Who runs the state of California?

County Structure & Powers

There is a fundamental distinction between a county and a city. Counties lack broad powers of self-government that California cities have (e.g., cities have broad revenue generating authority and counties do not). In addition, legislative control over counties is more complete than it is over cities. Unless restricted by a specific provision of the state Constitution, the Legislature may delegate to the counties any of the functions which belong to the state itself. Conversely, the state may take back to itself and resume the functions which it has delegated to counties (e.g., state funding of trial courts).

Board of Supervisors

Unlike the separation of powers that characterizes the federal and state governments, the Board of Supervisors is both the legislative and the executive authority of the county. It also has quasi-judicial authorities.

Administrative

The County Administrator is the county’s top staff member. While the position has many titles (Chief Executive, County Manager, County Administrative Officer, Chief Administrative Officer, Administrative Coordinator, Administrative Officer, County Administrator, Administrative Director, Administrative Services Director, Executive Officer, County Executive), the functions remain basically the same from county to county. The County Administrator is responsible for the day-to-day functions of the county and prepares the annual budget for the Board of Supervisors.

Agriculture

The Agriculture Department is under the control of the Agricultural Commissioner, who is appointed under state statute and is responsible for the administration and enforcement of all applicable laws and regulations related to environmental and consumer protection.

Assessor

The Assessor is a constitutionally elected official whose main duty is to set values on property. Fiduciary responsibilities encompass managing, planning, organizing and directing all phases of operations in the Assessor’s Office for producing an annual assessment roll. The Assessor has the responsibility for annually discovering and assessing all property within the county.

Auditor-Controller

In 54 of the 58 counties, the Auditor-Controller is an independent, nonpartisan elected office established to provide various accounting and property tax administration services to the county government, special districts, schools and cities. The four counties with appointed officers are: 1) San Francisco, Controller appointed for eight years; 2) Santa Clara, appointed Director of Finance; 3) Los Angeles, appointed Auditor-Controller; and 4) San Diego, appointed Auditor and Controller.

Child Support Services

The mission of the California Child Support Services Program is to promote the well-being of children and the self sufficiency of families by assisting both parents to meet the financial, medical, and emotional needs of their children through the delivery of quality child support establishment, collection and distribution services.

County Clerk

The County Clerks, except in several large counties where they are appointed, are nonpartisan, countywide elected officials serving four-year terms. Due to the complexity of the arrangements in each of the 58 counties in California, the County Clerk may also assume a variety of other duties and its office may be consolidated with other separate, independently elected countywide offices such as the tax collector-treasurer, auditor, assessor, or public guardian.

County Counsel

The County Counsel is the chief civil law officer of the county and provides legal services to the Board of Supervisors, county and court officials, and other agencies and districts. The County Counsel is a statutory officer appointed by the Board of Supervisors and serves a four-year term in general law counties and without a term in some charter counties.

District Attorney

The District Attorney (DA) is a constitutionally elected county official. The District Attorney is responsible for the prosecution of criminal violations of state law and county ordinances occurring within a county under California Government Code Section 26500. This includes investigation and apprehension, as well as prosecution in court. The District Attorney serves as legal advisor to the Grand Jury and, through its family support division, enforces parental financial obligations.

Environmental Health

Fifty-one of the 58 California counties have Environmental Health Departments or divisions. Thirty-three of these departments are located within County Health Agencies, with the balance located in other agencies or as separate agencies. Four California cities (Berkeley, Long Beach, Pasadena, and Vernon) have comprehensive Environmental Health Departments. The State Department of Health Service’s Rural Health Division’s Environmental Health Unit provides environmental health services to 10 of the smaller counties.

Health Service

In California, counties have been providing health care services for almost 150 years. With the exception of local Health Departments operated by the cities of Berkeley, Long Beach, and Pasadena, counties provide a wide variety of health services to all residents of the county, regardless of whether they reside in the unincorporated area or reside within city limits. In other words, the county Health Department is also the cities’ Health Department.

Information Technology

Information Technology and services play a major role in county government operations. Approximately 43 of California’s 58 counties have an appointed chief information officer, or director of technology services. This position serves as the chief technology executive in the county organizational structure, and usually has the responsibility for computer operations, Internet and intranet services, telecommunications facilities, and automated systems integration functions between data, voice and video technology.

Personnel

The Personnel Department is responsible for various human resource programs which provide employment related information and services. In some counties, these programs may be assigned to other staff departments or to some degree may be delegated to line departments. Twenty-eight counties have approved local merit systems and the remaining counties have locally developed personnel systems which otherwise observe various state and federal laws and regulations.

Planning

The state’s Planning and Zoning Law requires that each county establish a Planning Agency to carry out specified planning functions. The agency functions may be delegated to a department, one or more planning commissions, administrative bodies or hearing officers, the legislative body itself or any combination thereof. Recognizing the diversity among county planning operations, “Planning Agency” is a generic term that applies to whichever body performs the designated planning functions.

Probation

Each of California’s 58 counties has a Probation Department; San Francisco has two — one for adults and a separate one for juveniles. The Probation Department, like the sheriff’s department, district attorney’s office, public defender’s office, and courts is a key component of the county’s criminal justice system.

Public Defender

The Public Defender’s Office is responsible for providing legal defense (at all stages of the proceedings) for any person who is not financially able to employ counsel and who is charged with any contempt or offense triable in the superior or municipal court. The Public Defender, appointed by the Board of Supervisors, carries out the office responsibilities with the assistance of deputy counsels and other support staff.

Public Guardian

The Public Guardian-Conservator-Administrator provides mandated conservatorship and estate administration services as specified by the Probate Code and Welfare and Institution’s Code. The organization of these services varies among counties. The Public Guardian, Public Conservator, and/or Public Administrator is personally responsible for these functions, which are delegated within the department.

Public Works

The Public Works Department is responsible for planning, designing, constructing, operating, and maintaining the county’s infrastructure: public roads, transportation systems, bridges, water, wastewater, drainage, and solid waste disposal systems. The department is administered by the Director of Public Works, who is appointed by the Board of Supervisors, and is assisted by necessary administrative and support staff.

Sheriff-Coroner

The Sheriff has three primary duties: keep the peace (e.g., make arrests, respond to calls); attend the courts (e.g., superior court bailiffs); and operate the county jail. All 58 counties in California have a Sheriff’s Department and 48 of those counties also provide for the Sheriff to assume the duties of the Coroner. The Sheriff is a constitutionally elected official. The Coroner, in those counties where the Sheriff doesn’t assume both roles, is responsible for inquiring into and determining the circumstance, manner, and cause of all violent, sudden, or unusual deaths.

Does California have its own government?

The California Legislature has two branches, the State Assembly and the Senate. The Legislature vote on state laws and draft legislation.

Who is the government of California 2022?

November 8, 2022.

How is California governed?

In California, as in the federal government, the power to govern is divided among three equal branches: the executive, the legislative, and the judicial. The executive branch of government executes the laws enacted by the Legislature. Supreme executive power of the State of California is vested in the Governor.

Who holds the supreme executive power in the State of California?

Section 1. Text of Section 1: The supreme executive power of this State is vested in the Governor. The Governor shall see that the law is faithfully executed.