Sunday Perspective: The budget fix California needs

Contra Costa Times ^ | 4/19/09 | Tom Campbell

[NormsRevenge]

It took the greatest drop in state revenues since the Great Depression to crack it open, but California's dysfunctional budget process finally has been laid bare.

Now the question is, how can we fix it permanently? That consideration should frame the way voters analyze the initiatives being offered on the May ballot.

Time and again, California has committed to spending hikes during good times that it can't afford when the bad times eventually come. This cycle needs to be broken.

If we had kept spending at the level of Gov. Gray Davis' first budget in 1999 (adjusted for inflation and population growth), our budget would be balanced today, despite the economic downturn. Instead, spending (especially on health care) grew dramatically, and we again find ourselves in crisis.

Proposition 1A would smooth out our budget cycle. Excess revenues collected during boom years would be put into a reserve fund that could be used only to fill budget gaps in years when revenues fall or to pay off bonds. If Prop. 1A had been enacted 10 years ago, we would have faced only a $5.4-billion problem, instead of a $42-billion one.

Some tax opponents are advocating a "no" vote on Prop. 1A because it also would extend for as long as two years temporary tax increases passed to alleviate the current crisis. But we should not reject a chance to curb government overspending and higher taxes permanently because of temporary tax increases.

Yes, higher taxes mean fewer jobs, but so does a broken budget system.

...

Three other proposals on the ballot are being cast as necessary to solving our immediate crisis. But they are also a mixed bag.

[goldstategop]

Tom Campbell is a RINO. He's just endorsed a phony cap and $16 billion worth of additional taxes on Californians for two more years. The guy is a Red Arnold clone and is the face of California's dead GOP. He makes me sick!

"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." - Manuel II Palelologus

[TenthAmendmentChampion]

VOTE NO ON 1A! It’s a two year extension on the tax hike we were just saddled with!

How does this fix the “broken” budget process?

Has the CCT editorialized in the past against the 2/3 majority? Probably.

Don’t listen to their lies!!

[TenthAmendmentChampion]

Ted Costa has a proposal to make the state legislature part time and let them meet only in odd years. I like all your proposals too. However, I think the only medicine that will fix the crisis is bankruptcy.