State Budget Process Is Overdue for an Overhaul

Requiring that the state budget be the only order of business for the Legislature from June 1 until the budget is passed also would speed up the budget process. In addition, the recommendation that only budgeted funds could be spent by the state would clearly prohibit the temporary financing methods that currently enable the Legislature to ignore the deadline. Unfortunately, as was demonstrated last month when a Los Angeles judge temporarily restrained the state controller from issuing state warrants, it's state employees, aid recipients and other innocent groups who suffer the consequences of delayed payments, rather than the elected officials who are responsible for the budget delay.

In times of surplus like the present, budget makers need to exercise restraint to ensure that tax cuts and spending increases don't leave the state unable to maintain important programs in leaner budget periods without massive borrowing of the kind that took place in the early 1990s.

Finally, another major element in the commission's budget reform program is the recommendation for a constitutional amendment requiring the state budget to be balanced as passed by the Legislature and signed by the governor, a requirement not now in the state Constitution. A balanced budget is a sound fiscal goal. Fairness dictates that taxpayers pay for the programs carried out for their benefit and not pass along the costs of those programs to future generations of taxpayers by borrowing to finance a gap between current revenues and expenditures.

The budget commission members feel strongly that the adoption of these budget reforms and the other related recommendations in their final report will help California's state budget process make necessary fiscal decisions in a more responsible and timely manner.