Green Party of California Structure

Party
General Assembly
County Councils
Officers
Committees
Affiliations


Party
The Green Party of California (GPCA) is a political party under the California State Elections Code. State law defines how political parties participate in the electoral process, but leaves much of their internal organization up to them. As one of the Green Party Ten Key Values is Grassroots Democracy, the GPCA is committed to operating in a manner which empowers registered Greens to have a say in decisions of the Party.

General Assembly
The highest GPCA decision-making body is the bi-annual General Assembly, consisting of delegates from active county Green Parties. The number of delegates allocated to each county is roughly proportional, based on the number of Green registrants in that county.  Among its regular duties, the General Assembly approves the party platform and budget, confirms the state party Treasurer and governmental Liaison to the Secretary of State, and decides whom to tell the California Secretary of State to put on the Green presidential primary ballot. There is also an on-line version of the General Assembly called the Standing General Assembly, which meets on-line and makes decisions via a web-based voting page approximately three times a year

Officers
The Green Party of California does not have traditional state party co-chairs. Rather a team of officers and officials perform specific statewide roles.  They include the Liaison to the Secretary of State, who represents the GPCA to the office of the Secretary of State and the Treasurer, who performs normal functions of a party treasurer. Both are nominated by the Coordinating Committee and confirmed by a vote of the General Assembly. They also include Spokespeople, who represents the GPCA to the media and the general public and are appointed by the Communications Committee and the Coordinating Committee Co-Coordinators, who are the co-coordinators of the party's administer the committee and are selected by the committee itself.

County Councils
In the primary election every four years, registered Greens in each county elect members of Green Party County Councils. The County Council is the legal body of the GPCA on the county level and is responsible for compliance with state and local election laws. County Councils hold public meetings, have their own bylaws and are generally responsible for organizing and coordinating Green Party activity in their county and for representing the county to the state party.

Committees
In between General Assemblies, a 24-member state Coordinating Committee oversees the ongoing work of the state party, coordinates state meetings and maintains internal communications. The Coordinating Committee is elected by the Standing General Assembly, with six female and six any gender members elected annually to two-year staggered terms, in at-large proportional representation elections by ranked-choice voting. The Standing Committees carry out work in specific areas and develop proposals for the General Assembly, and their members are appointed by the Coordinating Committee. Committees have regular monthly meetings conducted as they see fit. To facilitate communication, Coordinating Committee members act as liaisons to each committee.

Affiliations
Nationally the GPCA is affiliated with the Green Party of the United States, and the GPCA delegation to the GPUS is elected by the General Assembly. Internationally, the GPUS is a member party of the Federacion de Partidos Verdes de las Americas and the Global Greens.