August 11, 2008

Assembly Report

Constituents, legislators frustrated over slow budget passage

By Assemblymember Jim Beall Jr.
Special to the Times

Whenever I talk with voters, I’ve found they share a central concern: Why does the legislature have so much trouble passing a budget on time?

And there is more than a hint of frustration that accompanies their question. Believe me, I am just as frustrated as you are over the delays and angst that accompany every June 30 when another budget deadline passes without a spending plan.

If it were up to the majority of legislators, California would have had a workable and sound budget long ago. But it takes more than a majority to adopt a budget in California. It takes a super majority, two-thirds of the lawmakers in the assembly and state senate.

This two-thirds requirement – on the books since 1933 – has been leveraged by a strident few to thwart the will of the majority of California’s elected representatives. Not only do they hold the budget hostage, but all of California - including our students, the elderly and disabled who need state assistance for medical care, and families who need help to get back on their feet in an unforgiving economy.

California is just one of three states that demands a budget be passed by a two-thirds majority. California’s cities, counties, school boards and water districts can all adopt a budget with a majority but not the legislature. I believe – and so do many others – that California should junk the two-thirds requirement.

The super-majority requirement effectively dilutes the vote of every elected member in the majority as well as the electorate who put that legislator in office. At the same time, it unjustly magnifies the power of a minority bent on protecting pork barrel projects or special interests by freezing the budget process.

So, while it only takes a majority of the legislature to pass a tax break, it takes a two-thirds vote to eliminate it. That high bar has let a small number of ideologues block moves by the majority to force the wealthy to pay their fair share, such as allowing millionaires to escape paying sales tax when they buy yachts.

This minority has no choice but to stalemate the process so they can continue to preserve tax breaks for the wealthy — loopholes that the rest of the legislature would eliminate to help balance the budget in concert with sensible reductions in spending.

This gambit of legislative blackmail is also a game of “chicken,’’ a game that wastes taxpayer dollars. The longer the state goes without a budget, the closer it gets to the point of actually running out of money to pay its bills. If money does run out, the state – which already faces a lowered bond rating — will have to go out on the market and borrow cash at an exorbitant rate and perhaps exceed the amount of a tax proposed to balance a budget.

Not only does the super-majority requirement create a budget impasse, it takes away the legislature’s flexibility to respond to a crisis in a timely manner. In short, it limits our choices as lawmakers during economic downturns; it would be comparable to a football team tearing out half its playbook.

In these challenging times, I don’t believe Californians – whose hard work and genius has shaped the eighth largest economy in the world – would want their options and creativity stymied when it comes to devising the best budget possible for our schools, colleges, poor and the elderly.

Jim Beall Jr. is a member of the California State Assembly, who represents Campbell, Saratoga, and portions of Santa Clara and San Jose – including Willow Glen, Berryessa, West San Jose and South San Jose.