By Steve Thompson, Chairman of the Butte County Republican Party
I wanted to give all of our readers a heads up that the CA State Legislature may very well be holding budget votes soon. It is rumored that legislators will be called to the capitol on Monday. In light of this I thought I’d spend a moment talking about the budget process and why it’s so late this year.
As you all know, the two houses of the California Legislature have to agree and pass a budget before it gets sent to the Governor for his signature. That means that 80 assemblymembers and 40 state senators have to reach an agreement. Both houses have democrat majorities and so the democrats, namely Assembly Speaker John Perez and Senate Pro Tem Darrel Steinberg, have the power to call for a vote on any issue. In California, it takes a 2/3 majority to raise taxes or to pass a budget, so republicans have more leverage with democrats here than on other issues.
As I mentioned, the democrat leadership in the legislature can call for a vote on the budget at any time. They could have locked legislators in the building way back in June and forced a vote, had they wanted to. Instead we are now in late September and we have broken a record for the latest budget yet.
The sticking points for this budget remain the same as last year. Republicans want to cut spending and Democrats want to raise your taxes. The state is bringing in less revenue than what it spends. Currently we’re roughly $19 billion in the hole. There is no possible way to close a gap this large without making cuts to program (entitlement) spending. There is simply not enough money left to pinch with tax increases.
In the next week you will hear a lot of cries about evil republicans and how they want to starve children and old people. The public employee unions will probably spend millions attacking them in advertisements. This is because they know we cannot cut spending without firing a lot of state employees. I realize that this sounds bad, but consider that CA state government has grown over 40% in the last decade. While the private sector is having to cut back and lay off millions, government jobs have been relatively safe. What’s worse, they want you to pay for it all.
Unfortunately, as I already stated, there is not enough money to tax out of the people. Even if we raise taxes and put even more taxpayers into default on their mortgages just to pay government, it won’t be enough to close the gap. Last year, the CA legislature passed the biggest tax increase in state history. That’s right, Republican legislators crossed over and compromised the way liberals wanted them too. Sadly we ended up with less revenues coming in after the tax increase than before. Further proof that tax increases do not work!
It is time for California to cinch up its belt and cut the fat. Our state budget is more bloated now than ever, and the only way we will balance our budget is to drastically cut spending. It will not be pretty or fun. There are millions in this state depending on assistance from those who produce. In fact, while 12% of our nation’s population lives in California, we shoulder over 30% of the welfare burden. It’s time for some other states to start pitching in and helping those in need. California can no longer shoulder the load.
For those of you who do not like seeing our budget so terribly in the red. Consider all the businesses we have driven out of our state with excessive regulations and taxation. Consider all the jobs and tax revenues that those businesses create. If you want a prosperous state, you have to have a prosperous business climate. If what you prefer is draconian environmental laws that give us no freedom to breathe, than be prepared for massive unemployment and suffering. The grapes of wrath are right here folks. Hope you enjoy the taste.
Steve, without a doubt this is a dire situation that I think has exceeded the ability of democrat lawmakers to fix.
They are hard-wired to think in terms of spending and creating programs, spending cuts and fiscal responsibility are unnatural for them. This is something only the voters can fix by changing the composition of the legislature.
As you know, the recession most conservatives saw coming took the dems by surprise.
They were caught spending way too much and this compounded their budget woes. Calif. was the worst prepared state in the union to face a budget shortfall – what does that say about democratic leadership?
More recently the budget shortfall (deficit) again has forced some state agencies to make some cuts, but I see most of this cutting coming from cites and counties.
The state is not doing their part.
In fact, the state has increased hiring and the legislature has voted themselves hefty salaries (highest in the nation) when this recession hit. That surte set a bad example!
We can’t trust the state or the legislature to fix this problem – let me say it again, this is a problem only the voters can fix by changing the makeup of the legislature.
Do you suppose the green carpet makes them think they’re sitting on a never ending pile of free cash?