As the drumbeat to further dampen our economy with new or increased taxation on the citizens of California gets louder, one has to wonder why the reforms that would help prevent us from being in this condition ever again do not receive other than passing press coverage. Instead we get the constant push to compromise more of OPM, Other People’s Money, from their wallets into state coffers, as well as a few grudging reductions in the rate of increase of spending…not cuts, just a reduced rate of increase, which is always distorted in the news as draconian cuts. When the latest projections of the revenue stream to the state have been further reduced by another $7 Billion, it doesn’t take an astronaut to realize that "Houston, we have a problem" in this atmosphere.
Today’s State Of The State speech by the Governor properly underlined that the entire focus of the Legislature and the Guv should be solving our budget catastrophe. Republicans have been firm during my previous 6 years and moving into this new session that any "fix" without reform is no fix at all. Not a fake reform that puts a window dressing on the issue to "get out of town" on. Anything other than the budget discussion is folly anyhow as most of what government does requires money.
Numerous efforts have been made to keep the focus on doing budget work only, limiting the number of bills that can be introduced or legislation, tried several times, to have a 2 year budget. Have the 2 year session be one year on budget, the other on needed legislation and here’s an idea: include oversight of state operations and performance hearings on relevant things like what we’re getting for our tax dollars instead of hearings on how green the state’s auto fleet and buildings are. Those bills on light bulb bans and compulsive pet neutering could wait til the 2nd year, doncha think? Senator Steinberg was moving in the right direction in proposing limiting bills to "only" 30 per member. [If my memory serves me, the limit was 30, then increased to 40 in ’03 in the Assembly.]
I share Ray Haynes frustration that the point he has been articulating in our caucus discussions and publicly, for many years and many budgets, has been one of controlling spending and why that is a Republican goal and core value…only to have that obfuscated in the media by his observation that it is also a Republican political reality that a Republican should stand for these things as it is very likely one of the positions you campaigned on and the voters responded to when they vote you into office.
Wearing your political hat for a moment, if you as a legislator do other than you said you would, there could be a ramification at your next election, as well as the bad economic effects, of voting in the new taxes you told the voters you would not do. Ray has talked to us here about how if we had just limited spending to a lesser rate of growth, such as the rate of inflation, during the last 4, 6, 8, any number of years, we wouldn’t be in this tar pit. That perhaps looking back to spending at a level as if we had done so shows us where to find reductions right now. Of course now this spending is an expectation, or, ruled by courts as a "right."
My observations of my colleages at the time was that they didn’t need to run it through a political filter to know that these same new tax ideas were harmful to economic growth and to the people’s own choices and liberties. It really does come from a belief system that the unchecked growth of government will only result in where we are now, not that it is some how fun to fight for months over a late budget or make tax pledges…but a belief system, values, simple mathematics…wow.
I concur with the Governor’s view that it is indeed sad: the silence of the bullsdozers, the cement trucks, the nail guns, the new water supply that would be a vibrant part of a good economy and that are also the best hope for recovery for this one. Perhaps concurrently with fixing the budget, we can spur things and accomplish the much needed relief from the crushing regulations being inflicted now and much moreso in the future, such as stupid AB32/global warming and CEQA regs and lawsuits, and "one left hand doesn’t know what the other left hand is doing" diesel engine requirements being shoved out of CARB onto small mom and pop trucking and construction companies.
There’s plenty of places to start drilling first for the new oil to lubricate an improved economy besides your wallet.