Lawmakers lost in mist

There is a fog hanging over Sacramento, and it has nothing to do with fickle weather in the San Joaquin Valley.

This mist hovers over the heads and obscures the vision of California lawmakers, too many of whom can't see beyond their own political ambitions, to recognize that this state is sinking into a budget hole, without a rescue rope.

Legislative Analyst Elizabeth Hill tried to warn the governor and members of the Legislature last week, when she announced that what had been estimated as a $14.5-billion state budget deficit will actually be more on the order of $16 billion.

In an effort to slap some sense into lawmakers, Hill did something her office rarely does - offer an alternative spending plan, sort of a competing budget proposal, if you will.

Folks who appreciate a good joke might think Hill is considering a run for office. Our guess is she recognizes a very serious situation when she sees it, and is genuinely concerned that Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and members of the state Senate and Assembly do not have what it takes to fix the problem. The scariest aspect of this is that she's probably right.

The governor and lawmakers have already agreed to trim the budget deficit by $2 billion, but they accomplished that questionable miracle by cutting programs that help schools, health-care providers and the state's poorest citizens. Less than a week after that move, Hill told them it was all for naught. That $2 billion “saved” was gobbled up by a slumping housing market and soaring energy costs.

The centerpiece of Hill's alternative budget proposal is this - raise taxes by at least $2.7 billion. She also recommended higher fees to keep open the 48 state parks Schwarzenegger has recommended be closed, among them La Purisima Mission in the Lompoc Valley.

Hill's proposals are not likely to make much headway. Republicans are sticking to their no-new-taxes mantra, and they have enough votes to keep their promise.

Meanwhile, the governor and lawmakers are seriously discussing cutting the deficit by borrowing more money, which, of course, would have to be repaid by future generations of taxpayers, and only postpones the inevitable.

And the fog in Sacramento just gets thicker.

February 25, 2008