California Issues - Government Reform

It’s Time To Reform State Government

   Now that I am entering my fourth year representing the people of the Central Valley in Sacramento, one thing has become very clear during my time in the Assembly – there is a dire need to reform government.

   The Legislature today is dysfunctional. Democrats, who have a majority in the Assembly and Senate, operate with an iron fist, ramming through their bills on party-line votes, while killing measures authored by Republicans with little debate. The committees are so out-of-balance that it is nearly impossible to reach bipartisan consensus. You need to look no further than the Assembly Appropriations Committee, which is made up of 11 Democrats and only 5 Republicans.

   Accountable only to their liberal supporters, Democrats put their misguided priorities at the top of the agenda, like giving food stamps to drug felons and routinely trying to increase taxes while ignoring serious problems like our lack of water storage.

   Recently, I joined some of my colleagues on a trip to Texas, Florida and Virginia, to meet with legislative leaders and see what approaches they take to address challenges in their states. California faces many of the same issued faced by Texas, Florida and Virginia, yet I was amazed that lawmakers there actually passed more realistic state budgets and work together to solve real problems instead of playing partisan games.

   We can apply a great deal of what we have learned from these other states here in California. It’s time to reform state government to restore the voice of the people, ensure openness in decision-making and increase accountability to taxpayers.

   We can start by enacting important government reform legislation that I have co-authored, Assembly Constitutional Amendment 7. ACA 7 will do two things – establish a two-year budget cycle and change the process to force lawmakers to get their priorities straight.

   If we had a two-year budget cycle, the first year of the two-year session would be solely focused on crafting a balanced budget for the following two years. The second year would be focused on legislation in every policy area.

   Right now, lawmakers spend most days working on lesser priorities. We rarely meet the deadline to pass a budget, and always seem to be rushing to pass a spending plan at the last minute. Requiring a two-year budget, like in Texas and Virginia, would force lawmakers to seriously consider the impact our actions would have on the future financial health of our state when passing a budget.

   At the same time, ACA 7 would strictly limit the number of bills legislators could introduce each session. The legislatures in Texas, Florida and Virginia only meet for a limited number of days every two years, making it critical that lawmakers use their time wisely. By reducing in half the number of bills lawmakers can propose, we will save taxpayers money and encourage lawmakers to focus on solving our state’s most pressing challenges. It’s time lawmakers stopped wasting time debating trivial and absurd legislation like the bill introduced earlier this year that would have required pets to be spayed or neutered or the measure that would have outlawed regular light bulbs in favor of a more “environmentally friendly” variety.

   We must also fix California’s broken redistricting system, to let the voters pick their representatives, rather than the politicians picking their voters. I have introduced Assembly Constitutional Amendment 4, which will return redistricting powers to the people in the form of an independent citizen’s commission. When politicians draw their own district lines, most seats are drawn to maximize advantage for one party or the other. We must take action to end the gerrymandering of political lines and restore accountability to ensure that every vote matters.

   Only by reforming government will be able to find bipartisan solutions for the major challenges facing our state. By changing how the Legislature operates from top to bottom, I am confident that we can end politics as usual in Sacramento.