They can't. The legislature has carefully designed things over the years so that they are all but unaccountable to the people who elect them - or rather, the people they select to elect them. Gerrymandering, high salaries, plenty of perks, and immense districts, plus the vast distance to travel to Sacramento, serve to guarantee that involving oneself in the California legislative process is either a waste of time or cost- and time-prohibitive for all but the richest people. Term limits just mean that a career politician jumps from one role to another, rather than preventing careerism in the first place, and guarantees that a new crop of freshmen every session can be easily indoctrinated and bullied into submission.
On the other hand, my town here in New Hampshire of 30,000 people has eight state representatives, and home school freedom is expanding, not contracting.
"...Cherish therefore the spirit of our people, and keep alive their attention. Do not be too severe upon their errors, but reclaim them by enlightening them. If once they become inattentive to the public affairs, you & I, & Congress & Assemblies, judges & governors shall all become wolves. ..." --Jefferson to Edward Carrington, Jan. 16, 1787 http://tinyurl.com/46x5d