The Most Dysfunctional State In America
Few eyes in the world, including those in California, will be focusing on Tuesday’s state special election which sets out to prove it is the most financially dysfunctional government in the nation.
Most of the six ballot measures, according to recent polls, will fail, sending the state into deeper economic chaos. Even if they pass, the state’s fiscal problems will only be prolonged. The only measure expected to pass is one limiting pay increases for state legislators.
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger sent a letter May 11 to the legislature warning it that, by his latest estimates, the state will face a budget gap of $15.4 billion if the ballot measures pass, $21.3 billion if they fail. Prisoners will have to be released, firefighters fired, and other services cut or eliminated.
The problem, folks, is the state’s constitution, third longest behind the nation of India and state of Alabama. If you think the U.S. Senate’s 60-vote majority rule is cumbersome, in California it takes a two-thirds (67%) vote for the legislature to pass a budget AND increase taxes. Most statewide fiscal initiatives to change the constitution take only a simple majority. When that happens, voters grow more hostile because the state does not have the money to pay for them.
A by-product of this is that California now has the lowest bond rating among all 50 states.
Because of quirky and arcane laws dating back to the Progressive Era in 1910, it no longer is the citizens who control the legislature but special interest groups and lobbyists and entrenched politicians from both parties protected by gerrymandered assembly and senate district boundaries.
California is one of 24 states that allow referendums, recalls and voter initiatives. But it is the only state that does not allow its legislature to override successful initiatives and has no sunset clauses that let them expire. It also uses initiatives far more, and more irresponsibly, than any other state.
In short, it is democracy at its worst.
If its representative democracy functioned well, that might not be so debilitating. But it does not. Only a minority of Californians bother to vote, and those voters tend to be older, whiter and richer than the state’s younger, browner and poorer population, says Steven Hill at the New America Foundation, a think-tank that is analyzing the options for reform.
I am a native Californian, a longtime political observer, and nothing that happens in state government surprises me. I’m always fascinated how others look upon my state and as it just so happens everything I suspected is laid out in this article in The Economist. Factual details and quotes from the article were used in this posting.
Cross posted on The Remmers Report
The above cartoon by Wolverton, Cagle Cartoons, is copyrighted and licensed to run on TMV. All Rights Reserved. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited.
10 Responses to “The Most Dysfunctional State In America”
What is even worse is that no one is going to show for the special election. American Idol is going to get more votes.
I've never lived in CA although I have visited. How soon will it be before folks just pack up and get the heck out of there? I'm a bit surprised that a state so poorly managed continues to be a draw for anyone.
It's a great state except for those conservative Republicans. There are programs that the citizens in the state of California want to support, but the GOP's solution to the funding (budget) shortage is the same solution they offer on any other issue…. lower taxes.
I notice that in this post you cast all of the blame on California's electorate and none on its legislature. Is that your position?
Stockboy,
The state budget of California has grown faster than would be required by population and growth even virtually every year. California has high taxes and still runs a massive budget deficit. If anything, all of the politicians in California refuse to acknowledge the ratchet effect. Any time a bubble or boom comes along, the politicians make long term plans based upon short term income. In addition, the state of Califonria has worked very hard to force middle class white to leave.
The number of whites in California was been doing down for twenty years. California has replaced its middle class white population with poor Hispanics and then complains that the state does not have the same level of performance.
I also suspect that cheating on taxes is now part of the business plan for most small businesses in California. That is why so many industries are basing themselves on ethnicity because it is easier to cheat on taxes.
SB: “It's a great state except for those conservative Republicans.”
Seriously? In California? I'm not that familiar with the state make-up of California, but isn't it safe to say that it is basically dominated by Democrats? If ever there was an example of a one-party state, I would think CA was it. And who knows, lower taxes might do some good, considering CA is quite possibly the highest taxed state in the union, no?
AS I understand the problem, in California you need a two third majority to raises taxes, the Republicans control a little over a third of the legislature, and vote as a block against any and all tax increases, damn the consequences…
DQ, how much more higher can the taxes there get? At some point, its just going to get too expensive to live there for anyone, let alone anyone with any kind of financial security.
You're right; the Repubs in CA control a little over 1/3 of the legislature. Seems to me that those who control the other 2/3, you know the ones in power, need to learn how to govern effectively or CA is going to turn into a third-world cesspool.
Dave: “California is one of 24 states that allow referendums, recalls and voter initiatives. But it is the only state that does not allow its legislature to override successful initiatives and has no sunset clauses that let them expire. It also uses initiatives far more, and more irresponsibly, than any other state.”
The electorate passes initiatives the legislature can't do anything about. Yes, it's their fault.
California will eventually adopt a non-English based language as it's official language. It will then join the Palin's in a successionist movement: California and Alaska.