Praising the work of state politicians and the people, Gov.
Arnold Schwarzenegger called for “bold new” reforms to
the state government to help pull California out of its fiscal woes
on Wednesday night.
Among the reforms is a proposal to clamp down on state spending
and redraw state voting districts.
“Last year, we stopped the bleeding. This year, we must
heal the patient,” Schwarzenegger said in his annual
televised State of the State address in Sacramento.
One of the biggest problems Schwarzenegger will face in the
coming year is a familiar one: California’s dismal fiscal
situation.
Before the speech, Lt. Gov. Cruz Bustamante said the state still
faced an $8.1 billion deficit that could grow to over $10 billion
by next year.
State budget shortfalls have already been responsible for the
state slashing millions of dollars in funding to the University of
California ““ including a $372 million cut last year ““
which has led to, among other things, cuts in enrollment and
outreach funding, and increases in student fees.
“This is going to be tough to do, and there are no quick
fixes,” Bustamante warned.
Schwarzenegger said he would not raise taxes to accommodate the
budget shortfall because state revenues were on the rise.
Instead, the governor blamed the state’s budget system
““ which he said irrevocably tied spending to revenue ““
for California’s $8.1 billion deficit. To solve this problem,
Schwarzenegger said he would introduce legislation that cuts state
spending when it exceeds revenues.
“We don’t have a revenue problem, we have a spending
problem,” he said.
The governor also called for reforms to the state pension
system, urged schools to tie a teacher’s pay and job
stability to their performance and said he wanted to appoint an
independent panel to redraw state voting districts.
The proposal will likely provoke a bitter fight in the
Legislature because both Republican and Democratic lawmakers feel
comfortable with current voting districts. Critics of the current
district plan contend it gives too much security to the incumbent
party.
Schwarzenegger, who called the current district plan
“rigged,” said out of 153 of the state’s
congressional seats up for vote this past election, not one changed
parties.
Democrats were largely accommodating of Schwarzenegger’s
suggestions, though there will likely be heated debates in the
Legislature for months to come.
“We will work together with the governor on commonsense
solutions,” said Assembly Speaker Fabian Núñez,
D-Los Angeles, after the speech.
Schwarzenegger’s speech was also marked by some attempted
levity. At one point, he told Democratic lawmakers remarks he made
in the past calling them “girlie men” and
“losers” were “all in the spirit of political
fun.”
Analysts agreed that Schwarzenegger’s speech was
well-crafted, well-delivered and contained few surprises. But it
also had few details, especially when the governor addressed how he
would fix the state budget crisis.
“This is an issue where the devil is in the
details,” said Michael Bazdarich, a senior economist with the
UCLA Anderson Forecast.
Though Schwarzenegger talked about education, he focused on the
K-12 system without mentioning higher education.
In contrast, both Bustamante and Núñez mentioned the
state’s university systems in their speeches.
Werner Hirsch, professor emeritus of economics at UCLA, said
Schwarzenegger and his speech writers might have innocently
overlooked higher education.
“(But) it might also mean that in terms of preferences, it
is not all that important to him,” Hirsch said.
But Bazdarich said the fact that Schwarzenegger neglected to
mention higher education could mean he has no immediate plans to
make additional cuts to the UC and California State University
systems.
“I don’t think any further cuts would be
appropriate. I don’t think he has any in mind,”
Bazdarich said, adding that there are areas in state spending
besides higher education that have not yet been cut heavily.
“Why don’t you work on those things, Arnie?”
Bazdarich asked with a chuckle.