Posted on 02/04/2006 11:08:30 AM PST by NormsRevenge
Before the governor and Legislature decide on any infrastructure bond proposals, they need to settle two key questions: What projects does the state need most, and who decides where the money goes?
Without an answer, a welcome new focus on the state's public facilities could produce a boondoggle.
Gov. Schwarzenegger last month proposed a 10-year, $222 billion Strategic Growth Plan, including $68 billion in state bonds, to invest in roads, schools, water systems, prisons and courts. Not to be outdone, legislative Democrats have floated their own bond plans, with differing priorities.
There is room to debate whether the state should invest in affordable housing, environmental protection or seismic retrofitting for hospitals, as Democrats propose. And it is worth discussing the right mix of investment in roads and mass transit.
But ideas such as using $2.3 billion in bond money to repay what legislators previously borrowed from Prop. 42 transportation money deserve quick dismissal.
Democrats properly criticize the governor's plan for centralizing control over projects. The state's legislative analyst notes that Schwarzenegger's water proposals would give the governor wide powers to decide what to fund and make key water-policy decisions without legislative consultation.
And the governor's transportation bond plans would bypass the time-tested process whereby three-quarters of new transportation spending flows to projects prioritized by local agencies. Instead, the state would set project priorities, opening the door to using political gain -- rather than transportation needs -- to determine which projects get done.
The question of who sets the priorities also highlights another issue. No one has really studied what projects the state needs, and in what order. State law requires the governor each year to prepare a five-year plan for state infrastructure development, but the last such plan is dated 2003. Without some research into what public works California requires, any infrastructure plan could become a political pork casserole.
Californians recognize the need to invest in roads, schools and other projects. But taxpayers deserve to have local needs play a central role in the process. And they have a right to see public money spent on priority projects that serve public, and not political, goals.
Without some research into what public works California requires, any infrastructure plan could become a political pork casserole.
---
pork pork pork
Who has the biggest union? Schools?
Los Californios are total amateurs when it comes to graft and corruption.
For real fraud, waste, and abuse, you need to come to New York, the Vampire State.
NY is the state where the special tax on cell phones (earmarked to provide the ability to locate a cellular 911 call) was stolen and squandered by the Pols, leading to the deaths of several teenagers whose boat sank in Long Island Sound. Yes, the families are suing the state.
The "dedicated highway & bridge trust fund" which is supposed to be a "locked box" to channel motor fuel taxes into transportation, gets raided every year to balance the budget. To make up the difference, capital monies (from bonds, etc.) are diverted into maintenance projects that were formerly pay-as-you-go.
The result is that the entire dedicated revenue stream (which gets looted anyway) will be committed to debt service by 2008.
Oh, come on! Amateurs? We have Prop 42 funds raided annually (similar to your H&B trust fund). Since they haven't paid for maintenance or new infrastructure, they are proposing a new $220 Billion dollar "strategic growth plan" (with mega-bonds). The Bay Bridge project ranks with the best of them for how projects *shouldn't* be managed. Our bond servicing costs are rising at record rates. We borrow billions to pay for General Fund expenses and project operating deficits for years into the future. Heck, our bond issues are keepin' your bankers in the finest of excesses. We have the $3 Billion dollar stem-cell boondoggle, taxpayer funds going to a totally unaccountable quasi-government bureaucracy. And our Public Utilities Commission just bypassed the legislature in a move to soak ratepayers for $3 billion to subsidize solar roofs. And we're really moving out on government babysitting.... 1/2 Billion for After School Programs and Rob Reiner wanting your children through his Universal Pre-School initiative. We may not have caught up with New York, but we are well on our way! Please give credit where credit is due! << grin >>
Los Californios are total amateurs when it comes to graft and corruption. For real fraud, waste, and abuse, you need to come to New York...
--
In fact, many have come to California from New York to build careers and make their fortunes, politically or otherwise.
How are you doing on Public Authorities in CA?
Here in NY, to get around that annoying law requiring all borrowing to be voter-approved, we have "Public Authorities", each with the power to bond. It started with a few, like the Thruway Authority (bonds backed up by tolls) but now we're down to zillions of "Development Authorities," some of which have the power to tax also.
My favorite was when former Governor Cuomo (D) did an elaborate financial shell game that involved selling several State prisons to the Dormitory Authority (?) and then using the authority's bonds to balance the budget.
Current Gov. Pataki (R) "sold" the canal system and two downstate non-toll Interstate highways to the Thruway Authority. You see, the original construction bonds for the Thruway were paid off, and some of those darn voters were calling for the promised removal of the Thruway tolls. Pataki & Co. had to find a home for all those toll dollars, and quick!
We've got about 8000 of these turkeys in CA and some of them can set up a kind of bonding authority without direct elected governance of, for and by "the people!"
I'm not sure we have something comparable to "Development Authorities," because CA's favorite political pastime is deamonization of anything to do with ANY development. So we probably just call it something else...
Oh, we have bunches of those Public Authorities, too. Google gave me 156,000 hits searching for "Public Authority and California". Of course, replacing California with "New York", I got 225,000. We do have some catching up to do.
How are you folks doing with Conservancies? We just put 25 million acres under an umbrella for these quasi-government groups to roam freely imposing their will on property owners. Heck, some of them even have their very own park rangers, armed with guns, roaming around like some special police force.
Dormitory Authority? ROFL.
I think Norms right... some of your bunch has relocated to California. We are bound to catch up quickly.
We have BUNCHES of Development Authorities!
Every time I get close to one the stench is overwhelming!
Heck, we even have Authorities overseeing Authorities, like the "California Statewide Communities Development Authority "
Where exactly is that "statewide community" that they refer to? LOL
Well, cowgirl, ya have ta think in terms of Communutty, you know, as in Commune?! They have five year plans and a Stalin in each one!!! Ha Ha Ha!!!
An LATimes columnist referenced the $68 billion bond when he wrote about the universal taxpayer-provided preschool proposition on the June 2006 ballot.
Preschool Initiative's Misguided Approach, by Michael Hiltzik, 2/2/06
...
The funding would come from a 1.7% tax on household incomes over $800,000. This would boost those taxpayers' top marginal rate to 11% and yield about $2.4 billion a year by 2010.
...
How else might the state spend $2.4 billion in annual revenue? Might any of that spending be equally necessary — or more so?
...
That $2.4 billion would pay the annual interest on a $53-billion infrastructure bond (at 4.5%), allowing Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to almost double his infrastructure plan. It could rebuild the Sacramento Delta levees, the condition of which threatens the lives, homes and livelihoods of millions of Californians.
...
If the Reiner initiative passes, not a dime of that money would be available for anything but preschool. Ever.
...
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.