Reform’s Process

When then-Gov. Gray Davis submitted his proposed 2003-04 budget to the Legislature, he declared that the state’s revenue system and budget process were “obsolete and irrational,” paralyzed by constant battling over taxing and spending. Everyone knew he was right. Every responsible state leader today knows that California desperately needs to reform its system of government finance. This year’s budget deadlock is a direct product of that system.

Now, the state’s Little Hoover Commission has offered an eight-step plan for actually getting to reform. The governor and leaders in the Legislature should resist the automatic impulse to toss the study onto the shelf already groaning with ignored reports of the past, including that of the once-promising California Constitution Revision Commission of 1993-96.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger promised reform of state government when he ran in the recall election. There are a number of reform-minded leaders in the Legislature. Groups such as Common Cause and the League of Women Voters are eager to help.

The report of the Constitution Revision Commission was shunned by then-Gov. Pete Wilson. And legislative leaders at the time saw no political advantage in taking up the difficult fight for reform.

The library of ideas for reconstructing state government gathers dust because no one had a strategy for how to get the recommendations accepted by the Legislature and the people. In many cases, there was no concept of how to translate a bright idea into a real-world fix. Members of the Constitution Revision Commission proposed an intriguing consolidation of local and regional governments, including school districts, into one agency that might even cut across county lines. But the commission got lost in the details of how to make such a creature work.

The Little Hoover Commission report is not a new laundry list of reform proposals. Rather, it offers a strategic plan for how to achieve reform. Elements begin with strong leadership that has a specific idea of what it wants to achieve at the outset, the development of support from all affected interests, a campaign to involve the public and development of the technical details of how the plan would actually work.

It’s not sexy reading, but it’s a fresh approach. As James P. Mayer, commission executive director, said, “The process does matter.” The governor and legislative leaders need to keep the report handy, not on the back shelf, to remind them -- nag them -- that this effort cannot begin soon enough.