Rep. Devin Nunes, R-Visalia, thinks the Legislature is broken (he's right) and wants voters to creat a part-time, nonpartisan citizen legislature. That's among several reforms that he's suggesting in this commentary that ran Sunday in The Bee's Vision section.
Here are his other ideas for fixing the Legislature:
The second fundamental reform must be a limitation of our citizen legislature's power to tax and spend our money. This reform, a taxpayers' bill of rights, would include:-- Two-year budgeting. In year one, legislative hearings and oversight would allow time to prioritize spending. In year two, based on the priorities established in year one, the budget would be written.
-- End budget stalemates. If free of tax increases, the governor's budget should become law when the Legislature has failed to pass its own budget by the constitutional deadline. This reform would end the continual government shutdowns resulting from partisan gridlock.
-- New spending controls. To prevent overspending, we need mandatory spending limits on the growth of government. State spending should not grow faster than inflation; and a 3% budget reserve must be established to prevent unanticipated expenditures, such as natural disasters, from creating a deficit.
-- Budget surplus tax refunds. Mandatory tax rebate checks should be issued to all taxpayers when surpluses exceed the rate of inflation. Had this reform been law in 2001, that year's $10 billion budget surplus would have yielded each taxpayer a rebate of $714.
Funny that Mr. Nunes forgets the one thing that would really solve the budget crisis: eliminating the two-thirds requirement for the Legislature to pass a budget. But, then, that would mean his minority party giving up holding the stage hostage for partisan purposes. As it stands now, a party that can't win a majority has the power to call the shots. Doesn't sound very much like representative democracy to me. Something tells me that if the Republicans ever gained the majority, they might not be quite so keen to defend the two-thirds requirement to the death. The reality: This is more petty partisan politics from Nunes. How about raising taxes and making Californians PAY for its government, Mr. Nunes, instead of making pledges that you can never keep? Or, at least, why can't the Republicans tell us exactly what they would cut to balance the budget without raising taxes?
"citizen legislature's power to tax and spend our money."
What's a citizen legislature? We should hope that they are, or the legislature might be sent to India or China. (Sorry could not resist.)
There you have it, DW!
The standard Lib answer to everything...just raise taxes...HAPLESS!!
The liberal mantra: "More taxes." What ever happened to sound and prudent fiscal policies; Spending less than you take in?
I can’t figure whose more moronic, our elected officials or us dummies that put 'em there!
I agree with the suggestions Mr. Nunes says. If the budget is only by governor approval then he should be able to pass one that will work.
Where was the Congressman with these ideas the past 8 years? Didn't the Republican controlled Congress and White House listen to him?
I'm curious if this was proposed years ago, or not.
How about a part-time, non-partisan Congress while we're at it?
As for Nunes' proposals, he missed the elephant in the room, as DW already pointed out. Some of his ideas may be worth consideration, but any sort of spending caps imposed should take into account the real needs of the state, not just the present levels of income and spending. We need an unbiased, complete analysis of how the state raises revenues, where the money goes, and what levels of spending are needed in each area to produce optimum results - the sort of thing the Governor promised but failed to deliver when he was elected. Nunes' "starve the beast" plan doesn't come anywhere near that.
Rich, Nunes is talking about state government here, not federal. And he hasn't been in office 8 years, he is only now finishing his 3rd term, in Washington not Sacramento.
That's even more nonsense, a Congressman proposing to make State Senate changes?
Anyone old enough to remember when California HAD a part-time legislature, will also remember that budgets were passed on time and the many unnecessary and idiotic laws being passed now were not a problem either. I say how do we the people go about starting an initiative drive to return to a part-time legislature and more sanity?
Doesn't matter how long they work in government. How about putting integrety back into government, how do we do that?
Bill...Dittos on your analysis of Dim Wit."Just Rich"...You over corrected when you went off the road.Never a good thing to do.
"How about putting integrity back into government, how do we do that?"
I think that I could, as well as many others, make a pretty good run at answering that question, but it would not be well received, it would be deemed politically incorrect, and would be quickly overrun with many lawsuits.
We have not, as of yet, come to the point, where we have sunk low enough, experienced enough heartache, turmoil and economic disaster to consider the previously unthinkable - what we all need to do in order to extract ourselves from this "mess." Perhaps we will eventually come to that point. Just what it is that will serve as a wake-up-call, I don’t know. It will be something exceedingly serious.
No liberal wants to hear this, the new administration will adamantly oppose it, and the news media will accuse those believing it of being a bigot, but here is a great quote from Patrick Henry that reminds us of our responsibilities: "Bad men cannot make good citizens. It is when a people forget God that tyrants forge their chains. A vitiated state of morals, a corrupted public conscience, is incompatible with freedom. No free government, or the blessings of liberty, can be preserved to any people but by a firm adherence to justice, moderation, temperance, frugality, and virtue; and by a frequent recurrence to fundamental principles."
There is a group called Citizens for California Reform. (CCR) Here is there website:
http://www.reformcal.com/cms/
Help spread the word - we CAN fire the jokers running the show now and get people in there who will get the budget balanced on time!
Doesn't Congressman Nunes pay California state income taxes? Why should he not have an opinion on the matter? You got a problem with the source of good ideas?
Great idea even though it was mine. Why not do the full extend by making the legislature one house or returning the Senate to the countys with voting power base on the county population this would mean that LA county senator would have more voting power than all other senators. Then make the legislature work from their home office with sessions and voting done from online conferencing. No more per diem, travel, cars....