What Are the Strengths and Weaknesses of the Policy Making Process? What Constitutional Questions Do They Raise? What Constitutional Changes Are Needed to Address These Questions?

The policy making process in CA plays an instrumental role in the prosperity and quality of life that exist today, and will exist in the future for CA. Public policy can be defined as a public response to public problems. It's what the government says and does about these problems. Policy is when government and nongovernmental agents work together to create solutions for the public at large. The policy actors are formal, as well as informal; they are individuals or groups, which bring about the influence needed to implement public solutions. There are numerous issues within CA that are increasing the strain placed on the policy making process. The biggest challenge CA faces in the next few decades is meeting the needs of a growing population. It is estimated that by 2020 CA's population is going to expand to surpass 45 million people. How is the policy process going to create an infrastructure to accommodate the needs of a not only an expanding, but also a largely socially diverse population? There are going to be strings pulled in so many directions, that the policy making process is going to have a very difficult time efficiently making decisions to deal with pressing problems. And, the scary part about all this, is the fact that the policy making process is basically a game. Policy actors are using every means possible to get the results they want, and they aren't necessarily representing the public interest. They have strategies that they use to maximize their interests. The essential skills needed are bureaucratic knowledge, networking (or access to individuals within the bureaucracy), an understanding of the size of constituency, money for political contributions, and the resources to mount a media driven campaign. But ever all this isn't enough; they also need to know all the rules and the culture of the policy environment. The strengths of the policy making process are few, but worth mentioning. One of the strengths of the policy making process