But Mr. Rendon, who is also a political scientist, said that of the three changes, term limits were having the most immediate effect. Mr. Rendon said he had held back a child care bill that would have permitted unions to represent home-based child care workers this year, so he could draft a bill that would draw a broader coalition of support next year.

“We don’t need to solve all the state’s problems in the first year out,” he said.

The fact that these reforms are kicking in at the same time that Democrats enjoy ironclad control of the government makes it difficult to draw long-term conclusions about their effectiveness. Some critics of state governance argued that Democratic dominance and the fact that Mr. Brown has proved to be a moderating force on his party, vetoing certain bills on gun control and immigration, were as much driving factors.

“It’s sort of like the good government community and political elite are doing an end-zone dance at the 45-yard line,” said Joe Mathews, a longtime critic of California’s governance system. “We’ve been in this box for so long, there’s such a natural hunger to say things are doing better that things are going better.”

Senator Kevin de León, a Democrat from Los Angeles, said the chorus crediting the reforms for a turnaround came from the same government reform groups who advocated them — over (not incidentally) the opposition of many political leaders.

“Some years we are the cover of Time magazine as the model state that can teach the country what to do,” he said. “The next cycle it’s, ‘The California Dream has popped.’ It’s too premature.”

As Mr. Mathews noted, ballot initiatives continue to be a force for disruption in California governance — the most notable example being Proposition 13, which severely limited the ability of governments to raise taxes. Two years ago, voters rolled back the requirement that two-thirds of lawmakers approve any spending increase, removing a major impediment in Sacramento, but there remains a two-thirds requirement for raising taxes.

J. Stephen Peace, a former Democratic legislator who is head of the Independent Voter Project, which pressed for the top-two voting system, said the very fact of Democratic dominance was actually evidence of how the reforms were changing the way business is done.