Defending Prop 13
In the long-standing tradition of pointing at Proposition 13 as the cause for all the ills that befall California, Joe Mathews and Mark Paul penned an opinion piece in yesterday’s Sacramento Bee declaring that Proposition 13 and its aftermath “robs us of our ability to govern ourselves democratically and condemns our children to a shabbier life.”
I imagine the folks at the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association will add that line to the list of the “Top Ten Ridiculous Things Blamed on Proposition 13.” The measure has been held responsible for a freeway collapse during an earthquake, child obesity, the lack of choir singers, and even O.J. Simpson’s not-guilty verdict in the 1995 criminal trial, to name a few examples.
But let’s look at the charges by Mathews and Paul.
I actually have sympathy for their charge that some power was centralized in Sacramento after Proposition 13 passed. Legislators took the advantage of wording in the measure that allowed property taxes to be “apportioned according to law.”
“New Majority” Says Budget Reforms Must Happen Now
The influential, deep-pocketed Republican organization New Majority has engaged in the budget debate, sending a letter to Republican leaders Bob Dutton and Connie Conway declaring that the only way Republican legislators should vote to put taxes on the ballot is if meaningful reforms are put on the ballot as well.
The letter specified meaningful reforms as a spending cap that limits the growth of government and uses excess revenue to pay down debt, as well as pension reform modeled after the Little Hoover Commission’s recommendations.
Significantly, the letter rebuked groups that endorsed placing the tax extensions on the ballot with a promise that reforms will follow. The letter, signed by the chairmen of the four New Majority chapters, stated, “…our experience has shown little follow-through on behalf of the Legislature to address meaningful reform.”
David Broder and the Initiative Process
David Broder inscribed my copy of his book on the initiative process, Democracy Derailed, to someone “who makes the system work.” The thing is, Broder did not like the system that he occasionally talked to me about — the initiative process. Broder, the national political writer for the Washington Post and dean of the Washington press corps, passed away at age 81 yesterday.
Broder was fascinated with the initiative process enough to write his book about it, which focused greatly on California. He was not a fan of the process. He chose to report the San Francisco Chronicle’s headline on the 20th anniversary of Proposition 13: DEMOCRACY GONE AWRY, instead of the Los Angeles Times’ 20th anniversary editorial comment: “Proposition 13 is 20 years old and it’s time to proclaim the tax-cutting measure a stunning success.”
He followed up a number of times with me listening to arguments about the process. One time sitting down with Los Angeles businessman and civic activist, David Abel and I, in Abel’s office after Abel chaired and I served on a state commission on the initiative process. But hearing the debate, he never wavered in his opposition to the initiative.
Spending Limits Are Important, Just Ask Jerry Brown
As part of the budget negotiations, Republicans have asked that a spending limit be part of the ballot package to reduce future runaway spending. You would think they would get a sympathetic ear from Governor Jerry Brown.
Listen to what he had to say … a while ago, sure, but all the following are excerpts from his Second Inaugural Address, delivered January 8, 1979.
Why the anti-government mood? I asked this same question four years ago and now I believe I understand. Simply put, the citizens are revolting against a decade of political leaders who righteously spoke against inflation and excessive government spending but who in practice pursued the opposite course.
Brown echoed a theme we hear today: Live Within Our Means.
Government, no less than the individual, must live within limits. It is time to bring our accounts into balance. Government, as exemplar and teacher, must manifest a self-discipline that spreads across the other institutions in our society, so that we can begin to work for the future, not just consume the present.
Denying Votes on Reforms Causes Budget Impasse
In trying to determine if
a deal to put a spending limit and pension reforms on the ballot in exchange
for placing tax extensions on the ballot were possible, I spoke with a few
people knowledgeable in California politics on my flight to Sacramento
yesterday. The answer I received: the public unions would not let it happen.
Hours later, five Senate Republicans (Tom Berryhill, Sam Blakeslee, Anthony
Cannella, Bill Emmerson and Tom Harman) issued a letter sent to Governor Jerry
Brown saying that budget negotiations were at an impasse. The senators were
seeking the type of reforms that are needed to move the state past perennial
budget deficits: spending limits, pension reform and business reforms.
The latter is important because as Capitol veteran and author of California’s
Tax Machine, Dave Doerr, reminded me later in the day, more money is
brought into the treasury from economic growth than has ever come by way of a
tax increase.
While Governor Brown put off his deadline for qualifying a measure for the
ballot to see if he can get the votes he needs, it appears those interests that
support increased spending do not want the people to vote on specific reforms.
The senators addressed this in their letter to the governor when they stated:
"We have therefore concluded that you are unable to compel other stakeholders
to accept real reform."
LA Times Exposé Will Test Community College Election
The Los Angeles Times completed an exhaustive six-part
series yesterday on the Los Angeles Community College system, which charged
that out of billions in bond money "tens of millions of dollars have gone to
waste because of poor planning, frivolous spending and shoddy workmanship." Ironically,
some members of the community college board of trustees are running for
re-election in Tuesday’s election.
While little attention is spent on races such as the
community college board, the Times articles should open the eyes of the
property taxpayers who back the bonds and pay for the waste mentioned in the
article.
Board of trustee candidates for re-election are filling
mailboxes with campaign literature, one even boldly claiming that he "fights to
protect taxpayers."
Business Views on Budget Plan not Uniform
Business has become the focus of Governor Jerry Brown’s efforts to line up support for his budget plan. But business is far from unified and does not speak with a single voice.
Yesterday, Allan Zaremberg, president of the California Chamber of Commerce, gave Brown hope that the largest, most influential business organization in the state may support his plan to deal with the budget. Zaremberg was careful with his words and did not give an outright endorsement to any budget plan saying that would have to wait until all details are in place and the Chamber board has an opportunity to meet on March 11.
What may accompany the five-year tax extensions on a special election ballot that Brown is pushing could have a lot to do with his securing support from different segments of the business community.
When the Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce recently endorsed Brown’s effort they did so with caution and recommendations advising the governor that the business leaders wanted to see regulation reform and a shorter period for the tax extensions.
New Studies on Vernon and California Warn of Business Woes
A study released today by Capitol Matrix Consulting headed by former State Finance Director Mike Genest and former Democratic and Republican legislative fiscal consultants, Brad Williams and Peter Schaafsma, claims if the City of Vernon is dissolved there will be a potential of 11,620 jobs lost with a loss in state and local revenue of more than $42 million.
Another study released by the United States Chamber of Commerce yesterday placed California in the lowest tier of states for business friendly environments.
The state takes a one-two punch from these studies on California’s business environment.
VERNON STUDY
Job Issue Key to Battle over Vernon
How do you insure the protection of 50,000 jobs? That is the task Assembly Speaker John Perez has set out for himself as he pushes his bill (AB 46) to see the disincorporation of the City of Vernon in Los Angeles County.
Vernon is an industrial city with only 91 residents but a work force of 50,000. City officials have been caught up in corruption focusing on huge salaries and pensions that rival those in the near-by City of Bell. Additional scandals are centered on the city’s governance. No elections were held in Vernon from 1984 to 2006 and when one did occur, the city clerk refused to count the ballots for six months. Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baca called Vernon a "rogue city" supported by voters who are picked by elected officials.
Cigarette Tax Initiative: More Ballot Box Budgeting
Former state senate president pro-tem Don Perata, bicycle racing champion Lance Armstrong and Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa kicked off their campaign for a new cigarette tax initiative in Los Angeles yesterday. Unfortunately, it is another example of ballot box budgeting in which revenues are limited for specific purposes with little oversight from outside agencies.
Multiple ballot measures directing how tax dollars can be spent have taken away the ability of the legislature to respond to changing fiscal problems. In fact, one item Governor Jerry Brown wants to see on a special election ballot this summer is a measure to ask voters to take a billion dollars from a segregated tobacco tax fund for childhood development that the voters created by initiative in 1998 and place it in the general fund to deal with the budget deficit.
The new tobacco tax initiative has qualified for the next ballot, whether that is Brown’s special election or a later scheduled election if the special election does not come off. The initiative proponents want to get an early jump on the campaign in case there is a special election.