This story was reported for the San Diego News Network on August 4, 2009.
Dear Diary,
I thought the crisis was over when Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signed a budget plan into law, so I stopped updating the budget diaries. How foolish of me; even more foolish than when I purchased the Split Ender thinking it would actually work. I apologize for abandoning you all, but I’m back with the latest on California’s post- budget blues.
Californians can rest assured that the state isn’t losing $25 million each day as it did during the budget impasse. The 19-day impasse cost the state $475 million – but that’s the legislature’s problem to deal with next year.
For now, the cuts to services and changes to the state’s budget are slowly taking effect and haven’t fully been felt. In other words, with economists estimating the recession won’t end until the final quarter of 2010, there’s a long, rocky road to recovery ahead with the worst yet to be seen.
Here’s a recap of the goings-on since Schwarzenegger passed the budget.
Possible state-wide strike: Threats of another furlough aren’t sitting well with state employees – at least from a union perspective. The Service Employee International Union 1000, which represents 95,000 of the 200,000 state workers, will now be able to declare a strike should the governor make further salary cuts – specifically involving pensions.
Seventy-four percent of union members voted to authorize its leaders to declare a strike Friday should the governor make changes to the $63 billion pension system. SEIU
President Yvonne Walker said the governor will have to honor the February contract agreement with the unions which leaves the pension untouched.
“This is about our contract,” said Walker Saturday. “Whether it is through litigation, negotiations or any other actions that are necessary, we’re in this for the long-haul to right this wrong to our members. We negotiated in good faith, we have offered cost-saving solutions, and we need our contract to be ratified.”
Walker added that the initial contracts actually save the state $340 million and lambasted the governor for not showing “leadership.”
There wasn’t an oil drilling plan: Remember the oil drilling plan, Tranquillon Ridge? The plan that could have saved the state about $1.8 billion? The one that would have taken place off the coast of Santa Barbara? If not, that’s OK – because it’s not on the record anymore.
As reported by The Wall Street Journal, after the State Assembly rejected the measure previously passed by the Senate, a motion to remove the measure from public record was made. The motion was made by Assemblymember Alberto Torrico (D-Fremont).
Did Torrico vote in favor of the oil drilling plan? No one knows. With the motion approved, the 43 assemblymembers who voted against the measure and the 28 who supported the measure are officially unknown to Californians.
WSJ caught Republican Assemblymember Chuck DeVore telling the Capitol Weekly , George Orwell “would be proud.”
According to local political consultant Chris Crotty, the expunge was legit and was most likely supported by leaders of both parties.
“For example, Sam Blakeslee, who is from Santa Barbara, probably doesn’t want his constituents to know he voted for the oil drilling plan,” Crotty said.
Budget problems come because of inexperience:
Sen. Loni Hancock (D-Oakland) presented a Constitutional Amendment to change term limits. Her proposal would lower the term limit from 14 to 12 years but allow legislators to stay in one of the two houses (Assembly or Senate) for the entire duration.
Right now, assemblymembers must leave the house they serve after six years (three two-year terms). Most eventually run for Senate where they serve eight more years (two four-year terms) for a maximum total of 14 years in the Legislature.
Should SCA 24 be passed, a senator can serve three four-year-terms or an assemblymember can serve six two-year-terms for a total of 12 years. Assemblymembers still have the option of switching to the Senate under the amendment.
The almost one-year-old senator said the problems of the budget prove term limits need to be amended.
“If anything has demonstrated the need to revise the term-limits law, it is certainly the disastrous budget process we have been going through,” Hancock said. “Increasingly inexperienced legislators are dealing with increasingly complex challenges and a dysfunctional governance system.”
The bill would not affect current legislators. Senators Roy Ashburn (R-Bakersfield) and Alan Lowenthal (D-Long Beach) are co-authors.
Come back domestic violence shelters: Schwarzenegger’s one-line veto power allowed him to eliminate the Department of Public Health’s Domestic Violence Program, which closed 94 shelters state-wide — but folks aren’t sitting around soaking in this cut.
Sen. Leland Yee (D-San Francisco) announced a bill that will help keep emergency shelters opened throughout California Tuesday. The bill, if approved, would allocate $16.3 million from the victims’ compensation fund (which has a current balance of $136.2 million) to the Domestic Violence Program.
Locally, advocates of the programs have criticized the governor for his move.
“The governor’s actions will result in the death of women and children in California in the coming months,” said Casey Gwinn, the founder of San Diego Family Justice Center, a group that supports local shelters. “Very seldom does an elected official take an action that will directly result in death. Gov. Schwarzenegger has taken such an action.”
“We hope that all caring Californians will support Sen. Yee’s efforts.”
Yee will also introduce a bill to allowthe programs greater flexibility in how they allocate their funds.
Waiting for Moody and Fitch: Moody’s Investor Service and Fitch Ratings, which both dropped California’s credit rating, will re-evaluate the grade now that the state has a balanced budget.
But, don’t get your hopes up. The state government is still borrowing major dollars from local municipalities and education and still issuing IOUs, which could give California a bad rap in the long-run should it not have enough money to pay the two sectors back.
We’re not alone: For angry Californians seriously considering a move, don’t unpack your bags in five other states. In a recent Newsweek article, Jeremy Herb writes that New York, Florida, Nevada, Illinois and Arizona are rocking the same dismal boat California is, with deficits ranging from $4 billion to $21 billion.
Hoa Quach is the political editor for the San Diego News Network.