California: The Coming Collateral Damage
The Results, Outcomes and Impacts from a Strategic-less State Budget          

                                              
California has a budget, or does it?   The Legislature and the Governor supposedly have crafted
a budget deal to close the $24-$26 billion dollar budget deficit. The result is that Californians will
find state offices closed three days a month. The poor will go without health care in a state that
practically invented the health care safety net. Classroom sizes are about to explode and state
universities are furloughing professors, cutting class offerings and reassessing, in the case of the
University of California, whether the system will struggle to remain one of excellence systems in
the world and for its residents.

But beyond these results of the budget, there is an underlying current of political activism brewing
all in response to the lack of direction related to the budget, hence, a backlash from constituents
and the beginning of actions in the way of initiatives creating the coming pending collateral damage
caused by the lack of strategic direction and fiscal discipline in formulating a state budget.

Part-time Legislature
A Southern California Republican, defeated in an effort to join the state Assembly, is now pushing
a ballot initiative to make lawmakers’ jobs part-time. The would-be constitutional amendment would
pare down the total amount of time the Legislature is in session each year to no more than 95 days.
The Legislative Analyst and the Director of Finance say a part-time legislature for the world’s eighth
largest economy could save tens of millions of dollars.

                                                       
Gabriella Holt, CEO of the recently formed Citizens for California Reform, www.reformcal.com must
collect signatures of 694,354 registered voters – the number equal to 8 percent of the total votes cast
for governor in the 2006 gubernatorial election – in order to qualify it for the ballot. She has until Dec. 7
to do that. Ms. Holt, of Palos Verdes, was defeated last year in the 54th Assembly District race by
Bonnie Lowenthal, D-Long Beach.

Splitting the State in Half
Former State Assembly member, conservative Republican Bill Maze from Visalia (termed-out) is now
advocating breaking the state in two. Maze is working to capture the frustration and concerns about
the state’s regulatory and tax environment.

                                                     
Under Maze's plan, 13 coastal counties from Los Angeles to Marin would split from the remaining
45 counties, which his efforts expressed on a Web site www.downsizeca.org calls "the new revitalized
California."  To promote the idea, Maze has established a nonprofit group called Citizens for Saving
California Farming Industries.

Maze is selling the plan up and down the state, appearing on television and radio shows. However,
according to the U.S. Constitution, Congress and the state Legislature would have to sign off. Good
luck with that. Californians have tried to parcel the state 27 times before, with most attempts never
getting far off the ground, said former Republican Assemblyman Stan Statham, who made the last
serious attempt in the early 1990s.

Constitutional Convention
In yet another action in response to the budget crisis, several prominent individuals and political organizations
are calling for a new constitution. A coalition calling itself "Repair California" www.repaircalifornia.org was
formed in 2009 to continue the push for a California constitutional convention.

The group plans to submit its proposed measures to the Attorney General by September 25, 2009.This
is the first step in the process, after which signatures are solicited from voters. The plan is to obtain the
two-thirds majority vote in the legislature and place a new constitution on the ballot for the November 2010
election.

Repair California states that a consensus is emerging to reform these areas:
• The structure of governance, particularly the legislative and executive branches
• The processes for initiatives and referenda
• Campaign finance
• Term limits
• Changing to the two-thirds requirement for passing a budget
• Revenue distribution, particularly between localities and the state

California ought to charge admission to this three ring circus and use the money to offset the budget deficit.


Tim Johnson
tjohnson@CaliforniaBusinessMinute.com