On June 21, the longest day of the year, the Legislature debated whether to change the state rock and named LAST week (already passed) "California Golf Week". Mind you, the Constitutional Deadline to pass a budget was June 15, the end of the Fiscal Year is June 30, and there's a $19.1 billion budget deficit... I talked to Fox 40 News for a story on what's going on in the Capitol.
Tuesday, June 22, 2010
Thursday, June 17, 2010
Asm. Garrick SacBee Viewpoint: Cut spending to balance budget
Viewpoints: Cut spending to balance budget
Special to The Sacramento Bee
Published Thursday, Jun. 17, 2010
Another budget deadline has come and another has been missed. But it's not because there isn't a budget blueprint on the table that deserves the Legislature's attention. Instead of scrapping the governor's May Revise and devising schemes to raise taxes and maintain spending, legislative Democrats should get serious about addressing the overspending at the root of the budget crisis.
The governor released a responsible approach to closing a $19 billion budget hole more than a month ago that will reprioritize and reduce state spending, and finally slow the unsustainable growth of state government. The plan identifies state priorities: making sure K-12 education funding is not reduced, and reducing spending in health and welfare programs not mandated by the federal government, without raising taxes.
Lawmakers also must seize this opportunity to reform and fix many of the underlying causes of the state's perpetual fiscal crisis. This includes reforming a state pension system that has seen a 2,000 percent cost increase to the public over the past 10 years.
This reform alone could save $110 billion over the next 30 years. Pension reform is a critical issue that must be addressed in this year's budget discussions.
It's also time once and for all to place a strict spending cap in the state constitution, and strengthen the rainy-day fund to help keep the budget balanced even when revenues decline. Such a reform would ensure that we save sufficiently during the good times so we can better protect priorities like education and public safety during bad times.
Unfortunately, legislative Democrats have rejected these sensible approaches, and introduced vastly differing budget plans. They want to increase state spending and debt, and to raise taxes by billions of dollars on working Californians. Their primary motivation is to protect government jobs. The 38 million Californians who don't work for the government should matter just as much as the 350,000 state employees who do.
Assembly Democrats reject all but $1.2 billion of the governor's spending reductions needed to close the deficit.
Instead, they want to borrow $9 billion to give cash to welfare recipients and to increase government spending, and pay it back by increasing the cost of gasoline. With interest, this loan will cost taxpayers $21 billion over 20 years to pay for one-time spending this year.
Senate Democrats want to raise $5 billion in taxes on income, cars, kids, beer and wine, and job creators. Their idea of budget reform is to push state-mandated programs onto counties and cities, and then make it easier for special interests to pressure local voters to raise taxes on themselves.
At least 2.3 million people are out of work, and our economy is still reeling from a steep national recession. State tax revenues are down sharply in spite of historic tax hikes last year, and experts predict they'll remain at this reduced level for the foreseeable future.
Tax increases are not the answer. California has the highest sales and gas taxes, and second-highest income tax rates in the nation – and yet the multibillion-dollar deficits persist. Enough is enough.
It's time for Democrats in Sacramento to get serious about balancing the budget. First, all must acknowledge that raising taxes in the midst of a recession is off the table. Second, both parties must work to significantly reduce spending now if we are to balance the current-year budget. Third, Democrats need to work with us in supporting a long-term strategy to address pension and spending reform.
It would be irresponsible to use the budget process as a hammer to shut down the government to force higher taxes, as some legislative Democrats have suggested doing. Real people are affected by the decisions we make on the budget. Passing a budget is an important duty for lawmakers and should not be viewed as a political game.
The governor's no-new-taxes budget and Republican reforms are the best approach to solving California's short- and long-term budget challenges. Taxpayers and the unemployed are counting on Democrats to buck the status quo and the public employee unions, and join with Republicans in passing a budget that doesn't protect government jobs at the expense of hard-working and job-seeking Californians.
© Copyright The Sacramento Bee. All rights reserved.
Another budget deadline has come and another has been missed. But it's not because there isn't a budget blueprint on the table that deserves the Legislature's attention. Instead of scrapping the governor's May Revise and devising schemes to raise taxes and maintain spending, legislative Democrats should get serious about addressing the overspending at the root of the budget crisis.
The governor released a responsible approach to closing a $19 billion budget hole more than a month ago that will reprioritize and reduce state spending, and finally slow the unsustainable growth of state government. The plan identifies state priorities: making sure K-12 education funding is not reduced, and reducing spending in health and welfare programs not mandated by the federal government, without raising taxes.
Lawmakers also must seize this opportunity to reform and fix many of the underlying causes of the state's perpetual fiscal crisis. This includes reforming a state pension system that has seen a 2,000 percent cost increase to the public over the past 10 years.
This reform alone could save $110 billion over the next 30 years. Pension reform is a critical issue that must be addressed in this year's budget discussions.
It's also time once and for all to place a strict spending cap in the state constitution, and strengthen the rainy-day fund to help keep the budget balanced even when revenues decline. Such a reform would ensure that we save sufficiently during the good times so we can better protect priorities like education and public safety during bad times.
Unfortunately, legislative Democrats have rejected these sensible approaches, and introduced vastly differing budget plans. They want to increase state spending and debt, and to raise taxes by billions of dollars on working Californians. Their primary motivation is to protect government jobs. The 38 million Californians who don't work for the government should matter just as much as the 350,000 state employees who do.
Assembly Democrats reject all but $1.2 billion of the governor's spending reductions needed to close the deficit.
Instead, they want to borrow $9 billion to give cash to welfare recipients and to increase government spending, and pay it back by increasing the cost of gasoline. With interest, this loan will cost taxpayers $21 billion over 20 years to pay for one-time spending this year.
Senate Democrats want to raise $5 billion in taxes on income, cars, kids, beer and wine, and job creators. Their idea of budget reform is to push state-mandated programs onto counties and cities, and then make it easier for special interests to pressure local voters to raise taxes on themselves.
At least 2.3 million people are out of work, and our economy is still reeling from a steep national recession. State tax revenues are down sharply in spite of historic tax hikes last year, and experts predict they'll remain at this reduced level for the foreseeable future.
Tax increases are not the answer. California has the highest sales and gas taxes, and second-highest income tax rates in the nation – and yet the multibillion-dollar deficits persist. Enough is enough.
It's time for Democrats in Sacramento to get serious about balancing the budget. First, all must acknowledge that raising taxes in the midst of a recession is off the table. Second, both parties must work to significantly reduce spending now if we are to balance the current-year budget. Third, Democrats need to work with us in supporting a long-term strategy to address pension and spending reform.
It would be irresponsible to use the budget process as a hammer to shut down the government to force higher taxes, as some legislative Democrats have suggested doing. Real people are affected by the decisions we make on the budget. Passing a budget is an important duty for lawmakers and should not be viewed as a political game.
The governor's no-new-taxes budget and Republican reforms are the best approach to solving California's short- and long-term budget challenges. Taxpayers and the unemployed are counting on Democrats to buck the status quo and the public employee unions, and join with Republicans in passing a budget that doesn't protect government jobs at the expense of hard-working and job-seeking Californians.
© Copyright The Sacramento Bee. All rights reserved.
Saturday, June 12, 2010
Enviros Want to Jack Car Taxes by $18 to Pay for Parks
The Sierra Club and enviros want to jack car taxes by $18 each, for all taxpayers, to pay for state parks. The car tax was just doubled... Parks should be funded in the budget - like they always have - and by people who visit them. I talked to ABC 7 for a GOP taxpayer perspective in this story.
Friday, May 28, 2010
Do we need "Nutrition Police" in California?
Democrats in the California Assembly just passed a bill to ban anything but low-fat milk for two year olds, and limit day care providers to giving one serving a day of 100% fruit juice drinks to kids. It's LITERALLY nanny government at its worst. Here's a video clip with ABC 7 in LA where I gave a Republican perspective on the bill:
Saturday, May 15, 2010
Gov's Blueprint for No Tax Budget for California
The Governor laid out a blueprint for how California can get a budget this year with NO NEW TAXES. This video shows how we get there.
Saturday, May 8, 2010
Protecting Taxpayers in the State Budget
I spoke to ABC yesterday about a move to undermine taxpayer protections, and give the Democrats in the Legislature a blank check to increase spending. There is an initiative to do away with the two-thirds vote requirement for passing a budget, which Assembly Republicans strongly oppose. No big surprise, it is being pushed by the same special interests who already dominate spending decisions in Sacramento and have contributed to our current $20 billion state budget deficit. Check out the video:
Friday, March 19, 2010
Fox 40 Interview on March Madness
Fox 40 was roaming the Capitol Halls yesterday trying to do a story about Legislative employees blowing off work to watch basketball amidst all the March Madness. I didn't even fill out a bracket this year, and wasn't watching games at work, but I guess they still got their soundbite... :)
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