California is broken

Initiative process needs an overhaul
By Kelvin Wade | | November 13, 2008 17:45

The initiative process in California needs a makeover. In the past week, I've heard backers of Proposition 8 wonder what good an initiative passed by popular vote is if it gets tied up and undone in the courts?

And I've heard opponents of Proposition 8 complain that civil rights shouldn't be put to a popular vote and that altering the state constitution should require a two-thirds vote.

But it's worse than that. While I do like the idea of direct democracy, there are four things that bother me about the initiative process.

No. 1, it's no longer a grassroots operation.

When California Gov. Hiram Johnson championed the initiative process almost 100 years ago, he envisioned grassroots movements of Californians working together to pass measures to improve their lot. We seldom see that anymore. Most propositions are dreamt up by interest groups, put on the ballot through paid signature gatherers and then millions in out of state funds flood in to pass or defeat the measure.

No. 2, it allows us to raise other people's taxes too easily.

We require a two-thirds vote on budgets in the California legislature. Not so when it comes to initiatives. We did it in 2004, when we passed Proposition 63 that taxed millionaires to pay for mental health services. More than six million voters cast ballots to raise taxes on 30,000 taxpayers.

What's to stop us from going to that well again? We've done similar things when we've taxed smokers to finance health projects. It's easy for the majority to vote for tax increases when the majority won't be paying the taxes.

No. 3, it allows for auto-pilot spending.

Propositions like 1988's Proposition 98 that mandates a certain level of spending on education, while obviously good intentioned, puts us on auto-pilot when it comes to spending. It takes flexibility out of the hands of the governor and legislature and helps make this state ungovernable.

So we take spending decisions out of the hands of our elected leaders and then get angry with them when they have a hard time balancing the budget.

No. 4, our statewide fiscal decision-making is too much like our kitchen table decision-making. Politicians love to say households are run more efficiently than government. Really? We have little savings, we're in debt and we love credit cards.

Too many Americans handle money the same way whether it's at the kitchen table or a legislative body.

Last week we passed measures that will add more than $20 billion to the state credit card over their fiscal life.

This kind of spending reminds me of the kind-hearted fellow who is in debt up to his eyeballs but charges a bunch of Christmas gifts for everyone because he wants them to be happy. I get the sentiment but it's fiscal suicide.

With that said, I wouldn't scrub the system completely. Why not more stringent rules to qualify for the ballot? Why not full disclosure of who is backing ballot measures? The Legislature can't pass a budget without a super-majority, so why is it different for ballot measures?

We should at least be debating these issues. Peace.

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The state is jacked up big time. Schwarzenegger thought he'd come into office, flex his Hollywood muscles and whip Sacramento into shape. He ran up against a legislature that requires a 2/3 vote to pass a budget with Democrats ready to raise taxes and Republicans adamantly opposed to tax hikes. He ran up against deep pocketed moneyed interests who have a stake in keeping services at their present rate. If you exempt corrections, education and Medi-Cal from cuts, there's precious little left to cut. People want low taxes, high services in an economy that's gone to shit. That's not going to happen without running huge deficits, which we are. It's a prescription for disaster.

How can we fix it? By doing some of the things I suggested in my column, stopping all of this bond spending, making real painful but necessary cuts and bringing in more revenue. It's not rocket science. Stop charging, cut spending and bring in more money. Balance the budget. That's what you have to do. You can't get there without pain. You can't get there without sacrifice. But we've been sold this bill of goods that sacrifice is no longer required as an American. Shop, drive gas guzzlers, charge it, don't save...

All it takes is political will. But politicians are afraid to stick their necks out for fear of losing their seats. Doing the right thing isn't enough. There's no way out of this mess that doesn't involve sacrifice.

That applies on the local, state and federal levels and no politician has the guts to admit the truth.

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Check out the fun I've had with Vika here.

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