When we pulled together the main page this morning, we missed this outstanding commentary from our own FR State Capitol Correspondent — Senator Jim Battin.
The editorial below ran in the Riverside Press-Enterprise today.
Budget Denial
As deficits ramp up, Democrats need to quit ducking touch choices
By SENATOR JIM BATTIN
I know in polite society we aren’t supposed to say "I told you so," but listening to the latest budget news out of Sacramento, I couldn’t help but think it.
The state’s nonpartisan legislative analyst, Elizabeth Hill, announced this month that California’s budget situation has "deteriorated" by almost $6 billion since the budget was signed in late August. As a result, next year’s budget deficit is conservatively estimated at $10 billion, up from about $3 billion this year. I say conservatively because state revenues are in a tailspin and the deficit could easily be billions of dollars more.
If this sounds like a broken record, here’s why: We’ve been down this road many times. It seems like California can count on two things with certainty: deficits and Democrats’ compulsion to spend more.
Senate Minority Leader Dick Ackerman, R-Tustin, left, Assemblyman Roger Niello, R-Fair Oaks, Gov. Schwarzenegger and Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez, D-Los Angeles, revel in a budget-signing ceremony at the Capitol in August. Truth is, the budget was out of balance that very day.
This year is shaping up to be more of the same. The budget passed by the Assembly in June and sent to the Senate for approval was loaded with budget shenanigans. It wasn’t balanced, and, worse, it had deficits growing into the future.
I remember a conversation that my Senate Republican colleagues and I had about what we should do with the Assembly budget. The easy — and irresponsible — thing was to put up the necessary votes and pack up for the summer recess like the Assembly did.
But it was obvious the state could no longer count on "growing" its way out of our budget problems, and we needed to take a stand. So we did.
At my suggestion, the 15 Senate Republicans agreed not to put up the two necessary Republican votes until a majority of us agreed the budget could be supported. We blocked the budget for 52 days with a simple demand: Democrats had to make serious, fiscally responsible decisions to bring our budget into balance.
Accounting Gimmicks
Well, we clearly hit a nerve.
Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez accused us of living in a different reality, of being "renegades" who were "holding the people of this state hostage" and employing "bullying tactics."
Senate leader Don Perata declared that he wouldn’t let "a small group of right-wingers terrorize the state."
In the end, however, I believe this Senate Republican "Rule of 8" was fundamentally responsible for trimming an additional $2 billion from our budget deficit. Still, the budget was far from perfect, and it could attract only two Republican votes to pass.
I was not one of them. The budget was based on accounting gimmicks and unrealistic — or false — assumptions.
The problem is that there were billions of dollars in what analysts call "uncertainties," or what families know as bills coming due. These budget uncertainties could, and should, have been dealt with this year.
Revenues from tribal gaming were inflated by more than $100 million because Assembly Democrats held up their ratification for more than a year and a $500 million court decision that California lost was ignored, as were $350 million in pending state personnel agreements. The Legislature chose to pretend a drop in existing revenues didn’t happen and wildly inflated tax revenue projections for next year despite clear signs of a slowdown.
Once the budget passed, Sacramento politicians did what they do best and put the best spin on things.
Nunez called it a balanced budget that Californians should be proud of, a budget that was "tight-fisted and fiscally sound."
Perata said it was the "best we can do" and even the governor called it a "responsible budget."
They were all wrong. It was none of those things.
The budget was out of balance the day it was signed.
Little to Be Proud of
My Republican colleagues who voted against the budget and I did so because Californians deserve straight talk and responsibility from our leaders. Our warnings were dramatically underscored this month by the legislative analyst. The budget wasn’t down to bare bones, there was little to be proud of and the limitations were erected by a Democrat majority that can’t stop spending.
Taxpayers expect legislators to make the hard decisions that will keep our state financially secure. Senate Republicans have proposed billions of dollars in reforms, common-sense budget cuts and the elimination of wasteful spending. Democrats ignored us last year, but Republicans are ready to fight for these proposals again.
The Legislature needs to come back and deal with our budget crisis. It’s time to get to work — this time for real.