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[Editor’s Note: Weekly reflections from the desk of the Democratic state Assemblyman who represents Culver City, West Los Angeles, Southwest and South Los Angeles.]
When Gov. Brown released his proposed budget this month, it generated a great deal of attention and a high level of interest, particularly in its references to our significantly improved state government finances and our state’s economy, characterized by slow but steady growth.
Tax receipts are projected to finish the fiscal year June 30 slightly less than a billion dollars above what originally was projected.
Mr. Brown’s $108 billion general fund spending proposal sets the stage for what I hope will be California’s fourth consecutive on-time balanced budget. The people of California have made our potential on-time budget opportunity possible. Voters encouraged responsible governance by empowering a simple majority of both houses of the legislature to pass budgets when they approved Prop. 25 in November 2010 (replacing the previously mandated two/thirds majority vote) and when they granted temporary increased tax collections through their approval of Prop. 30 in November 2012.
Those two actions by the voters, more than most, brought needed reform to a broken state budget process. It provided upwards of $6 billion annually in new state revenues. Most of that will be allocated to support primary, secondary and higher education.
Crafting a responsible spending plan for state government is no small feat. The Great Recession, our state’s previous two-thirds majority legislative vote requirement for budget passage, coupled with our state’s structural deficits (spending obligations in excess of revenue) wreaked havoc on previous state budget deliberations in the legislature.
Now that the people have given the majority party in the Senate and Assembly great trust to govern responsibly, we are duty-bound to honor their trust with sound fiscal management and decision-making that includes making prudent strategic investments in California’s future.
Three Priorities
Among the items we must thoughtfully consider are (1) the restoration of services to critical programs that help people who were hit hard during our Great Recession, (2) addressing the wall of debt that accumulated during the last 10 years, and (3) laying the groundwork for a rainy day fund. It would protect the state in the event of an unanticipated financial situation, such as another fiscal boom-bust cycle.
We need to build a healthy annual reserve.
We need to engage in a conversation with a wide array of stakeholders regarding early childhood education and universal pre-school to fully prepare our children for their transition to kindergarten. Kids who get a great start in preschool are typically ready for kindergarten. They end up 12 years later as graduates from high school.
The budget will be pored over, scrubbed and vetted over the next five months. Members of the Assembly and Senate committees on Budget and Fiscal Review will provide for extensive public input.
The needs of the 54th District are paramount to my concern regarding the allocation of state resources. Send me your state budget program prerogatives. What are your priorities? Let me know by emailing me at assemblymember.ridley-thomas@asm.ca.gov or calling my state capitol office at 916.319.2054. I look forward to hearing your ideas.
As a new member of the Assembly Committee on Health, my first hearing and the Health Committee’s first meeting of the new year was consumed by efforts to ensure consumer protection in insurance. Dr. Richard Pan, Assembly Health Committee Chairman, has crafted a measure to extend coverage to those receiving acute care and for pregnant women. The intent is make coverage available to those who lost insurance through no fault of their own as a result of implementation of the federal Affordable Care Act.
Lesson of the Week: Massive legislative reforms, like overhauling our health insurance system, can often cause unintended consequences.
Yours in service.
