Fed
up with the state’s budget problems, California
voters recalled a sitting governor at the beginning
of his term and replaced him with an action movie
star. How much clearer could they have made it that
they want to shake things up in Sacramento?
Apparently, the message was not clear enough for some lawmakers.
The Legislature appears to be headed right back to its old ways, right back to
the same bad habits that destroyed the budget and irritated the voters.
A glaring example occurred just last week, when the Assembly spent almost an
hour debating a non-binding resolution on the issue of abortion. Instead of working
toward a necessarily bipartisan budget solution, the lawmakers wasted time reiterating
their positions on the most politically divisive issue of the day.
It was also business as usual when lawmakers took their three-day weekend for
the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday. Before they left for that long weekend, they
first employed an old trick to make sure they would be paid their tax-free per
diem while they were off on Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Monday.
When the Legislature is in session, lawmakers receive $125 per day to cover expenses
associated with living away from home. The money continues flowing unless they
are out of session for more than three straight days.
For years, the Assembly and Senate have not met on Fridays unless an especially
important vote is needed or a major deadline is approaching. But on the Friday
before the MLK holiday, the houses met for what is called a “check-in session” --
a majority of members checked in with the appropriate clerk before leaving town,
and the non-meeting was dubbed a session for the purposes of getting paid.
The hit on taxpayers comes to about $60,000, minus a few dollars for the handful
of legislators who choose not to collect per diem.
This happens several times a year -- any time a three-day weekend presents itself
-- each and every year. The money could be used to pay the salaries of several
teachers or police officers, or could be cut from the budget entirely to help
the taxpayers. Instead, it is wasted on the per diem scam for lawmakers who already
make $99,000 a year.
When the lawmakers actually are in session, taxpayers are in even greater jeopardy.
Some legislators apparently didn’t get the memo about California’s
$14 billion operating deficit, and they continue introducing ideas for unnecessary
spending.
Assemblyman Paul Koretz, D-West Hollywood, has introduced a bill to require several
state agencies to establish an anti-littering campaign with signs declaring, “Don’t
Trash California.” For those who speak the state’s new official language,
the signs also would say, “California es tu casa. No hagas de ella un basurero.”
Koretz says the crusade wouldn’t cost anything, because the bill specifically
states that agencies would have to “use existing state resources” for
the signs. If the state had existing resources, Gray Davis would still be governor!
In the “lights are on but nobody’s home” department, Assemblyman
John Laird, D-Santa Cruz, is carrying a bill to put a tax on fluorescent lamps
and to make it a crime to dispose of the lamps in certain landfills. Just what
the state needs as it struggles to get out of the fiscal scrap pile.
Based on the early indicators, it seems that voters will have to reiterate their
message in the next election.
David
Kline is a Sacramento native who has been writing about seniors' issues since
1991. He has served as Spectrum's editor for the past five years — a
period that has seen the paper receive awards from the California Newspapers
Publishers' Association and National Mature Media Awards program.
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