In pushing a bill to prevent furloughs for nearly 80,000 state workers, Senate Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg argued a number of furloughs were counter productive. He pointed particularly to the tax collectors under the Board of Equalization and the Franchise Tax Board. According to a report, Steinberg argued that the furlough savings of $65 million in salary paid to these employees was more than offset by the loss of $465 million in unpaid taxes these workers would collect if they were on the job.
I don’t know how this calculation was made. Seems odd, though. When these workers were working full time was all that uncollected tax revenue accounted for? With rates of return described by Steinberg, we should offer overtime to the tax collectors. At that rate, they could probably collect enough revenue to solve the budget deficit in no time.
But let’s be less cynical. Let’s accept Senator Steinberg’s assertion that furloughs limit productive workers from doing the jobs they are supposed to do in improving the difficult condition of the state.
If positive results is the guideline for determining which state workers should be furloughed, then we should re-instate those employees who get results and look for public workers who are not living up to their responsibilities and doing their jobs to improve California.
Of course, you know where I‘m going with this.
Calling for a furlough of the legislators themselves may seem too easy a target. And, yes, they already had a pay cut and may soon get another. Although, if legislators only work two or three days a week think how much additional money the state would save on per diem they would not collect on their days off.
How to make the legislature productive is the goal, but it’s a puzzle on how to get there. Simply reducing legislative money votes to a simple majority is not the answer. California had productive legislatures for more than half-a-century living under at least one major two-thirds vote requirement.
Threatening to cut salaries or lock legislators in a room until they produce a balanced budget have been proposed. These gimmicks have been suggested to force legislators to focus on California’s problems and solve them. Focusing on the financial problem, not being distracted by a myriad of other issues, is the answer.
In fact, Senator Steinberg’s bill offers the solution to the state’s problem. Section 1 (g) says in part: “Solutions to the budget crisis should focus on improving the economy…”
There you have it: Focus…focus…focus on improving the economy and creating jobs. That is what this legislature needs to do to be productive and bring in the tax revenue so public employee furloughs and the threat of tax increases are no longer needed or warranted.
If the legislature does not focus on the economy and job creation then the members deserve to be furloughed … or just fired on Election Day.