Outsource the budget process already!
Once again, it’s August and state lawmakers haven’t adopted a new budget yet. It’s time to talk about outsourcing.
Like many of the redistricting reforms floated over the years, I propose that, if the budget has not been adopted by the July 1 constitutional deadline, a panel of financial experts be appointed by the CA Supreme Court to draft the state’s spending plan for the next fiscal year and let the voters text their votes in like millions do on “American Idol” until a majority have approved the budget. (OK, maybe not text messaging).
Although there is plenty of blame to go around (including we voters who have committed the sins of ballot box budgeting), I am not pointing fingers at anybody. Term limits are not the culprit as budget approval deadlines were regularly missed before Prop. 140 passed. I don’t blame anyone in particular either.
Olympic-Size Opportunity
Will Los Angeles be a beneficiary of the Olympic Games?
Even though the games, which open next week, will be in distant China, they could result in residual and real benefits for Los Angeles.
How so? Well, consider what Peter Ueberroth said last week: While Chinese officials see the games as a way to show off the country to the rest of the world, they don’t quite realize that the games will bring the world into China, exposing their population to a wave of foreign influences and attitudes. That wave will wipe away fears and prejudices, and embolden the Chinese to look overseas to study, do business or just travel.
What the Chinese officials don’t know yet is that once you open up a closed country, it’s hard to snap it shut again.
For that reason, Ueberroth said the upcoming Olympics will be the most significant international event ever.