California used to have a republican government in 1943 under Earl Warren until 1959.

In January 1959 onwards, California has been making a shifting of Democratic and
Republican administration.
Democrat “Pat Brown” became the governor in 1959 then California shifted to
Republican Ronald Reagan and later on went back to democratic under Jerry Brown.
The role of the government changed during their leadership when the government was
an exemplified public service unlike the government in the early history when the
government was too political.

1. Water
California used to have mountain areas and farms that had been experiencing drought
especially in the farms of the Northern California. This is crucial for the agricultural
production of the state. However, this was not given focus in the past government
administration.
The winning of Edmund G. “PAT” Brown in January 5, 1959 became the beginning of
Califonia’s comprehensive statewide water plan. He stated in this inauguration that
“Development of our water resources is crucial to every segment of our state…”
Brown, through the government, expand its water resources and implemented water
programs.
In 1959, California state Legislature implemented the California Water Resources
Development Bond Act (Burns-Porter Act) that constructed the State Water Project
(SWP).
Aside from this, Pat’s Government also consolidated State Water Pollution Control
Board and the other nine regional boards to be under one State Water Quality Control
Board and he also implemented California Aqueduct Program.

2. Civil Rights
In 1963 there were civil rights movements in California.
One of the problems was discrimination in Housing Program among men and women or
black and whites.
Brown and his Liberal Democratic Assembly worked hardly to pass a bill
 which was unfortunately being resisted by conservative Democrats in Senate but Pat
Brown strongly pushed the bill until it was passed through the “Fair Housing Act”.
A lot more laws were promulgated to support civil rights including the Fair Employment
Act and the Master Plan for Higher Education.
California’s government in 1967 to 1971 was under the governorship of Reagan as he
served for 2 terms.
In 1960s, California faced a vast encounter of mothers with incomplete abortions, septic
abortions and complete abortion which are all a criminal act ever since the early 1900s.
This raised national issue. Large people and organizations took Civil Rights movements
to decriminalize abortion.
Reagan was Pro-life and was against abortion except for the cases caused from rape,
incest or when the mother’s physical or mental health would be at risk. Hence, Reagan
signed into law the Therapeutic Abortion Act in May 1967. This is also to prevent self-
made abortions and protect mothers who experienced rape, incest and life in danger.
He also established the California Welfare Reform Act.

Gender Inequality had been an undying social problem in the history of California.
According to University of California and Hastings College of Law, gender
discrimination kept growing due to a lack of governmental and societal support
for working women.
The government under Jerry Brown played a big role to promote civil rights especially to
the right of the LGBTQ Community. In 1975, he decriminalized same-sex relationships
in 1975 and appointed California’s first gay judge. He also signed more than 55 pro-
equality bills into law.
3. Education
In early 1900s, California’s previous governments was struggling to make institution due
to prevalent corruption. California struggled to make reforms and social institutions.
People are also skeptical about paying taxes to sustain the social institutions and also,
California’s population was growing. These made it more challenging for the
government to establish and support new universities, public schools and education
reform.
Pat Brown awakened the government to re-visit the education standard of
California through the legislation of The California Master Plan for Higher Education
which purpose is to balance the competing demands of fostering excellence and
guaranteeing educational access for all. This legislation was able to create a system of
exceptional quality and it established framework for higher education.
 Reagan also made his move with $40 million for early childhood education and signed
legislation of on annual grant to local school districts and reduced school tax rates.

4. Environment
Pat Brown, Jerry Brown and Ronald Reagan belong to different political parties but they
are in common with their government’s role in environmental issues.
Aside from Pat Brown’s expansion and protection farms and water resources, his son
Jerry Brown’s administration continued its role to look over the condition of environment.
The government under his administration was known to be a “pollution fighter” for his
environmental causes and it also played a role on climate change policies which made it
unique from the other previous government administrations.
Jerry Brown signed into law tax incentives for rooftop solar-energy installation. He
extended California’s cap-and-trade program that

 puts a price on carbon emissions. He also signed a bill that would require electric
utilities to go completely carbon-free.
https://www.sacbee.com/news/politics-government/capitol-alert/article183533326.html
https://www.sacbee.com/news/politics-government/capitol-alert/article223229060.html

Ronald Reagan also focused on environment for protecting wild rivers,dams,

preservation of Sierra wilderness.
He supported legislation of Lake Tahoe interstate compact to save the lake. Reagan’s
government was instrumental in securing legal protection for rivers in California.
He signed the California Environmental Quality Act and the Mulford-Carrell Act that
combines Bureau of Air Sanitation and the Motor Vehicle Pollution Control Board to
create the California Air Resources Board (CARB). Reagan appointed a Cal Tech
chemist named Arie Jan Haagen-Smit as the first head of the Board and who was
responsible for linking smog to automobile emissions.

https://legal-planet.org/2016/06/20/ronald-reagan-environmentalist-governor/

Tax
Reagan and Jerry Brown both raised taxes in California. The role of the government in
raising tax is to
cope from fiscal problem of the state.
Reagan made a series of tax increases but also balanced the budget and cut property
taxes.
Sales tax was raised to 5%, income tax bracket rose up to 10% while the banks,
corporations and inheritance were also increased.
Reagan signed the legislation on annual grant of $454 million to local school districts,
$229 million to reduce school tax rates and $220 million was to supplement existing
school aid for poor districts. $83 million for inner city schools.
To simplify the whole idea in the change of the role of the government of California
The end of World War II was a time for the states to recover. However, the previous
governments of California seemed to focus more on recovering and developing its
socio-economic condition and leaving some other aspects.
While the government in the early history is focused on recovery and old systems, the
government under the leadership of Pat, Reagan and Jerry made the government
change its role in California by being an instrument to create a modern California by
creating new system, policies and programs that would be responsive to the people.
Also, unlike in the early history, California Government used to be more political and
used to adhere to the classic norms such as the inequality among men and women and
discrimination in race and color.
Regardless with the difference of political parties, their government embraced modern
ideas that promote equality and abolish discrimination.
The role of the government during their time was to create new policies and strategies
while the previous government’s role was to recover from the war. Their government
marked a legacy in the history of California.

https://www.watereducation.org/aquapedia/edmund-g-pat-brown
https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1992-05-27-me-150-story.html

https://www.guttmacher.org/gpr/2003/03/lessons-roe-will-past-be-prologue
https://www.eqca.org/thank-you-brown/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gender_inequality_in_the_United_States

https://www.lib.berkeley.edu/uchistory/archives_exhibits/masterplan/California_Idea.htm
l