State lawmakers hear plenty of criticism
– deservedly so – for failing to pass budgets on time and for
relying on gimmicks to hide deficits.
But the mixed messages from California voters illustrated by a
Field Poll released last week aren’t likely to inspire any new
profiles in courage in the halls of the state Capitol, where yet
another budget deadline was missed Sunday.
State lawmakers hear plenty of criticism – deservedly so – for failing to pass budgets on time and for relying on gimmicks to hide deficits.
But the mixed messages from California voters illustrated by a Field Poll released last week aren’t likely to inspire any new profiles in courage in the halls of the state Capitol, where yet another budget deadline was missed Sunday.
More than 60 percent of those surveyed said the budget should be balanced mostly with spending cuts, compared with about one in four who said they would rather rely on tax increases to close a $17.2 billion gap.
OK, that’s straightforward enough. From there, however, it’s tough to tell how they expect the job to be done.
Voters questioned by Field Research were asked about 13 program areas representing the bulk of state spending, and – by varying degrees – they opposed cuts to all 13.
Opposition was strongest to cutting spending for public schools (80 percent said no) and health care programs for low-income residents and the disabled (77 percent said no).
Trouble is, K-12 education and heath and human services account for about 70 cents of every dollar the state spends on daily operations – $71.7 billion out of a $103.5 billion general fund this year.
Holding those categories whole would mean cutting every other program by half. That includes community colleges, universities, parks, courts, road repairs, law enforcement and so on.
According to the Field Poll, however, most voters don’t want to cut any of those either.
Perhaps it isn’t surprising that lawmakers aren’t making much progress on the budget. Still, a conflicted electorate isn’t much of an excuse for elected officials, most of whom ran on promises of leadership and creativity.
Most voters aren’t versed in the details of state spending, but they may realize their desires aren’t especially realistic and that lawmakers will be reluctant to cut popular programs too deeply in an election year: Field found that 81 percent expect that the budget won’t be settled without a tax increase.
And as you might imagine, when asked about taxes, voters generally prefer that any increase fall on someone else.
So it may be a long summer.
This editorial first appeared in the Santa Rosa Press-Democrat on Wednesday.
