Our Beginnings

The California State Association of Public Administrators, Public Guardians, and Public Conservators (CA PA|PG|PC) was formed in the early 1960s when California PA|PG|PCs began meeting periodically to foster support and interaction between various county offices statewide. The purpose of these initial first gatherings was to discuss best practices, create a network of resources, provide support for each other and to identify common goals and strategies for improving services to their clients across the state.

By 1965, formal Bylaws were adopted formalizing the Association’s purpose and objectives, which included:

1. Providing support and interaction between PA|PG|PC offices throughout the state
2. Development of an education and training program to establish professional levels of competency for PA|PG|PCs and their staff and provide certification for those individuals who had successfully completed the outlined education and training requirements and
3. Legislative advocacy at the state and county level concerning any laws or regulations pertaining to the offices of PA|PG|PCs in each county

In 1981, the membership recognized the need to further professionalize the activities of PA|PG|PCs and elevated the Association’s status by filing Articles of Incorporation with the State of California, formally establishing itself as a non-profit with the stated purpose to educate and improve the professions of PA|PG|PCs within California.

Although certification was highly encouraged and valued by members, it was not legally required until the legislature enacted the following statutes:

The legislature empowered the PA|PG|PC Association to determine the initial certification and continuing education requirements for all PA|PG|PCs  and their staff with the language:

“…shall comply with the continuing education requirements that are established by the California State Association of Public Administrators, Public Guardians, and Public Conservators.”

Operational Structure

Throughout the Association’s history, the  organization has operated with an all-volunteer Executive Board comprised of PA|PG|PCs from different counties and two part-time contract staff.   It became evident in 2014 that this organizational structure was no longer adequate to meet the growing needs of the membership due to the increase of statewide issues and far-reaching demands being placed on PA|PG|PC programs and their staff.

In order to expand the Association’s presence and influence at the state level, it was decided that a fee paid by all Counties would significantly benefit the membership as a whole. To that end, in September 2015, the membership voted to institute a County fee to fund a professional Executive Office, headed by an Executive Director who would be supported by staff that would grow as the needs of the Association began to change and expand over time.

The purpose of this new Executive Office was to

• Establish a presence at the state level to advocate for funding for PA|PG|PC programs
• Coordinate training standards for PA|PG|PC’s
• Provide individual counties with a subject matter expert resource and
• Provide consistent legislative content consultation to the Association’s legislative advocate

An extensive recruitment was conducted and an Executive Office in Sacramento officially opened in September of 2016.

Our Future

Our commitment continues to be one of service to our members.  We strive to provide relevant training to our immediate community and partners, peer-to-peer networking to improve on shared best practices and legislative advocacy on the state and local level that amplifies our mission while ensuring appropriate PA|PG|PC programs are funded to meet the diverse needs of the clients we serve. Together our future looks bright.