Well, Jerry Brown’s original plan to let the people vote on tax extensions has apparently been scuttled by the Republican minority, and the Governor is going back to the drawing board. It is not pretty:
Gov. Jerry Brown told Democratic lawmakers Tuesday that he was preparing an alternative to his budget proposal and would present it to Democratic leaders as early as Wednesday.
Brown’s statements were confirmed by multiple lawmakers who attended closed-door meetings with the governor and his senior aides Tuesday. Brown spokesman Gil Duran said the administration had no immediate comment.
Sen. Mark Leno (D-San Francisco), chairman of the Senate Budget Committee, described Brown as “fairly circumspect” about this alternative proposal, which is expected to include deeper cuts to state programs in place of the higher vehicle, sales and income taxes Brown originally proposed. (LA Times)
The breadth and depth of these cuts is still unclear. Also unclear is whether there will be private attempts to get some sort of revenue into the system. Of course, the legislature and Governor would have to call a special election to get anything done before next year’s primaries, but that only requires a majority vote.
I’m not sure how we manage this exactly. Perhaps the cuts will be of such a public and visible nature that we can win a revenue measure next year? At any rate, it is hard to argue in any way that a cuts only budget is in any way a good solution.
Why not cut spending in Republican districts? First stop: Close all DMV offices in Republican districts. Second stop — siphon property tax receipts from Republican counties and put them into the general fund. If the Republicans hate spending, why give them any?
So I had a crazy thought the other day.
Why is the budget even generated in the legislature? Yeah its part of the constitution but follow me on this.
*The executive knows what is need to fund its depts.
*The executive is the one held most accountable for funding etc (I think back in the day – like 1800s – people knw their legislator better than what the executive was doing, state or federal because of how information was disseminated then compared to now)
* the legislature is basically 120 access points for special interests, the executive is only 1 and he is far more accountable to the general voter than legislators are (again because of change in info)
so wouldn’t it be better if the governor created a budget and the legislature vote yes or no on it. If they vote no they can say why and the governor/executive can pick and choose to build a budget coalition to pass it.
It would make the budget more about individual legislators and not party lines I think.