California Renovation
Our government is broken. Here’s a blueprint for fixing the mess that is California.
(July 23, 2009) The California Constitution is no work of art.
It’s more like the Winchester Mystery House in San Jose. Lots of little rooms, stairs that lead nowhere, doors that open onto blank walls and windows set into the floorboards. “We keep adding rooms, but the hallways don’t connect together,” says state Sen. Mark DeSaulnier, of our state’s constitutional house of mystery. “There’s not a lot of thought given to the overall architecture.”
Since 1879, the state constitution has been amended 512 times. Compare that to the U.S. Constitution, which you just don’t mess with. Its 27 amendments are straightforward principles concerning the essential function of government and the rights of the governed.
The California Constitution is more like a very long grocery list, on which one can scratch things out or scribble them in. The right to fish and the right the conduct stem-cell research are constitutional rights in California. The constitution divvies up vehicle license fees. Laws regulating low-rent housing projects are enshrined in the constitution. It’s loaded down with special taxes and spending restrictions that cannot be changed, except by a vote of the people.
“We’ve embedded so many policy decisions into the state constitution, it’s just become unworkable,” said Mark Paul, with the New America Foundation, a nonpartisan think tank. Unworkable. Unmanageable. More and more, pundits and academics say the state is literally “ungovernable.”
The May 19 special election shows just how bad things have become.
Faced with a $42 billion budget deficit, the state Legislature asked voters to approve an array of budget measures that lawmakers could not perform themselves, thanks to decades of budgeting by ballot initiative and constitutional amendment. Voters soundly rejected Propositions 1A through 1E—and seemed to be saying, “That’s not our job.”
“The electorate absolutely hated it. But the fact is that the Legislature had to do it that way. We’ve tied ourselves in knots,” said Paul.
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on the cover
Railroad!
Proposed lines ‘set rich blood a-tingling’ in early 1900s
Some Other Proposed North Coast Railroads
Choo-choo Fantasies
Exposing this east-west rail nonsense
seven-o-heaven
Undeterred Will
Will chides Andrew for lack of attention to detail and makes plans for his inevitable victory.
Recent on the cover
May 17
Ring of Fire
Sun and moon will perform a rare pas de deux in Humboldt skies on Sunday
May 10
District Soup
Racing for the top county seat in the 1st, 2nd and 3rd districts
May 3
A Place in the Woods
As park closure deadline nears, a scramble to save what we can
Today
44th Annual Kinetic Grand Championship Race
STAFF PICK / events, art, outdoors, sports, for kids, free / 9 a.m.-6 p.m. A 3-day, 42-mile kinetic sculpture race over land, sand, mud and water! LeMans start at the Noon Whistle on the Arcata Plaza. Follow the race through Manila, Eureka and into Ferndale on Memorial Day for the Glorious Finish. kineticgrandchampionship.com. 889-3024.
Flow 2012 Fashion Show
STAFF PICK / events / 8 p.m. Arcata Theatre Lounge, 1036 G St. Student designed and produced clothing. Fundraiser for Arcata Arts Institute. $35/$25 students. artsinstitute.net. 822-1220.
Woodside Preschool's Rummage/Bake Sale
events / 8 a.m.-noon. Woodside Preschool, 900 Hodgson St, Eureka. www.woodsidepreschool.com. 445-9132.
Lanphere Dunes Restoration
STAFF PICK / outdoors / 9:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m. Meet at Pacific Union School. Help remove non-native invasives at the Lanphere Dunes Unit of the Humboldt Bay National Wildlife Refuge. Tools and gloves provided, wear work clothes and bring water. Carpool to the protected site. 444-1397.
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ONE Comments
Comment / By C Heber / July 25, 2009, 1:09 p.m.
Almost all systems would work fine if the elected officials had the primary goal of respecting stated will of the people. But instead there is an attitude amoung elected officials and citizens that they have the duty to follow their own course without compromise. Everyone in disagreement is to be out manuvered at all costs. How can any Constitutional Convention possible rise above this to accomplish some worthwhile? I think it has to get worse before good governance seems more important that social engineering to most people.