Since its founding, CGS has explored critical "democratic infrastructure" issues confronting California, including redistricting, ballot initiatives, campaign finance, term limits, recall and referendum, budget reform, judicial selection and financing, state-local fiscal relations, voter information and electoral reforms.

CGS is conducting research and developing solutions to address problems in these areas, conferring with grassroots organizations, state civic leaders, the media and public officials, disseminating information widely and working to build consensus around the need for key governance reforms.

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CGS has recently published reports on redistricting, term limits and campaign finance reform and is updating its seminal work ballot initiative reform in California and continues to follow developments in these areas. Efforts to improve voter information for the 2008 statewide election are also underway.

• Overview of California’s Redistricting Reform Proposals (2008)
• Overview of California’s Redistricting Reform Proposals (2007)
• In The Dead of the Night: How Midnight Legislation Weakened California’s Campaign Finance Laws, And How to Strengthen Them (2007)
• Democracy by Initiative: Shaping California's Fourth Branch of Government, 2nd Edition
• Re–Drawing Lines: A Public Interest Analysis of California’s 2006 Redistricting Reform Proposals (2006)
• California Fair Redistricting Act (2005)
• Drawing Lines: A Public Interest Guide to Real Redistricting Reform (2005)
• A New Sacramento Policy Center: A CGS Feasibility Study (2004)
• Losing Ground: How Taxpayer Subsidies and Balkanized Governance Prop Up Homebuilding in Wildfire and Flood Zones (2004)
• Alluvial Amnesia: How Officials Imperil Communities by Downplaying Flood Risks (2002)
• Toward a State of Learning: California Higher Education for the Twenty-First Century (1998)
• A 21st Century Budget Process for California (1998)
• Blueprint: A State of Learning: California and the Dream of Higher Education in the Twenty-First Century (1998)
• Promises to Keep and Miles to Go (1997)
• A Shared Vision: A Practical Guide to the Design and Implementation of a Performance-Based Budget Model for California State Health Services (1997)
• Reforming California's Budget Process (1995)
• Democracy by Initiative: Shaping California's Fourth Branch of Government (1992)
• Money and Politics in the Golden State: Financing California's Local Elections (1989)
• The California Channel: A New Public Affairs Television Network for the State (1989)
• Update to the New Gold Rush: Financing California's Legislative Campaigns (1987)
• The New Gold Rush: Financing California's Legislative Campaigns (1985)