SACRAMENTO — Leading visitors through the state Capitol some years back, a tour guide who fancied himself a humorist would take delight in calling attention to the office of the legislative analyst.
"So, you think the Legislature has its own in-house psychiatrist?" the guide would ask tourists. It doesn't, he said, "but a lot of people think it could use one."
His corny joke out of the way, the tour leader would describe the legislative analyst as the politically independent adviser whose watchdog role over fiscal affairs is credited with saving taxpayers millions of dollars each year.
But the legislative analyst's office, whose recommendations to lawmakers on spending, taxes and even policy issues advanced by governors are free of political spin, finds itself in jeopardy after 50 years on the job.
So does a sister agency, the office of the auditor general, the nonpartisan investigative arm of the Legislature whose investigations seek to make sure that taxpayers' money is properly spent and bureaucracies perform effectively.
Whether the two agencies survive will be decided by the voters Nov. 3, according to backers of two proposed amendments to the California Constitution. Opponents of the measures contend that the two offices will do just fine without the protective amendments.
Propositions 158 and 159, respectively, would exempt the legislative analyst and the auditor general from spending limitations imposed on the Legislature's budget two years ago when voters approved Proposition 140.
In addition to the popular anti-incumbent term limits imposed by Proposition 140, the measure also ordered a less well-publicized 38% cut in the Legislature's spending on itself. Additionally, it established limits on future spending.
To comply with the restrictions, the Senate and Assembly dealt the heaviest cuts to its biggest expense, employees. That forced the legislative analyst to lay off more than half of his staff of 100 people, and the auditor general to do likewise to a staff of 162.
Put on the ballot by the Legislature in the wake of the cuts, Propositions 158 and 159 would write into the state Constitution an exemption of the two agencies from restrictions on the Legislature's budget. Combined, the cost would total about $9.5 million. Both would continue to report to the lawmakers.
