Committee hears questions about $5 million for 'Engage California' digital democracy platform

Senator Ochoa Bog asked the committee for more specifics about a $5 million appropriation for the Office of Data Innovation for citizen assemblies and digital democracy. Department of Finance staff described the Engage California platform as a statewide engagement tool piloted with state workers, wildfire survivors and a deliberative‑democracy pilot in Oakland.

Brandon from the Department of Finance said the funding supports “Engage California and other activities to make California government operations more efficient” and described the platform as intended to let Californians “participate in government discussions, influence policy, and collaborate on solutions beyond election cycles.” Senators requested a written briefing on who would have access to the data and how responses would be used to inform policy.