California Minute  >  California Minute  >  California Family Minute  >  California Family Minute  >  State Legislature Once Again Demonstrates its Dysfunction

State Legislature Once Again Demonstrates its Dysfunction

State Legislature Once Again Demonstrates its Dysfunction
"I am for a government rigorously frugal & simple, applying all possible savings of the public revenue to the discharge of the national debt; and not for a multiplication of officers & salaries merely to make partisans, & for increasing by every device, the public debt, on the principle of it’s being a public blessing.” ~ Thomas Jefferson, 1816
Jefferson’s foresight warned of a government that would grow beyond its prescribed purposes. His words warned of dangers of government debt to the public good. Not coincidentally, California is once again faced with numerous fiscal and societal challenges. After closing a $60 billion deficit in 2009, the state now faces an estimated $20 billion deficit in 2010, a 12.4% unemployment rate, continued water management issues, impoverished school districts and crowded prisons. Regardless of all these challenges, California legislators continue to place partisan politics and special interest before the needs of the people of California. 
The failure of the State Assembly to confirm Senator Abel Maldonado (R-Santa Maria), Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger’s nominee to fill the vacant Lieutenant Governor’s position, illustrates how partisanship has contributed to the Legislatures’ dysfunction. Maldonado, a moderate Central Coast Republican who regularly votes with the Democrat majority, drew stiff opposition to his nomination from Democrat lawmakers. As political columnist Dan Walters notes, “Governor Schwarzenegger and Democrat leaders are [now potentially] locked in a political, semantic and ultimately legal duel over something that should have taken about five minutes – confirming Republican Senator Abel Maldonado to serve 10 months in a completely meaningless office of lieutenant governor.”
In spite of the Assembly’s failure to confirm Senator Maldonado, Governor Schwarzenegger initially threatened to move forward with Maldonado’s installation. In an e-mail statement, Schwarzenegger’s legal affairs secretary stated, “Today’s [Thursday’s] Assembly vote is not a 'refusal' to confirm, there is neither a confirmation nor a refusal to confirm by that chamber and, under the text of the Constitution, the nominee would take office.” 
Governor Schwarzenegger called the Assembly’s actions “hyper partisanship at its worst.” However, the governor decided to withdraw and resubmit Maldonado’s nomination. According to Schwarzenegger, he resubmitted Maldonado’s name for nomination “in an effort to avoid wasting time and energy on litigation that should be spent passing a jobs package.”   
Focusing on the confirmation theatrics, rather than on a “jobs package” or the deficit-ridden state budget, explains why polls indicate voters’ displeasure with their elected officials. Similarly, the Legislatures’ inaction to the state’s fiscal issues also demonstrates their systemic paralysis. As the governor’s 8th special session of the 2009-10 legislative year nears its end, legislators will hastily attempt to approve measures addressing California deficit and immediate cash flow problems. However, will the proposed measures be bipartisan? Not surprisingly – No! Despite introducing more than 100 bills aimed at reducing the deficit and creating jobs, the only measures currently moving through the process are Democrat-sponsored bills. Republican-sponsored bills have not been heard in committee and will die without consideration when the special session ends on February 22, 2010. 
In the meantime, the Democrat-controlled Senate Budget Committee – on strict party-line votes with Republicans in opposition – approved several budget measures that would reduce the deficit. One measure would increase business taxes by limiting a business’s ability to write off losses. These business tax increases would generate approximately $655 million in new revenue. 
A second bill approved by the committee aims to institute a 4.8% surcharge on residential and commercial property insurance, which would raise another $200 million in new state revenue. 
The Senate Budget Committee-approved bills are designed to specifically raise taxes requiring only a simple majority vote, excluding Republicans. Similar to the Assembly’s partisan actions in the Maldonado confirmation, the behavior of the Senate will undermine cooperative efforts needed to effectively govern California. Solving California’s fiscal problems, particularly during these dire fiscal times, requires our elected leaders to work together. 
Actions by the Democrat majority continue to display an arrogant hubris by their refusal to acknowledge the need for legislators to work together to protect California families. Since legislators returned to Sacramento after the recess, actions have “helped fuel the perception that California’s statehouse is stuck in never-ending dysfunction.”  Regrettably, all Californians are paying the price for this reality.
  • Printer-friendly version