By John Caragozian, Karl Manheim and Don Warner

California is in a terrible mess. Everybody knows it, but nobody knows how to fix it. State government is failing its citizens in education, health care, infrastructure, parks and elsewhere. Our chronic budget deficits cause havoc in the delivery of public services and depresses economic growth. City, county and school district budgets are repeatedly raided, the result of trickle-down misery. We know the Golden State has lost its luster when our license plates no longer carry that accolade, but instead sell logos to "help our kids," and fund our firefighters, parks, environment, arts, universities and a variety of other public services that once were among the nation's best. At least it's better than a bake sale.

Not all of the state's woes are economic; even some of those are due to the ongoing economic distress plaguing the nation and much of the developed world. California's problems go far deeper and reach back further than the current recession. The more enduring problems are structural and affect the way we govern ourselves. Thus, while the people of California have retained the right to reform their government "whenever the public good may require it," we often have a hard time exercising that right in a constructive way.

Proposed solutions to California's troubles are not in short supply, but ones that might actually work have been elusive. It seems that nearly every interest group and many civic and government leaders have a "fix" in mind. Many wind up on the ballot. This often results in a bewildering array of complex legislative and constitutional amendments that are put before the voters on a regular basis. But, as it turns out, it is not so easy for the 38 million of us, comprising one of the most diverse populations in the world, to competently exercise our inherent political power.

But something must be done. Ideas for solutions do abound, and a public airing and discussion of those ideas may, over time, lead the state toward workable and effective actions to solve its problems.

To that end, on Friday, Sept. 24, Loyola Law School will host a day-long symposium entitled "Rebooting California: Initiatives, Conventions and Government Reform." The symposium will feature four panels of academic and public policy experts, as well as addresses by former Gov. Gray Davis and Dan Schnur, chair of the California Fair Political Practices Commission. The focus of all the presentations will be the cascade of problems that the state faces and their solutions.

In presenting "Rebooting California," Loyola is not trying to put forward any particular "fix" of its own. We do have an agenda, however, and that is to bring to the surface as much good thinking as it can find about these problems and their possible solutions. This has both short- and long-term aspects. The choice of a date for the symposium that is just 39 days before the November elections was deliberate. On Nov. 2, voters will be faced with electing a new governor, half the Senate, and the entire Assembly. They will vote on five ballot initiatives that purport to bear directly on the future structure and fiscal operations of the state's government. We hope that the ideas put forth at the symposium will have a positive effect.

In the long term, we have even higher hopes. This is reflected in the subject matter to be covered by the four panels that are the main constituent parts of the symposium, and in the choice of experts who will be presenting their ideas and analyses. They are:

Fiscal and Budgetary Problems and Reforms: Panelists will discuss the existing fiscal and budgetary mess, at the state and county/city level, as well as bipartisan approaches to reform. The speakers will be John Coupal, president, Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association; John Heilman, mayor, West Hollywood; Hon. Robert Hertzberg, former speaker, California Assembly and co-chair, California Forward; and Hon. Sheila Kuehl, former member, California State Senate. Dan Walters, senior political writer and columnist for the Sacramento Bee, will moderate.

Electoral and Structural Reforms: Panelists will examine issues such as open primaries, redistricting and alternative methods of election, such as proportional voting. The participants will be Jessica Levinson, director of political reform, Center for Governmental Studies; Justin Levitt, associate professor at Loyola Law School, Los Angeles; Hon. Bruce McPherson, former California secretary of state and member of the leadership council, California Forward; and Allan Ides, Christopher N. May Professor of Law at Loyola Law School. KNBC Political Analyst Sherry Bebitch Jeffe, senior fellow at USC's School of Policy, Planning and Development, will moderate.

Mechanisms for Constitutional Reform: Panelists will cover a range of issues relevant to the difficulties presented by the present California Constitution, including past efforts at reform and the lessons to be derived from them. The speakers will be Thad Kousser, associate professor of political science, University of California, San Diego and visiting associate professor, Bill Lane Center for the West at Stanford University; Steven Miller, Hanson Bridgett LLP and attorney for Repair California; Hon. Joseph Grodin, former associate justice, Supreme Court of California; Ann Lousin, professor, John Marshall Law School; and Rafael Sonenshein, executive director, Los Angeles Charter Reform Commission and professor, California State University, Fullerton. NPR Correspondent Karen Grigsby Bates will moderate.

The Future of Direct Democracy-Reforming the Initiative Process: Panelists will take a close and careful look at the initiative process, an area that many experts feel has soured over time. California's experiment with "direct democracy" (initiative, referendum and recall) is 100 years old. Has it promoted citizen control of government, as was its initial promise, or has it contributed to the demise of our great state? The speakers will be Bruce Cain, director, Institute of Governmental Studies and professor of political science, University of California, Berkeley; Christopher Elmendorf, professor of law, University of California, Davis; Robert Stern, president, Center for Governmental Studies; and Gerald Uelmen, professor, Santa Clara University School of Law. KCRW's Warren Olney, host and executive producer of Which Way, L.A.? and To the Point, will moderate.

All of these panels will, we are sure, provide context, depth and original ideas that will be studied, analyzed and, hopefully, acted upon by future California governments. Loyola Law School offers the symposium in the spirit of open inquiry, open expression, and open debate that we feel must precede any meaningful reform that can provide relief for California's manifold problems.

John Caragozian and Don Warner are adjunct professors at Loyola Law School, Los Angeles. Karl Manheim is a professor of law at Loyola. Complete details of the "Rebooting California" symposium are at www.RebootCA.org.