State's new budget based on hope and many hard choices

Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger presented his $83 billion, 2010-2011 budget more than a week ago. His budget is based on hope and hard choices.

The hope is for economic recovery and nearly $7 billion in help from Washington. The hard choices are more cuts in government spending. Almost every part of government will experience additional cuts with the exception of higher education that receives a slight increase.

Our budget problems are so severe that we cannot afford to wait to make the honest budget choices required to get our state's finances back on track. Also, it is imprudent, at best, to believe that California will receive any meaningful support from Washington for legitimate federal expenses borne by the state, such as those associated with the incarceration of criminal illegal aliens in our prisons. It's critical that we get to work immediately to address $21 billion in deficits this year and next through a mixture of cuts, efficiencies and reforms. The long-term solution to this crisis is to remove governmental barriers to economic growth and make California job creation the state's number one goal.

Though there is no joy in such times, there is opportunity to rein in decades of profligate spending and an unbridled growth of bureaucratic control over our lives. Progress has been made.

Hard choices were made and even an agency (Integrated Waste Management Board) was seriously down-graded. K-12 Education funding remained a priority, though not the blank check some always demand. Some long-needed reforms like giving local school districts more flexibility with expensive, categorically funded programs were achieved. The mass, early release of inmates was averted and the citizens clearly affirmed by their statewide vote May 19 they were not at all interested in new tax increases.New taxes are never the answer to California's budget woes. In fact, increasing the tax burden on California businesses and families will simply ensure more job losses. With the statewide unemployment rate exceeding 12 percent, it is essential that the Legislature make bold, free market reforms a central component of this year's budget process.

While most of the budget focus has been on taxes and spending, the long-term answer to our budget plight is reviving the economy. We must also enact meaningful budget process reforms such as a two-year budget, more transparency in the budget process, a more accurate assessment of long term liabilities and expenditures, and minimizing budget busting litigation opportunities hidden within the reams of complicated budget language.

Bottom line: realistic budgeting must not rely on pie in the sky hope, nor phantom revenues and gimmicks.

Reining in the excessive spending and regulation by state government will require an entirely new level of discipline by this Legislature and a renewed commitment to reform well into the future. It will require a deliberative and open budget process that respects institutional traditions and rules.

<B>[Editor's Note:</B> Jim Nielsen, R-Gerber, represents the 2nd Assembly District: Butte, Colusa, Glenn, Modoc, Shasta, Siskiyou, Sutter, Tehama and Yolo counties. He is also Vice Chair of the Assembly's Budget Committee.]