CA: 'Big 5' process keeps public in dark

Sac Bee ^ | 2/13/09 | Dan Walters

[NormsRevenge]

There are two distinct – although obviously connected – aspects to the agreement that Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and legislative leaders forged on closing the state's whopping budget deficit.

There is the deal itself, a complex mélange of new taxes, borrowed money, spending reductions and bookkeeping maneuvers that's still being drafted. We know generally what's in the deal, but we still don't know all the details, including the side deals.

It's still very uncertain whether the Legislature will muster the requisite votes to pass it. Even if lawmakers act, many of the deal's provisions would hinge on voters' approving a series of ballot measures later in the year.

All in all, therefore, it's really too early to judge whether this agreement could begin to clean up California's fiscal mess or is merely another exercise in political expediency that will collapse of its own weight, as so many panic-tinged budget deals have done in the past.

Then there is the process by which this agreement was forged – private negotiations among five people that completely bypassed long-established procedures for budget-writing, including committee hearings, public testimony and extensive reviews by the media.

"We felt … that this is the only way we could solve the largest budget deficit in the state's history," says Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg. Perhaps so, but it's also a questionable regression to the secretive and corrupt budget process that dominated the Capitol for decades until transparency was introduced in the 1970s.

The "Big 5" phenomenon – the governor and four legislative leaders meeting privately – originally evolved to settle a few outstanding issues as budgets became more complicated. But it has expanded year by year to the current point of being the sole process for writing a budget.

[NormsRevenge]

Caution: 'No Fault' Gubamint in action.

[GOP Poet]

bookmark

[Redbob]

Three parts:
Don’t forget the smoke and mirrors...

[Attention Surplus Disorder]

Sacramento is run in the most bizarrely opaque manner imaginable. It is a cabal of insiders and incompetents whose only purpose in life is to extract money for themselves and keep themselves elected. I’m not sure you couldn’t say that about 80+% of pols, but when you consider that CA is essentially a country, it’s remarkable. But not surprising.

[businessprofessor]

All in all, therefore, it's really too early to judge whether this agreement could begin to clean up California's fiscal mess or is merely another exercise in political expediency that will collapse of its own weight, as so many panic-tinged budget deals have done in the past.

It is certainly not to early to judge this agreement. If enacted, it will continue the reckless fiscal mismanagement of the once powerful California economy. This agreement is only dissimilar to other recent agreements in the huge tax increases. Otherwise it is a continuation of borrowing, federal bailouts, and wishful thinking. The spending limits are a joke.

[businessprofessor]

All in all, therefore, it's really too early to judge whether this agreement could begin to clean up California's fiscal mess or is merely another exercise in political expediency that will collapse of its own weight, as so many panic-tinged budget deals have done in the past.

It is certainly not to early to judge this agreement. If enacted, it will continue the reckless fiscal mismanagement of the once powerful California economy. This agreement is only dissimilar to other recent agreements in the huge tax increases. Otherwise it is a continuation of borrowing, federal bailouts, and wishful thinking. The spending limits are a joke.