The California Legislature Should Be Active Again – Orange County Register

After a lifetime of journalism, primarily on the Orange County Register, from 2017-20 I served as press secretary for State Senator John Moorlach, R-Costa Mesa. Doing so confirms my longstanding belief in returning the Legislature to the part-time state it enjoyed until 1966. Moorlach, a CPA with a business background and experience in local government side, fought fellow legislators who didn’t know the ledger from a Labrador.

In 1966, misguided voters passed Measure 1A, transforming the Legislature into full-time. According to a study by Gary E. Kovall and Jessica M. Oliver of the Rose Institute, “Politicians, pundits and academics all hail the transition as a step forward in improving legislative politics. By 1971, the Citizens’ Conference on State Government declared California the best Legislature in the nation. “

Since then, expenditures in the budget general fund have increased from 4.07% of state personal income to an average in recent years of more than 6.2%. So spending has increased by more than 50%.

Per capita income also increased. It’s no surprise that it’s the most taxing state in the nation. While Silicon Valley’s profits over the past two years have generated an unforeseen amount of revenue, there’s no guarantee that will last.

The dot-com bankruptcy of 2000-01, which devastated the tech industry, turned the huge state surpluses of those days into a $40 billion deficit, a major reason Governor Gray Davis was revoked this year. 2003.

Alternate Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, elected with the government’s promise to “blow up the trash,” delivered on that promise for two years. He then freed the Legislature to make new expenditures. A 25% increase in spending from fiscal 2005-06 to 2007-08 pushed the spending figure to 6.75% of personal income.

In 2006-07, the Legislature awarded Arnold a $100 billion budget, the first budget to break the 12-digit figure. I remember him giving it back, insisting on a cut – then signing a final budget of $101 billion, $1 billion more.

When the next recession hit, in 2007-08, the state ran into a huge deficit again due to overspending. The biography of Ian Halperin, “Governor,” detailed the matter: Old Bulls in the Legislature kept poking fun at Arnold in his cigar tent. The experience of cutting movie deals is not suited to dealing with political complications.

Governor Jerry Brown took over in 2011 and his experience as former governor has helped him tweak the budget, at least in the short term. Since 2019, Governor Gavin Newsom has been blessed with a surplus. But the problem persisted; The Legislature has been around for so long its tendency is to spend too much.