California’s next governor must lead from Day 1

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OPINION — California’s next governor to be prepared to lead the state from day one. A gubernatorial transition is one of the most consequential and compressed periods in state government.

In just a few short weeks, a governor-elect must prepare to fill hundreds of critical appointed positions with qualified and effective leaders, understand the intricacies of state government and propose a state budget within days of taking office that will be foundational to accomplishing the next administration’s priorities.

That is a considerable undertaking under any circumstances. In California, where the state serves nearly 40 million people in an economy that, on its own, ranks among the largest in the world, the scale is closer to that of a national government than a typical state administration.

State government’s competence is critical to shoring up confidence in government among California voters. Americans still trust their state governments considerably more than the federal government, which provides state leaders with the opportunity to build the support needed to achieve their campaign promises.

While campaigns are built to win elections, the task of governing requires more than strong messaging or a popular platform. Ronald Reagan’s director of personnel, Scott Faulkner, famously quipped, “personnel is policy” during the 1980 presidential transition, but that’s just as true for our next governor.

That is the opportunity in front of both campaigns right now. The most valuable planning happens well before voters cast their ballots. A transition team that starts early arrives with a pipeline of qualified people ready to serve, with priorities already sequenced for the first budget, and with a transition team set up to achieve these priorities and more.

That preparation is the focus of a new effort in California, drawing on lessons from transitions at the federal level. The Partnership for Public Service, a nonpartisan nonprofit organization, is working with a bipartisan advisory board of former governors, legislative leaders, judges and senior state officials to help strengthen the state’s transition process.

That work began with months of listening: interviews with transition directors, chiefs of staff and agency leaders who served under both Republican and Democratic California governors to document what has worked here and what has not. The common thread across those conversations was that the challenges do not break along party lines.

This is not about politics. Republicans and Democrats may have very different ideas about what state government should do, but every governor benefits from an effective transition. The measure of success is proved out in their ability to navigate a fire, flood or budget shortfall within days of stepping into office. It keeps the programs Californians depend on running while the leadership above them changes. It accesses the institutional knowledge and skills of the workforce to help solve problems. Whoever Californians decide our next governor should be, they should expect that the person they elect is prepared to govern.

A smooth transition helps make good governance from day one possible, and a smooth transition is vital to ensure that our state government can meet the many challenges facing us today and tomorrow.

Keely Bosler directs the Partnership for Public Service’s California Gubernatorial Transition Project; Pete Peterson is Pepperdine’s dean of Public Policy.