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Contributor
John
Campbell
John
Campbell (R-Irvine) is an Assemblyman representing the 70th
District
in Orange County. Mr. Campbell is the Vice-Chairman of the Assembly
Budget Committee. He is the only CPA in the California State
legislature
and recently received a national award as Freshman Republican
Legislator of the Year. He represents the cities of Newport
Beach,
Laguna Beach, Irvine, Costa Mesa, Tustin, Aliso Viejo, Laguna
Woods and Lake Forest. He can be reached through his Assembly
website
and through the website
for his California Senate campaign. [go to Campbell index]
 Thinking
Big
Change is in the Sacramento air...
[John Campbell] 11/15/03
As we prepare for the new Schwarzenegger administration
to take office on Monday, it is time to start thinking big. Governor
Davis will always be known as a very cautious politician who
made few bold or significant structural changes for fear of offending
some constituency. Instead, the actions (or inactions) of his
administration exposed a number of flaws in our governmental
and political systems which need restructuring.
Arnold Schwarzenegger is the anti-Gray Davis in so many ways
including his desire to make real lasting fundamental changes.
There are lots of opportunities for our new Governor in this
regard. Last week I talked to you about the spending limit proposal
I have been espousing for 2 years now. I believe that is the
single most significant lasting (and constitutional) change we
could make. But here's a few more ideas:
- The relationship
of revenues between state and local governments is a hodgepodge
of distorted incentives that leave cities
always fearing that when Sacramento sneezes, they will
catch cold.
We should give cities and counties diverse sources of revenue
that belong to them and them alone.
- We are
one of only 14 states that have a complete and distinct separate
state income tax code. We can have a postcard
tax return and save the state hundreds of millions of dollars
in
administrative costs by getting rid of our separate code
and basing state taxes on federal taxable income.
- After
we fix the miserable worker's compensation system and the
bankrupt unemployment insurance fund, maybe we can
start to lead the nation again in a few areas of enterprise
and job
creation. We could look at creating the most job-friendly
regulatory environment for burgeoning industries where
we have natural
advantages such as biotech, high technology, entertainment
and finance.
- We could
restore the doctor/patient relationship by taking employers
out of the loop in health care and giving tax
credits directly to individuals for their health care costs.
- The illegal
car tax increase must be eliminated but then we should get
rid of the confusing trigger mechanism so the
tax never goes up again.
- We must
repeal the non-citizen driver's license bill. But perhaps
after that we can start to look at a secure and controlled
guest worker program to fill our workforce and control
our borders.
- We could
lead the world in a free-market approach to energy production
and clean-air transportation and housing development
and........
.........OK, so first we have to balance the budget, clean up
the multibillion dollar left over Davis deficit, fix workers'
comp and bring our economy back. But its OK to dream a little
isn't it? Let us not fall into the trap of thinking small and
acting smaller. May we all use this historic recall opportunity
to make lasting improvement in the condition of our state and
its people.
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