Posted on 10/28/2005 9:23:26 AM PDT by NormsRevenge
For too many years, the California Legislature has been treating the public treasury with about as much consideration as a shopaholic treats a Visa card with no credit limit.
Like all addicts, state lawmakers protest that they can stop spending any time they want. Really. But it's clear they can't. Otherwise, their bad habits wouldn't have continued when state revenue was shrinking. And why should they? There were virtually no consequences to their irresponsible actions other than getting re-elected.
Proposition 76, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's "Live Within Our Means" act, is the addiction intervention the state desperately needs before it bottoms out and takes the entire California economy down with it.
Very simply, it's a conservative spending formula - like something your no-nonsense accountant might think up - that insulates the coffers from severe fluctuations in cash flow, such as the dot-com bust a few years ago, while providing a modest spending allowance when times are good.
Critics complain that Proposition 76 is flawed because it places too much power in the hands of the governor. It does transfer some fiduciary responsibility to the governor, but it also - and this is the important part - assigns real accountability to both the governor and the Legislature to deal with fluctuating revenues before the end of the year. The governor is only compelled to cut spending if the Legislature doesn't do it first.
Currently, there's no process to readjust the budget midyear should the financial picture change with a slowing of tax revenue. If income goes down, the Legislature waits until the next year's budget process to address it. Or not, as has too often been the case.
The leadership of the California Legislature is campaigning against this measure because it limits the politicians' ability to spend. The Proposition 76 formula has an annual spending-increase allowance of the average tax-revenue growth rate of the past three years, and it allows the suspension of guarantees to education spending from Proposition 98 should this situation become dire.
This criticism misses the entire point. Proposition 76 will help the state avoid tough financial times by putting its finances on solid financial ground where it doesn't pitch violently from feast to famine.
It's time we make the Sacramento politicians practice some restraint in spending our money. This measure is the tool to make that happen. We strongly urge voters to help lawmakers help themselves by voting yes on Proposition 76.
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I agree that we need to kick this big spenders ovement in government as a whole..
I am not convinced Prop 76 is anything more than more of the same old, bottom line.
Prop 76.. "Live Within Our Means" act, is the addiction intervention ..
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Seems more like a 'Methadone' quicky cure for the Big Spenders in Sacramento, or is it just another gimmick?
I don't think we need them any more doped up than they already are. ;-)
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