Posted on 07/27/2004 9:46:57 PM PDT by NormsRevenge
LOS ANGELES (AP) - California's messy budget feud may have nicked Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's popularity, but the weeks of frustration steeled his determination to change the way business is conducted in Sacramento, aides said Tuesday. Passage of the $103 billion budget is expected this week - nearly a month beyond the June 30 deadline. In recent trips around the state, Schwarzenegger has pointed to the delay as fresh evidence the Legislature remains outdated, inefficient and a handmaiden of special interests.
The governor's agenda has yet to fully take shape, but aides said he is looking at ideas that range from asking voters next spring to establish a part-time Legislature to imposing blackout periods on political fund-raising. In addition, aides and Schwarzenegger supporters are looking at ways to strip the Legislature of its ability to draw district boundaries, handing the power to a panel of judges or other nonpartisan group.
"This experience with the budget has reinforced" Schwarzenegger's determination to overturn the status quo at the Capitol, said George Gorton, one of the governor's political advisers. Schwarzenegger has said repeatedly that "government and politics needs to be reformed."
The governor is keenly aware of "what needs to change in this building, rather than allowing the building to change him," added Rob Stutzman, Schwarzenegger's chief spokesman.
Government reform has been a centerpiece of Schwarzenegger's agenda since his campaign, when, brandishing a broom, he told voters he would "clean house" at the Capitol. For the state to succeed, "politics as usual must lose," he said the night he was elected.
But little appeared to change with the budget this year, despite the arrival of a popular celebrity governor. The deadline passed. Inertia took hold. When negotiations stalled, the governor set aside talk of bipartisanship and returned to the fiery language of his campaign, at one point calling Democrats "girlie men" for standing in the way of his spending plan.
"For the last couple of weeks, Schwarzenegger's message on the stump has had less to do with budget specifics than positioning the Legislature with a target on its back," said Republican media strategist Dan Schnur. "All signs point to the reemergence of Arnold the Reformer."
At least by one measure, Schwarzenegger was hurt by the budget stalemate. A poll last week by the independent Public Policy Institute pegged the governor's popularity rating at 57 percent - a 7 percentage point slide from the group's May survey, but still an impressive figure for a Republican governor in a Democratic-leaning state.
Pollsters found his support was eroded by his partisan tone in the budget impasse, particularly among Democrats and independents who helped elect him.
Schwarzenegger has talked about seeking a part-time Legislature for months, complaining its members waste time and too often produce pointless legislation. Aides also say the governor could suggest a two-year budget process to avoid the annual struggle to enact a spending plan.
Also, some Schwarzenegger supporters are part of a coalition pushing an initiative on the November ballot that would establish an open-ballot primary, in which all candidates would run on one ballot, regardless of party affiliation. A run-off between the top two finishers would determine the winner. And Schwarzenegger has a separate task force considering ways to streamline government.
"Reform of government - as well as the political system - will continue to be a focus of the governor," Stutzman said. "He talked about it in the campaign, he's talked about blowing up boxes and consolidating services."
Polls have shown the Legislature remains a widely unpopular institution.
Even with Schwarzenegger's slight slip in the polls, "I don't think it reduces his ability to convince the public that we have to change not only the way the Legislature does business, but the way we elect the Legislature," said Democratic consultant Garry South, a longtime adviser to former Gov. Gray Davis, who had his share of friction with the Legislature.
The Associated Press
This year's pending state budget totals: $105.3 billion. The budget for the fiscal year ended June 30 totaled: $107.3 billion.
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Here's how the various spending categories stack up:
Fiscal year 2003-04 2004-05
General funds $77.6 billion $78.8 billion
Special funds $19.4 billion $23.5 billion
Bond funds $10.3 billion $3.0 billion
Total Budget $107.3 billion $105.3 billion
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Budget highlights:
- Eliminates, for the year, a $17 billion budget gap.
- No new taxes.
- Imposes more than $4 billion in spending cuts.
- Trims $2.6 billion from cities and counties over two years.
- Trims $2 billion from schools.
- Includes a $1 billion one-time payment and $300 million in continuing support from five Indian tribes with casinos.
- Relies on nearly $7 billion in borrowing, including $2.7 billion approved by voters in March, a $1 billion transportation money "loan," $1 billion from bonds sold to pay pension costs.
- Also relies on more than $1 billion in accounting gimmicks.
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Among Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's budget concessions:
- Lifts the proposed enrollment cap at state universities.
- Ends a plan to cut wages of home health care workers.
- Provides a cost of living increase to welfare recipients.
- These concessions came after he already gave up most of his plans to cut health and welfare programs and to trim union benefits.
Source: State Department of Finance, Legislative Analyst's Office
We need to strip the Legislature of the ability to ensure job security for incumbents and we need to transform it into a part-time Legislature. I'd start by abolishing the useless upper house and shrink the unicameral legislative membership to 53 - the number of representatives the state sends to the House Of Representatives and link growth of the state legislature in line with population changes. We need a smaller and more responsive legislature that gets the job done at the least cost to the taxpayers.
zeigen Sie ihnen die Aussicht der Arbeitslosigkeit, OHNE die Wahl. In Ordnung!
As a person who grapples with a local public budget each year, we are seeing astronomically increases in costs in workers comp. and liabity, as well as health and retirement benefits. Income is lagging far behind these increases, and as you can see, local government will take more hits as the State pilfers local coffers in the next few years to balance its budget.
To keep the budget level and retain programs, cuts need to be made in overhead, (equipment, buildings, travel, supplies,) the number of personnel, or touch the third rail by reducing union benefits or requiring a larger contribution from employees. On the local government level, overhead and personnel have been cut to the point that the public will no longer receive the same level of services funded by the general fund that they expect. This effects: planning, elections, clerk/recorder, assessor, sheriff/jail, tax collector, auditor, D.A. probation. The cuts teeter on basic public health and safety concerns.
In the north state, government is among the fastest growing industries. The number of voters that are public employees is an increasingly high proportion of the voting population.
In my area, government pay and benefits are higher than the salary/benefits that other locals receive. It would be great if the Governor could get the public leverage to halt some of the annual budgetary growth caused by such factors.
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