The State of California now has a permanent way for people living in the state to have meaningful conversations with their government. Engaged California is the first program of its kind in the nation. It lets Californians tell their government what matters to them across a series of topics. The goal is better policy.
On September 19, Governor Gavin Newsom signed Assembly Bill 2103, authored by Assemblymember Jacqui Irwin (D-Thousand Oaks). The law makes Engaged California permanent. The California Office of Data and Innovation (ODI) runs it.
The program has 3 goals:
- Help Californians have honest, respectful discussions about hard topics
- Make sure government hears them
- Use what they say to make better policy
Giving Californians a voice
Our first conversation was with people affected by the LA wildfires. In early 2025, Engaged California gave more than 900 people affected by the Eaton and Palisades fires a structured way to help set recovery priorities.
Our second engagement brought together more than 1,400 state employees to propose ways to make government work better. Both were text-based, with people joining whenever they could.
The third engagement launched this spring with a new feature: live discussions. Over 2,700 Californians shared how AI is changing their work and told us what they want the state to do about it.
It started with an online survey, like the first 2. Then we invited people to go further and join a 2-hour online discussion with other Californians to dive deeper into the topic.
We used a lottery to pick over a hundred people who reflect California’s mix of regions, ages, incomes, genders, and perspectives on AI and occupations. They met in 14 small groups over Zoom, each with a trained facilitator. They talked through real tradeoffs. ODI staff analyzed their input, and with the help of AI tools, organized what people said into themes and priority topics. We released the full report on October 13.
Engagement leads to action
The state has committed to use what Californians said. The Governor’s May executive order on AI and the workforce directs state departments to incorporate the engagement’s findings wherever practicable. This path from input to action is something people are asking for. People talk through it, and the government agrees ahead of time to listen.
This is the most significant deliberative democracy reform enacted by any American state since Oregon made its Citizens’ Initiative Review permanent in 2011.
AB 2103 creates the program and its rules. The law does not require future leaders to act on what people say. That still depends on leaders who choose to ask and to listen.
California has always been a place where bold ideas take root. And with the creation of Engaged California, the state has done something truly historic: built a first-in-the-nation deliberative democracy platform that puts the people’s voices at the center of government. This is a victory for Californians. This law gives them a seat at the table when it comes to the policies and programs that shape their lives.
—Jeffery Marino, Director, ODI
A collaboration rooted in expertise and shared values
Engaged California represents a deep collaboration between ODI and the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. We’ve brought together technologists, policymakers, civic design experts, and researchers to harness emerging best practices in democracy innovation. Our joint mission is to make public engagement more inclusive and informed so that every voice can be heard in policy decisions, no matter what.
To see why that matters, look at what is already stirring in American democracy, most of it far from state capitols. In Petaluma, a lottery-selected panel of residents settled a years-long fight over the city fairgrounds. In Deschutes County, Oregon, a civic assembly produced 2 dozen recommendations on youth homelessness. Fort Collins voters approved an assembly’s plan for an old stadium site. This year, Los Angeles convened residents to weigh changes to the city charter. Each is a real achievement. Each has also depended on a nonprofit, a foundation, or a willing city council. When the grant ends or the council turns over, the work can end with it. California has now written this process into law as a part of how the state does its business.
“Plenty of governments ask the public what it thinks,” said Micah Weinberg, Nonresident Scholar at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. “Very few have a standing way to bring people together to work through hard tradeoffs and then account for what they heard. California built one in under 2 years, moving from written comments after the Los Angeles fires to live discussions among residents chosen by lottery. Now that it is law, it will outlast any one governor or partner organization, and legislative leaders as well as the administration can put questions to Californians.”
Across the country, this kind of work is still rare. Years of trials show that everyday people, given time and good information, can help their government make good choices. California has now said this is not an experiment. It is how the state plans to govern.
Thank you to the nearly 20,000 Californians who have participated in our deliberative democracy discussions since February 2025.
Sign up to stay in touch with us when the next engagement opens in 2027.