A California Republican

If you have been paying any attention at all to California, you know that the state is in a serious amount of debt. In fact, we are so in debt that we might hit the debt limit in the California Constitution.

If we were an individual, we would have to file for bankruptcy. Our income is way less than our spending. In someone’s personal life, they cannot simply sell bonds to cover their debt, put it off to another year, pay less to some creditors and not pay bills. People cannot also decide that they will randomly change the price of things - like what their employees are paid.

In the interests of full disclosure- I am a part-time state worker, full-time mom, and part-time student in a graduate program. I am appalled at what the state is doing with the budget. It doesn’t make any sense.

California has one of the highest tax burdens in the country. California also provides the most benefits of any other state in the country. California provides the most benefits to poor, children, elderly, disabled and illegal immigrants.

Here is another part of the problem - for every dollar California pays in taxes, we only get $0.80 returned. If we could increase this to $0.85, imagine the amount we would get back.

Also, imagine if we had welfare programs that worked to provide people with jobs. You have college graduates on unemployment because they cannot find a job. Why not have a program that trains them to be teachers? California is constantly lamenting the lack of teachers.

But here’s the biggest part of the problem - no one knows where the money goes.

If you have ever looked at the state budget (www.dof.ca.gov) you will see that it is broken out be agency, and by program. But the program levels are so general, you cannot see where the money goes. In Corrections, one of the program levels is “health care.” So how do you know where that money is going and what it is being spent on? You don’t.

In fact, I would bet that departments and agencies don’t know where all the money goes. I would also bet the couldn’t tell you what programs they have that work, and what doesn’t work. This would be helpful so you can cut programs that don’t work, and spend on programs that work. But that isn’t the way state budgeting works.

Instead, each department (or agency) automatically gets the same level of funding it did last year, unless the funding was given on a one-time basis. Then they can also get more funds by requesting them and going through a long process. So whether a program works or not, a department will keep get funding for it. And so they cannot abolish the program, because in the Budget Bill (which is law) that program is given money.

It is a stupid way to budget. And it is irresponsible.

If the Democrats want to raise taxes this year, the Republicans should give in for this trade: make each agency/department that receives state funding zero-base their budget next year. Make them identify where each and every dollar and position go, and why they need that dollar and position. This would give the state budget some transparency and allow the Legislature to be informed when they are making cuts. It would also allow departments to trot out their success stories - which should be funded to make the state a better place.

That’s my idea on at least one part of the problem and the solution.