Executive & Legislative Capitol Budgets

Executive and Legislative Capitol Budgets

Rumor has it Governor Brown plans to cut his Governor’s Office budget by 25% which will no doubt put pressure on the Legislature to do the same, but the Legislative branch differs in many ways from the Executive.

If Governor Brown cuts his office budget, much of the work could be transferred to various agencies which operate under the governor’s control. The Legislature does not have the resources of the vast state bureaucracy with which to work.

Further, the Legislature has an oversight responsibility over the administration. While governors understandably chafe at Legislative oversight, it is a necessary function of our system of checks and balances. The Legislature would be completely unable to exercise its oversight role without the necessary resources to do so.

In addition, a substantial cut to the Legislative Analyst’s Office during this unprecedented fiscal crisis, would leave the LAO less able to advise the Legislature, thus hindering the Legislature's ability to work with Governor Brown as a full and equal partner in addressing the state’s fiscal needs. Cutting Legislative Counsel would handicap the Legislature in the same manner.

From an historical perspective, the Legislature already sustained a 50% cut, much larger than the supposed 25% being proposed by the governor for his operations. California voters enacted Proposition 140 in 1990 which, in addition to creating legislative term limits, capped legislative office spending. Office expenditures dropped nearly 40 percent in the following session. This cap on spending for legislative offices is still in place today. The legislature has also cut its spending by an additional 10 percent over the past couple of years. Thus, the size of legislative operations is effectively already only 50 percent what it would have been absent Proposition 140. The governor’s operations have not sustained similar reductions.

The combined budgets for the Legislature and the Governor’s Office are 1.4% of the budget problem we faced in 2010. Firing every staffer in the Capitol, eliminating all pay to legislators, turning off the lights and walking away would have brought us 1.4% closer to closing our budget gap in 2010. However, having an empty capitol would certainly impede our ability to represent the interests of ordinary Californians who do not have access to the horseshoe.

As we move into 2011 budget negotiations all options must be on the table. But it is going to take more than symbolic cuts to balance our budget and it is going to take all of our dedication to ensure we get it done responsibly and on time.

New governor, new times for California

New governor, new times for California

Sunday night Governor Jerry Brown quietly slipped into a downtown restaurant to join myself and a group of other Senators at a welcoming dinner for new members. He spent the evening with us legislators discussing the new green economy and, in a move guaranteed to capture my heart, spent nearly half an hour chatting with my daughter about her legal studies.

The point is, the evening wasn’t about Jerry Brown, it was about the future of California, our beloved golden state.

Sunday evening represents a bold contrast with the last six years of Governor Schwarzenegger, which has been all sound and fury with little substance. And unfortunately often the substance that did exist was mean, petty, and personal. Even now in his last moments as Governor, he’s attempting to strong-arm Legislators into serving up the state to his blue pencil.

Now that the 2011-12 Legislature has been organized, it is time to look to California’s future. We have an enormous deficit, but no worse than many other states. Our economy is still one of the largest and innovative in the world. We still have a world class education system and a new generation of students embracing a high-tech, information-saturated world unimaginable to us a generation ago. It is incumbent upon us to responsibly address our shortfalls and continue to empower that which makes us golden, Californians themselves.

Happily, it will no longer be about ego in the Governor’s Office, now it is about California. Let’s get to work.

Settling in to the State Senate

Settling in to the State Senate

Hello friends!

I made the journey from the State Assembly here to the State Senate and am excited to be representing this beautiful and unique district. As I did as an Assemblymember, I will continue to blog about issues important to our state. Please feel free to check back often and to submit any questions or comments you may have!

I am looking forward to getting to work in the State Senate!

Very Truly Yours,
Noreen Evans