Sunday, May. 24, 2009

The Conversation: Where do we go from here, Californians?

Last week's resounding verdict from the voters came as little surprise to anyone in the Capitol. It was clear long before the election's votes were cast and counted that Californians were not going to pass a series of ballot measures needed to ratify a bipartisan compromise enacted in February to help stabilize the state budget.

But, still, the question "What now?" hung in the air the morning after the election, since serious discussion of the next steps had been suspended pending the formality of actually holding the vote and recording the official results.

And the responses to that question seemed to be as diverse as the population of this once-great state.

The loudest came from the anti-tax groups that helped lead the campaign against the measures. Not surprisingly, the message they heard was "No more taxes," because the most prominent of the defeated measures, Proposition 1A, would have extended for up to two years the temporary tax increases included in the February budget deal.

But Proposition 1A also would have enacted a new limit on state spending, and the public employee unions that campaigned against that provision saw in its defeat an affirmation of their belief that the public did not want to do anything to limit the Legislature's freedom to spend the tax dollars still flowing into the treasury.

Others concluded only that the voters were angry, frustrated and confused by the array of complex measures they were asked to consider, and so their blanket "no" vote was simply an expression of no confidence in the state's political leadership and, at the same time, an order to those politicians to get back to work.

What would you do? In this week's Forum, we've presented a brief outline of where the state spends its money and a list of some of the options for cutting that have been suggested by the governor and the nonpartisan legislative analyst. We'd like to hear your views of these proposals and your own ideas.

We've also included the opinions of a handful of insiders, analysts and citizens who have offered their competing visions for where the state should go next.

What do you think?

Here are eight differing opinions from experts on the subject ...

Legislature must cut or eliminate programs

The governor's estimate of a new $21 billion budget problem is reasonable. The May revision proposals include major spending reductions and serious efforts for long-term state efficiencies and savings.

By acting quickly and reducing reliance on some of the governor's riskiest proposals, the Legislature can return the budget to balance, prevent another state cash crunch and preserve core funding for what it deems to be California's long-term priorities.

To accomplish these goals, the Legislature now needs to cut lower-priority programs substantially or eliminate them.

To address significant budget deficits forecast in future years, the Legislature also needs to begin work this year on measures that further improve the efficiency of state services for 2010-11 and beyond.

-- Mac Taylor, legislative analyst

First step: Ease budget vote requirement

What happens next?

The magnitude of the budget challenges and difficulty of the decisions in the weeks ahead cannot be underestimated. The take-home lesson from the recent election should be that a flawed process leads to a flawed outcome. The best interests of California can only be served through an open and deliberative process that focuses on what's best for California five, 10 or 20 years from now.