Citizen Legislators can End the California Crisis
The current political system has brought our wonderful Golden State to a point of crisis. Years of over-regulation, deficit spending, government debt and political gridlock have led to businesses fleeing, unemployment soaring, and quality of life declining.
The outcomes are depressingly familiar. But a new structural solution is emerging and finding favor.
The cause of the problem is our unrepresentative government. Special interests, lobbyists and campaign donors control our government, not the voting citizens..
California has 40 Senators and 80 Representatives in its Assembly, the same number as it had in 1879, when the state had under 1,000,000 residents. Back then, there were a little over 10,000 persons per representative. Today, California has over 37 million people and each member of the Assembly represents a district that ranges from several hundred thousand persons to over 1,000,000, larger than some states.
Stanford Students Seek Governor Brown’s Cooperation to Make State Spending More Transparent
While Governor Brown has
repeatedly called for a transparent budget process, his office recently denied
a public records’ request submitted on behalf of California Common Sense (CACS)
seeking the state’s checkbook. It raises the question: why would the Governor’s
Office block a request for transparency?
Here
are the facts. In early April, CACS began seeking the state’s checkbook to
build a transparency portal and make government financial data more open. To
ensure the request was deliverable, we spoke with the Department of Finance. We
were dismayed to learn that despite the fact that the Controller, Treasurer,
Department of Finance, and multiple committees in the legislature all manage
different aspects of the state’s finances, there
is no central checkbook for our state. The Department of Finance informed
us that we would have to submit separate public records request to each
individual state entity to get detailed data.
On
April 17, CACS submitted a public records request to every entity listed in the
state budget in order to obtain each entity’s checkbook. On April 26 Erin Peth,
Deputy of Legal Affairs for the Governor’s Office, contacted us on behalf of
all entities controlled by the Governor’s offices. She authorized all entities
in the executive branch an extra 14 days to allow them to evaluate whether they
had responsive documents.
The People’s Initiative Power is in Danger
Democrats in the Legislature are pushing another power grab and, if they win, California voters lose.
Assembly Constitutional Amendment 6, introduced by Assembly Democrats Mike Gatto and Mike Feuer, would radically enhance the power of the Legislature and two unelected, unaccountable bureaucrats while severely limiting the People’s right to put initiatives on the ballot.
ACA 6 would prohibit any initiative from even being voted on if, in the opinion of either the Legislative Analyst or the Director of Finance, the measure did not “pay for itself.” No exceptions. And if the voters at a future date tried to repeal ACA 6 outright, these same two unelected bureaucrats could determine that such a measure itself ultimately would have a “cost” to government in excess of $5 million and, as such, could simply order that the measure not be placed on the ballot. Under 100-year-old constitutional law in California, only the courts have had the power to order something off the ballot.
The New UI Debit Card and the Role of Technology in California Government
This past week, the Employment Development Department (EDD)
announced the replacement of the Unemployment Insurance (UI) check system with
a system utilizing debit cards. The replacement is noteworthy in itself, in improved
service delivery for California workers
and employers. It is also noteworthy for what it reveals about technology’s
role in California government.
Currently, EDD provides unemployment checks to 1.2 million
unemployed Californians. The 1.2 million number represents around 57% of the
2.1 million Californians counted as unemployed-adding "discouraged workers" and
workers involuntarily working part-time the number climbs to 2.6 million.
For some years, EDD has paid unemployment , which ranges up
to $450 per week, through a series of checks. The check system is subject to
the vagaries of the postal system: checks are delayed or delivered to the wrong
address or stolen. The new debit system requires the claimant to go through the
same processes of eligibility and regular certification. It transfers UI
payments electronically, enables claimants to monitor the balances, and provides an option of direct deposit.