As Californians, we pay our legislators handsomely
– at least $99,000 per year, more for legislative leaders, and
that figure doesn’t include pay for travel and housing expenses and
the cost of other perks – yet they seem unable to fulfill their
most basic job: approving a state budget. According to the state’s
constitution, they were suppos
ed to have it done by June 15 – but that date came and went
without a budget, largely because it’s a deadline without any
punishment attached for missing it. But the real deadline, the
state of the fiscal year today, dawns with no budget compromise on
the horizon and with hefty financial consequ
ences if the legislature and governor can’t agree on how to
spend the state’s money and close a $38-billion deficit. Not only
will the state possibly be unable to pay its employees and vendors,
damage will likely be done to the state’s credit rating and it will
have to borrow money to avert a
cash-flow crunch until legislators dig out their heels and do
the real work of politics: compromise.
As Californians, we pay our legislators handsomely – at least $99,000 per year, more for legislative leaders, and that figure doesn’t include pay for travel and housing expenses and the cost of other perks – yet they seem unable to fulfill their most basic job: approving a state budget. According to the state’s constitution, they were supposed to have it done by June 15 – but that date came and went without a budget, largely because it’s a deadline without any punishment attached for missing it.
But the real deadline, the state of the fiscal year today, dawns with no budget compromise on the horizon and with hefty financial consequences if the legislature and governor can’t agree on how to spend the state’s money and close a $38-billion deficit. Not only will the state possibly be unable to pay its employees and vendors, damage will likely be done to the state’s credit rating and it will have to borrow money to avert a cash-flow crunch until legislators dig out their heels and do the real work of politics: compromise.
Not only that, every local agency and government – from county supervisors to city councils to community colleges to public school districts – are having to operate in “best guess” mode while Senators and Assembly members dig in their heels and twiddle their thumbs rather than passing a budget. No one knows for sure how deep their particular cuts will be, so they’ve had to guess what the state budget will eventually look like and make “plans” based on that. Those plans include layoff notices for CHP officers, teachers, eliminated classes and reduced city services, all based on administrators’ guesses on what the legislature will do with the state’s money. It’s ridiculous.
It’s too late for this year, but here’s an ballot initiative we can get behind: Give the legislator’s an incentive in their wallets to pass a state budget on time. We propose a hefty daily fine for each state Senator and Assembly member – in the neighborhood of $5,000 per day – for every day the budget misses the June 15 deadline. The money should go to the state’s general fund, not to some charity approved by each legislator. In addition, the pay for everyone in the Legislature should be frozen from June 15 until a state budget is approved.
These folks can’t be easily fired for not doing their jobs (recall efforts for more than 100 legislators, while a tempting vision, is surely not practical), so fines for failing to get the job done are the next best solution. And since the Legislature, despite its fondness for regulating everyone else, would never agree to this plan, California voters will have to do it themselves using the state’s initiative process.
Meantime, we urge readers to contact their representatives in Sacramento to tell them they’re earning an “F” in budget preparation – and that they’ll remember that the next time their name appears on a ballot.
