SPD on democracy and the state

The SPD wants to strengthen the public sector in staff and resources and update the law on staff representation. In its view, austerity and privatization have weakened municipalities and public administration, and it wants to reverse this.

Public offices, schools and police are part of the public sector. The SPD says they lack money and staff. First it wants to check what is needed everywhere. Employees should have more say. The state should be a good employer.

A thorough review of needs across all areas of state activity is planned, involving citizens, employees and unions. The platform lists long planning procedures, gaps in public services, staff shortages and missing funds for digitalizing administration as results of past policy. Training in the public sector is to be expanded.

The SPD wants a state law to strengthen democracy and diversity, along with a state program to promote democracy. New forms of public participation such as citizens' assemblies are to be tested as pilot projects. In the platform's view, engaged citizens are the best protection for democracy.

The SPD wants a new law for democracy and diversity in Bavaria. A state program should support civic engagement and civic education. Bavaria should try out citizens' assemblies. In a citizens' assembly, randomly chosen people discuss political questions.

A well-funded state program is to support civic engagement and civic education. A dedicated unit in the State Chancellery is to coordinate the program's goals and measures, because the SPD sees promoting democracy and fighting racism and antisemitism as a task for all ministries. The platform names citizens' assemblies and future forums as new participation formats. A democracy inquiry commission is to discuss reforms of parliamentary procedures and how they link with civic education.

The SPD wants to create a comprehensive freedom of information and transparency law for Bavaria. Everyone is to have free digital access to information on government action without having to give a reason, because the party sees this as a core part of a living democracy.

The SPD wants a new law for more openness. Government offices should put information about their work online on their own. Everyone should be able to read it for free. Nobody has to say why they want to see it.

The law is to cover both state and municipal bodies, and agencies are to publish the information proactively. Oversight is to fall to the Bavarian State Commissioner for Data Protection, whose powers would be expanded for this purpose. The office is to receive the staff and technology it needs. The platform describes access to official information as a precondition for exercising rights, participating and forming political opinions.

The SPD wants to introduce a youth check in Bavaria. Future bills would be reviewed for their effects on young people. The platform argues that decisions made today will shape the coming decades.

The SPD wants a youth check for Bavaria. This is a test for new laws. The test asks: Is the law good for young people? The SPD wants politics to pay more attention to the young.

The youth check would apply at the state level and examine new bills for their suitability for the younger generation. According to the platform, shortcomings in housing, climate and education policy hit young people hardest. The SPD describes its approach as youth policy on equal terms and points to the burdens young people carried during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The SPD wants to lower the voting age for local, state and federal elections to 16 as a first step. Young people should not only learn about democracy in class but be able to take part in decisions themselves.

The SPD wants young people to vote from age 16. This should apply to all elections. Today they can only vote in Bavaria from age 18. The SPD says young people should have a say.

The platform calls the reduction to 16 a first step and wants it to apply at every political level. The SPD argues that youth parliaments, clubs and school lessons offer first contact with democracy but hardly any direct influence on decisions. The party also sees voting rights as a way of putting into practice children's and young people's right to have a say.

The SPD wants to involve young people more closely in local government and anchor youth issues in the municipal code. Clubs and associations doing youth work would receive more money from the state budget.

The SPD wants young people to have more say in their town. Local councils should have to discuss youth topics. This should be written into law. Youth clubs and groups should get more money.

The platform sees youth parliaments as a good start whose decisions often lead nowhere. As proven examples, the SPD cites neighborhood budgets for children and young people and fixed sponsorships by council members and administrators for decisions taken by youth bodies. As a first step, the Bavarian municipal code would require county, city and local councils to deal with youth issues. Budget funds for youth work would be adjusted because these associations provide social ties and education outside school.

The SPD wants a state law that gives older people a binding say in politics. Municipalities are to be required to set up seniors' advisory councils.

Older people should have more say in politics. The SPD wants a new law for this. Every town must then have a seniors' council. The council may speak and submit motions.

The law is meant to strengthen seniors' role in forming political opinion. It is to contain rights to participate and exert influence. The councils in municipalities are to get minimum standards, including the right to speak and the right to submit motions.

The SPD stands by the Bezirke (Bavaria's districts) as the third level of local government and wants to give citizens of EU countries the right to vote in district elections. It rejects privatizing district-run institutions.

Bavaria has seven districts with their own assemblies. People from other EU countries cannot vote there today. The SPD wants to change that. District institutions should not go to private companies.

The program points out that EU citizens may vote in municipal elections but not in district elections. Districts are to be put on equal footing with the other local levels in voting law. The SPD sees district assemblies as a link between the administration and the public and highlights the districts' work in psychiatric care. It rejects efforts to privatize district institutions.