California politics, from the Sacramento statehouse and statewide ballot measures to the state's Washington delegation.
California moved its capital four times before settling in Sacramento in 1854, and the classical domed building that construction began in 1860 remains the working center of the state's government.
Nearly 70 percent of California voters rolled back parts of 2014's Proposition 47, raising penalties for repeat theft and hard-drug offenses and creating treatment-mandated court tracks that counties are still building.
Since 1911 Californians have held the power to write their own statutes and constitutional amendments, and the road from idea to ballot runs through a signature quota set by the last gubernatorial election.
California's 120 legislators push roughly 2,000 bills through a two-year cycle each session, and the calendar of deadlines, not the floor votes, decides most of what passes.