Politicians Need to See that Budget Is Zero-Sum Game
California tealeaf readers looking for hints on the future of the state budget battle won’t find out much from poring over Jerry Brown’s brief State of the State message Monday night.
In 14 minutes or so, the governor repeated what he’s been saying since he was elected:
1. The state’s in a financial mess and tough action is needed. Right now.
2. Republicans and Democrats legislators are all going to be unhappy with his budget plan, so deal with it.
3. Californians deserve a chance to vote on whether they want more taxes or fewer services.
Add to that some upbeat sentences about making the state “a leader in job creation, renewable energy and state-of-the-art efficiency, innovation of all kinds” and the usual stirring claptrap about how wonderful life will be in the Golden State once this budget unpleasantness is behind us, and the governor had a perfectly serviceable speech that likely didn’t change a single vote in the Legislature.
Good Move Cutting State Cell Phones and Cars, but could it Backfire on Gov?
Governor Jerry Brown’s executive orders to have 48,000 state cell phones turned in and to cut in half the number of state owned vehicles were smart ways to illustrate the governor is cutting down on waste. Cars and cell phones are items the public can relate to. They have their own phones and cars, which, for the most part, are not subsidized by their companies or anyone else.
By cutting these items, Brown has left his mark that the new sheriff in town is trying to clean up the mess.
As most reporting on Brown’s executive orders note, the savings from the cuts range in the millions of dollars and make only a small dent in the multi-billion dollar shortfall the state faces.
And, there in may lay a problem for the governor and his plans in the long run.
Dipping his toe in the waters of reform
Nine-tenths of the way through his eighth state-of-the-state address, Gov. Brown lightly touched on two issues that may have as much to do with settling this year’s budget debate as the election he dwelled on for the first 1,600 words. In what seemed to be a grudgingly obligatory nod to structural government reform, Brown said,
We must also face the long term challenge of ensuring that our public pensions are fair to both taxpayers and workers alike. Finally, at a time when more than two million Californians are out of work, we must search out and strip away any accumulated burdens or unreasonable regulations that stand in the way of investment and job creation.
Media reports and commentary have appropriately focused on Brown’s insistence on a statewide special election on his tax proposals and the generally negative Republican response. But was this deeply-buried shout-out to issues that embody government failure and inefficiency the start of a productive message to Republicans, and ultimately to voters?
Meeting With Governor Brown: A Mayor’s Account
Cross-posted at PublicCEO.
California’s economy is broken. The day of reckoning for the great State of California has finally come. There is a perfect storm brewing in Sacramento that is sending budgetary tsunamis through every city in the state. After many years of financial smoke and mirrors, shifting costs and revenues from one side to another in a monstrous shell game, California faces a $25-billion deficit that cannot be explained, delayed or smiled away.
Recently I, along with members of our City Council and staff, had the opportunity to sit down with our Governor to discuss how this crisis will affect our City – specifically, how the Governor’s proposal to do away with the financial tool of redevelopment will wound our economic recovery efforts. It was not an entirely new discussion, as previous State takeaways from Atascadero’s redevelopment funds have cost us more than a million dollars. This time, however, we weren’t talking about a program where the State would "borrow" our funds. Governor Brown is talking about the end of redevelopment itself within the State of California.