(iPoster) California’s County-Level Civil Grand Juries: Unleashed Local Watchdogs

• In Event: Poster Session: Public Policy & Urban and Local Politics
  In Poster Session: Poster Session: Urban and Local Politics

Abstract

In an age of misinformation and disinformation, what tools does the public have to learn the truth about their local governments and officials? Beyond word of mouth, public meetings, government records, and media reports, are there other institutions at the local level that can cut through the fog of mis- and disinformation? The short answer is yes. California has 40 million residents living across 58 counties. Every year, state law mandates that each county convenes a civil grand jury to investigate, author reports, declare findings, and make recommendations to local governments. Civil grand juries are the public’s watchdog conducting unfettered oversight of local governments. Interestingly, they function as third-party actors with complete discretionary investigatory and information revelation power on the behavior of local political actors and institutions. And by state law, all investigated local governments must respond to the findings and recommendations issued by its county civil grand jury. This paper introduces civil grand juries to the political science community, presents a model of the interaction between civil grand juries and local governments, and describes a new database of 2023-2024 county civil grand jury reports, findings, and recommendations, and responses by local governments. This database contains over 200 unique reports with at least 1,400 unique findings and recommendations targeted at local governments.

Author

• Josue Alejandro Franco, Cuyamaca College