reason.org
Posted on 08/26/2003 4:28:02 PM PDT by NormsRevenge
| For Immediate Release: August 21, 2003
SAN FRANCISCO – In his “no apology” speech on Tuesday, California Governor Gray Davis said that he “takes responsibility” for the “difficult time” California is experiencing. But he failed to mention that California’s budget crisis could have been averted if he had continued the assessment of the state’s core governing functions started by former governor Pete Wilson, thereby limiting spending to essential government services. In 1995, Governor Wilson requested that all agencies examine their missions and determine their core responsibilities. The Governor’s Council on Information Technology reported in 1995: “Just as California’s families focus on essentials when their budgets are tight, we want our government doing only what it should do, not what it might do. We do not want government to make a function more efficient if it should not be performing that function at all. The key is to focus on resultsæwhat needs to be done and then doing it well.” On February 7, 1996, Governor Wilson ordered all departments to essentially justify their existence and programs. This type of governmental review was halted under the Davis administration and as a result spending surged 36 percent in his first term. Had Governor Davis undertaken and completed a core-functions review, he would have been able to balance the budget without relying on tax increases (the vehicle license fee has been tripled) or borrowing. Whoever is California’s governor after the recall election, that person already has the tools necessary to bring sanity back to the state budget without further damaging the economy with more taxes and regulations. The Evergreen Freedom Foundation in Olympia, Washington, has published The Stewardship Project, a how-to manual being used by state officials across the country to determine core state functions. The Pacific Research Institute (PRI) in San Francisco has published California by the Numbers, a study that shows how California lawmakers can eliminate the state’s budget deficit without raising taxes and also revitalize the state’s economy. PRI study co-author Lawrence J. McQuillan, director of PRI’s Business and Economic Studies, says “the evidence is overwhelming: California is falling behind the other states. To catch up, lawmakers must lower taxes, scrap burdensome regulations and unnecessary spending, and allow greater consumer choice. Only pro-growth policies will create an entrepreneurial climate yielding new businesses and jobs and a growing tax base sufficient to pay for essential government services without deficits,” he said. A core-functions review is critical for the long-term health of California’s economy. If it had been implemented by Davis, it would have allowed state officials to cut spending this year to the 1998 level, adjusted for inflation and population growth, yet maintain essential services, which would have balanced the budget without tax increases or borrowing. To view the studies online: The Stewardship Project |
Well, at least look at it, OK 8-?
Open minds .. Open hearts.. Is all we ask. ;-)
BRAC .... uummmUUMMM Good!!! and good for you too!
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Senator McClintock's BRAC Legislation is Approved by the California Senate |
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Senator Tom McClintock
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Date: July 27, 2003
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Publication Type: Press Release
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Measure sets up a Bureaucracy Realignment and Closure Commission to identify, downsize or eliminate obsolete state bureaucracie.
(Sacramento) – Senate Bill 9 by State Senator Tom McClintock (R-Thousand Oaks) was approved today by the California State Senate by a vote of 36 to 0. The bill sets up a Bureaucracy Realignment and Closure Commission (BRAC) to identify, downsize or eliminate obsolete state government bureaucracies. The legislation is modeled after the federal military base realignment and closure commission which successfully closed 90 obsolete military bases, saving $20 billion per year. Senator McClintock’s legislation, SB 9, applies the same mechanism to a similar problem: how to identify, downsize or eliminate obsolete bureaucracies in state government. The difficulty in conducting such a review – and acting upon it – is that every program has a highly motivated constituency that jealously and expertly guards its budget. Faced with the long overdue need to close obsolete military bases, the federal government confronted the same paralysis caused by interest group pressure. Ultimately, Congress broke the gridlock when it took the task of reviewing bases out of the political arena and gave it to an independent panel of management experts that returned a comprehensive recommendation for a single up-or-down vote. SB 9 will empanel an independent commission of management experts to examine state bureaucracies to determine which ones perform obsolete or duplicate services. The plan will then be presented to the Legislature for a single yes or no vote. “I think we all agree that this government could operate a lot more efficiently,” said Senator McClintock. The bill next moves to the California State Assembly. |
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Hasta La Vista Arnold, this ain't the movies. We need real people to fix real problems.
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| Tue Aug 26, 8:13 PM ET |
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Art Pulaski (R), executive secretary/treasurer of the California Labor Federation/AFL-CIO holds up a photograph of former California Governor Pete Wilson embracing recall candidate Arnold Schwarzenegger as current Governor Gray Davis (L) looks on in Manhattan Beach, California, August 26, 2003. Leaders urged workers in a special convention regarding California's October 7 recall election to vote no on the recall. (Robert Galbraith/Reuters) |
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