill the seat when Migden vacated it after being elected to the State Senate. Yee was elected in her own right to the California Board of Equalization in 2006 from the 1st Board District and was re-elected in 2010 and she led the successful effort to force Amazon. com to collect sales taxes on online purchases, the so-called Amazon tax. She ran for California State Controller in the 2014 election to succeed term-limited Democrat John Chiang, in the nonpartisan blanket primary, Republican Ashley Swearengin, the Mayor of Fresno, and Yee finished first and second, respectively. Swearengin and Yee competed in the election, which Yee won by 3,810,304 votes to 3,249,668. As State Controller, Yee will sit on the California State Lands Commission and she supports investing in alternative energy and opposes fracking for oil. An advocate of tax reform, she opposes extending Governor Jerry Browns temporary tax increases, instead proposing to lower the sales tax. Yee also serves as Vice President of California Women Lead, a nonprofit, Betty T. Yee, Board Member, State Board of Equalization Betty Yee for Controller 2014
2.
Term of office
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A term of office is the length of time a person serves in a particular elected office. In many jurisdictions there is a limit on how long terms of office may be before the officeholder must be subject to re-election. Some jurisdictions exercise term limits, setting a number of terms an individual may hold in a particular office. Being the origin of the Westminster system, aspects of the United Kingdoms system of government are replicated in other countries. The monarch serves as head of state until his or her death or abdication, in the United Kingdom Members of Parliament in the House of Commons are elected for the duration of the parliament. Following dissolution of the Parliament, an election is held which consists of simultaneous elections for all seats. For most MPs this means that their terms of office are identical to the duration of the Parliament, an MP elected in a by-election mid-way through a Parliament, regardless of how long they have occupied the seat, is not exempt from facing re-election at the next general election. The Septennial Act 1715 provided that a Parliament expired seven years after it had been summoned, prior to the Fixed-term Parliaments Act 2011 parliaments had no minimum duration. Parliaments could be dissolved early by the monarch at the Prime Ministers request, the Fixed-term Parliaments Act 2011 mandated that Parliaments should last their full five years. Early dissolution is possible, but under much more limited circumstances. Hereditary peers and life peers retain membership of the House of Lords for life, Lords Spiritual hold membership of the House of Lords until the end of their time as bishops, though a senior bishop may be made a life peer upon the end of their bishopric. The devolved administrations in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland are variations on the system of government used at Westminster, the office of the leader of the devolved administrations has no numeric term limit imposed upon it. However, in the case of the Scottish Government and the Welsh Assembly Government there are fixed terms for which the legislatures can sit and this is imposed at four years. Elections may be held before this time but only if no administration can be formed, offices of local government other regional elected officials follow similar rules to the national offices discussed above, with persons elected to fixed terms of a few years. Federal judges have different terms in office, however, the majority of the federal judiciary, Article III judges, such as those of the Supreme Court, courts of appeal, and federal district courts, serve for life. The terms of office for officials in state governments according to the provisions of state constitutions. The term for state governors is four years in all states but Vermont and New Hampshire, the National Conference of State Legislatures reported in January 2007 that among state legislatures,44 states had terms of office for the lower house of the state legislature at two years. Five had terms of office at four years,37 states had terms of office for the upper house of the state legislature at four years
3.
Constitution of California
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The Constitution of the State of California is the document that establishes and describes the duties, powers, structure and function of the government of the U. S. state of California. Article 3, Section 2 of the current Constitution references the original boundaries as stated in the 1849 Constitution at Article 7. The result of Progressive mistrust of elected officials, the 1879 constitution is the third longest in the world, californias constitution is one of the longest collections of laws in the world, taking up 110 pages. Part of this length is caused by the fact that many voter initiatives take the form of a constitutional amendment, the constitution can be changed by initiatives passed by voters. Initiatives can be proposed by the governor, legislature, or by popular petition, many of the individual rights clauses in the state constitution have been construed as protecting rights even broader than the Bill of Rights in the federal constitution. This caused the California Supreme Court to find Capital Punishment unconstitional on state Constitutional grounds in the 1972 case of People v. Anderson, the constitution has undergone numerous changes since its original drafting. It was rewritten from scratch several times prior to the drafting of the current 1879 constitution, from 1911, the height of the U. S. Progressive Era, to 1986, the California Constitution was amended or revised over 500 times, the constitution gradually became increasingly bloated, leading to abortive efforts towards a third constitutional convention in 1897,1914,1919,1930,1934 and 1947. By 1962 the constitution had grown to 75,000 words and that year, the electorate approved the creation of a California Constitution Revision Commission, which worked on a comprehensive revision of the constitution from 1964 to 1976. The Commission ultimately removed about 40,000 words from the constitution, many of the signatories to the states original 1849 constitution were themselves prominent in their own right, and are therefore listed below. The list is notable for the inclusion of several Californios, the California Constitution is one of the longest in the world. Unlike other state constitutions, the California Constitution strongly protects the corporate existence of cities and counties, the Constitution gives charter cities, in particular, supreme authority over municipal affairs, even allowing such cities local laws to trump state law. By specifically enabling cities to pay counties to perform governmental functions for them, many of the individual rights clauses in the state constitution have been construed as protecting rights broader than the Bill of Rights in the federal constitution. The constitution also confers upon women equality of rights in entering or pursuing a business, profession, vocation and this is the earliest state constitutional equal rights provision on record. Two universities are expressly mentioned in the constitution, the University of California, UC is one of only nine state-run public universities in the United States whose independence from political interference is expressly guaranteed by the state constitution. Since 1900, Stanford has enjoyed the benefit of a constitutional clause shielding Stanford-owned property from taxes as long as it is used for educational purposes. The constitution of California distinguishes between constitutional amendments and revisions, the latter of which is considered to be a change to the entire constitution. A less extensive change in one or more of its provisions, both require passage of a California ballot proposition by voters, but they differ in how they may be proposed. S
4.
U.S. state
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A U. S. state is a constituent political entity of the United States of America. There are 50 states, which are together in a union with each other. Each state holds administrative jurisdiction over a geographic territory. Due to the shared sovereignty between each state and the government, Americans are citizens of both the federal republic and of the state in which they reside. State citizenship and residency are flexible, and no government approval is required to move between states, except for persons covered by certain types of court orders. States range in population from just under 600,000 to over 39 million, four states use the term commonwealth rather than state in their full official names. States are divided into counties or county-equivalents, which may be assigned some local authority but are not sovereign. County or county-equivalent structure varies widely by state, State governments are allocated power by the people through their individual constitutions. All are grounded in principles, and each provides for a government. States possess a number of powers and rights under the United States Constitution, Constitution has been amended, and the interpretation and application of its provisions have changed. The general tendency has been toward centralization and incorporation, with the government playing a much larger role than it once did. There is a debate over states rights, which concerns the extent and nature of the states powers and sovereignty in relation to the federal government. States and their residents are represented in the federal Congress, a legislature consisting of the Senate. Each state is represented in the Senate by two senators, and is guaranteed at least one Representative in the House, members of the House are elected from single-member districts. Representatives are distributed among the states in proportion to the most recent constitutionally mandated decennial census, the Constitution grants to Congress the authority to admit new states into the Union. Since the establishment of the United States in 1776, the number of states has expanded from the original 13 to 50, alaska and Hawaii are the most recent states admitted, both in 1959. The Constitution is silent on the question of states have the power to secede from the Union. Shortly after the Civil War, the U. S. Supreme Court, in Texas v. White, as a result, while the governments of the various states share many similar features, they often vary greatly with regard to form and substance
5.
California
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California is the most populous state in the United States and the third most extensive by area. Located on the western coast of the U. S, California is bordered by the other U. S. states of Oregon, Nevada, and Arizona and shares an international border with the Mexican state of Baja California. Los Angeles is Californias most populous city, and the second largest after New York City. The Los Angeles Area and the San Francisco Bay Area are the nations second- and fifth-most populous urban regions, California also has the nations most populous county, Los Angeles County, and its largest county by area, San Bernardino County. The Central Valley, an agricultural area, dominates the states center. What is now California was first settled by various Native American tribes before being explored by a number of European expeditions during the 16th and 17th centuries, the Spanish Empire then claimed it as part of Alta California in their New Spain colony. The area became a part of Mexico in 1821 following its war for independence. The western portion of Alta California then was organized as the State of California, the California Gold Rush starting in 1848 led to dramatic social and demographic changes, with large-scale emigration from the east and abroad with an accompanying economic boom. If it were a country, California would be the 6th largest economy in the world, fifty-eight percent of the states economy is centered on finance, government, real estate services, technology, and professional, scientific and technical business services. Although it accounts for only 1.5 percent of the states economy, the story of Calafia is recorded in a 1510 work The Adventures of Esplandián, written as a sequel to Amadis de Gaula by Spanish adventure writer Garci Rodríguez de Montalvo. The kingdom of Queen Calafia, according to Montalvo, was said to be a land inhabited by griffins and other strange beasts. This conventional wisdom that California was an island, with maps drawn to reflect this belief, shortened forms of the states name include CA, Cal. Calif. and US-CA. Settled by successive waves of arrivals during the last 10,000 years, various estimates of the native population range from 100,000 to 300,000. The Indigenous peoples of California included more than 70 distinct groups of Native Americans, ranging from large, settled populations living on the coast to groups in the interior. California groups also were diverse in their organization with bands, tribes, villages. Trade, intermarriage and military alliances fostered many social and economic relationships among the diverse groups, the first European effort to explore the coast as far north as the Russian River was a Spanish sailing expedition, led by Portuguese captain Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo, in 1542. Some 37 years later English explorer Francis Drake also explored and claimed a portion of the California coast in 1579. Spanish traders made unintended visits with the Manila galleons on their trips from the Philippines beginning in 1565
6.
California State Treasurer
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The California State Treasurer is responsible for the states investment and finance. The post has more narrow responsibilities and authority than the California State Controller, the administration of the states budgets, financial analyses and planning, money allocation, and economic research is under the California Department of Finance. The state treasurer assumes office by way of election, the term of office is a four-year term but is limited to two terms. Elections for the State Treasurer are held on a concurrent basis with the election of the Governor. The current state treasurer is John Chiang, as the state’s banker, manages the state’s investments. Administers the sale of bonds and notes and is the investment officer for most state funds. Chairs or serves on several commissions, most of which relate to the marketing of bonds, pays out state funds when spent by the Controller and other state agencies. California Department of Finance Official California State Treasurer web site
7.
State Board of Equalization (California)
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The State Board of Equalization is a public agency charged with tax administration and fee collection in the state of California in the United States. The authorities of the Board fall into four areas, sales and use taxes, property taxes, special taxes. The BOE is the publicly elected tax commission in the United States. The current board members are, The terms of all five members, including the State Controller, as of 2008, the agency employed approximately 3,950 people throughout the state. The State Board of Equalization was created in 1879 by ratification of the second California Constitution and its original mandate was to ensure that property tax assessments were uniform and equal across all counties in the state. Of course, assessors were tempted to boost their popularity with county voters by undervaluing voters property, for the purposes of tax administration, the BOE divides the state into four Equalization districts, each with its own elected board member. Following the 2011 redistricting, the new districts have been in effect since January 1,2015, before 2015, most of this area was the second district. Before 2015, most of area was the first district. The fourth Equalization District is made up of the counties, Imperial, Orange, Riverside, San Diego, a portion of Los Angeles
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California statewide elected officials