Contributor

Ray Haynes

Mr. Haynes is an Assembly member representing Riverside and Temecula. He serves on the Appropriations and Budget Committees. [go to Assembly Member Haynes website at California Assembly]

In Serious Need of Adult Supervision
A Legislature out of control
by Ray Haynes 6/14/03

Two years ago, if you had asked me my opinion on term limits, I would have told you that I support them. I am not happy about losing my job (I was then a Senator), but, by and large, term limits, I thought, have been beneficial. They brought new faces to the Legislature, and broke up old roadblocks to good government.

Today, my mind has been changed. I served in the Assembly in the last two years of the time that Willie Brown was speaker. I went to the Senate, and have come back after 8 years. All of the people in the Assembly the last time I was there have circulated out, and many of the “veterans” here today replaced people who had been elected with me in 1992. In my first trip here, I had people who had served 8 to 20 years in the Assembly. Today those folks are gone, and now the inmates are in charge of the asylum.

My first Assembly tour was filled with interesting political and policy discussions. With the politics and the policy, however, came resolution. Willie Brown, then Speaker of the Assembly, would control the impulses of his more left wing members and constituencies, run the house efficiently, and resolve issues. Today, the entire house is out of control. It is in serious need of adult supervision.

The budget problems are just a symptom of the general malaise that consumes the Assembly. No one in the leadership of the house desires to exercise any level of self-control, and they simply refuse to control the baser impulses of some of the more powerful constituency groups in Sacramento. Whether it is arrogance of power, or simply inexperience, the levers of government are allowed to come under the control of some real wackos.

They passed at least seven new bills that would let local governments raise the car tax and income taxes on their residents, in many cases without a vote of the people. They passed a bill that would require a $10 per hour minimum wage for anyone requiring a state contract. They increased pension benefits for several employee unions, passed legislation requiring everyone to grant domestic partner benefits, passed a bill to tax the internet, killed a bill to extend Megan’s law (a law which protects children from child molesters), expanded welfare benefits, eliminated the only program that makes sure children actually have a ninth grade education when they graduate from high school, and increased taxes on farmers.

After passing every kind of bill to increase state spending, the majority party then complains about not having enough money to balance the budget, and is trying to raise taxes and fees on cars, television sets, laundry detergent, lumber, computers, and just about anything else you use around the house. They now want to make it even easier to raise taxes on your house.

Sometimes, to be a responsible adult, you just have to say no to people. Rather than increasing the size and scope of government in times of government deficit, it is important to just stop. That is what happened in the 1992-3 and 1993-4 budgets. They were run by adults.

This year, the kids in this Legislative candy store are sick from sugar, but they just won’t stop eating candy. They need an adult to say no, but neither Governor Davis, nor the Legislative leadership appears to be able to do that. If the Republicans have to be the adults, we will do it, and endure the consequences. That is what political leadership is all about.