The state's ongoing budget crisis provides ample evidence that public employee unions wield immense – even hegemonic – influence over the Capitol's Democratic majority.
Every move on the budget affects those drawing public paychecks, and Democrats won't make any move without at least consulting the affected unions. Not only are Democrats highly dependent on the unions for campaign contributions, but an astonishing number of Democratic lawmakers come directly from their ranks.
One of them is Assemblyman Tony Mendoza, D-Artesia, whose official biography describes him as "an active member in United Teachers Los Angeles (UTLA) and as a representative to the California Teachers Association (CTA) and the National Education Association." And if anyone doubts the power that they and other unions exert over legislative policy, he or she need look no further than Mendoza's Assembly Bill 155, which cleared the Assembly on a largely party-line vote and is now pending in the Senate.
Spurred by the city of Vallejo's bankruptcy filing, a powerful coalition of public worker unions is sponsoring the legislation that would, in effect, preclude cities, counties and other local governments from seeking bankruptcy protection unless a board dominated by union-friendly Democrats gave its blessing.
The board is the nine-member California Debt and Investment Advisory Commission, which was created 18 years ago to monitor bonds and other public debt and has labored in virtual obscurity ever since.
Mendoza's bill would not only empower the commission to regulate bankruptcy filings but allow it to impose conditions on the filings they do allow, which is the nut of the issue. Local governments that file for bankruptcy may be able to abrogate their labor contracts, but if AB 155 becomes law, the debt commission could – or at least the unions hope they would – block abrogation.
Vallejo offers a cogent example of how local governments can get into deep financial trouble. It – much like the state itself – enjoyed a gusher of revenues from the housing bubble, both property taxes and sales taxes. And it squandered that windfall on lavish contracts for its unionized employees, especially police and firefighters, thanks to their unions' political influence.
When the bubble burst, Vallejo found itself with a cost structure that its revenues could not support, again emulating the state, and its City Council decided that bankruptcy was the only alternative.
Had AB 155 been law, however, Vallejo would have had to seek permission from the debt commission to file bankruptcy, and the city's unions would have appealed to the board's Democratic majority to either block bankruptcy or force the city to retain the contracts that had made it insolvent.
AB 155 would essentially duplicate the oversight that federal courts now exercise on bankruptcies, so the only rationale for the legislation is to expand public employee union power.
Call The Bee's Dan Walters, (916) 321-1195. Back columns, www.sacbee.com/walters.
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