Dan Walters' Capitol Q&A

Question: There will be a measure on the February ballot that changes the way California community colleges are funded and governed. Have you studied this measure? If you have, in your opinion, will the measure, if passed, result in more stable funding and a more effective governance structure?
-- Barbara, Santa Monica

Answer: I have written about the issue, and the measure, on numerous occasions. In fact my columns about the political vulnerability of community college funding may have been the seed from which the measure grew. As I said in a recent column, such a measure may be the only way for the colleges to have a stable and adequate base of financing, given the hardball political atmosphere surrounding the state budget, but it's also another example of the trend toward "ballot box budgeting" that makes it increasingly difficult for the Legislature and the governor to make rational budget choices. I characterized it as having to do the wrong thing to do the right thing.
--Dan Walters

Question: The news is saturated with the story of the fires at South
Lake Tahoe around Meyers. The state budget will likely once again not be passed by the constitutional deadline. And the governor is out of the country at this time. I know that the governor couldn't have anticipated the fire. Is this purely a coincidence, or is there some intentional reason for this odd convergence of events?
-- Warren Bunting, Campbell

Answer: I think it's just an odd convergence, what those in politics call an "x-factor" but the rest of us would say is the luck of the draw. But it is somewhat reminiscent of what happened in 1965, when then-Gov. Pat Brown was out of the country when the Watts riots erupted. It contributed to voter rejection of his bid for a third term a year later.
--Dan Walters

Question: What is the status of the budget which is due for the state to operate next week?
-- Dan Lawrence, Sacramento

Answer: More than likely the budget won't be in place by July 1. However, failure to meet the deadline will have virtually no effect on day-to-day operations of the state government, thanks to some court rulings that were issued after past stalemates. Republicans and Democrats are deadlocked over the size of the budget and are roughly a billion dollars apart.
--Dan Walters

Question: I was born and raised in California. I have seen governors, representatives and senators come and go. Your advice seems extremely pessimistic of our (yes, still mine) governor. I don't like Arnie but still find many excellent legislators from California have gone on to create (and pass) many important policies for California and the U.S. Surely, there must be something good about the legislators in California's government. What do think is the best realistic thing going on in the Legislature right now?
-- Imamula, Okemos, Mich.

Answer: The willingness to invest in infrastructure after decades of neglect, although there is a caveat on that as well. Some important areas of infrastructure, such as water, are being neglected and the fiscal consequences are troubling It's doubtful whether a deficit-ridden state budget can continue to shoulder the burden of servicing infrastructure bonds, and we need to be talking about alternatives, such as private-public partnerships and user fees.
--Dan Walters

Question: The Williamson Act provides revenue to rural counties to help keep ag land in production. The act has been threatened with elimination under the governor's latest budget proposal. If passed, the elimination of this money means thousands of acres of land currently used for agriculture would be lost to urban development. Will the Williamson Act survive this budget cycle?
-- Andy Mattos, Hanford

Answer: The Legislature has restored Williamson Act money, but Gov. Schwarzenegger could still veto it from budget. I would question your assertion about effects of eliminating the subsidy. Counties could still maintain the program at their cost, and in any event, it's dubious whether Williamson Act truly protects open space from development or is merely a subsidy for landowners, including developers, that has no real effect on development. Some 16 million acres, or more than a third of all the privately owned land in California, is now in Williamson Act preserves. It would be difficult to argue that anything like that amount would or could be developed, especially the very remote tracts of timber and grazing land.
--Dan Walters

Question: What are the chances that one of the health coverage expansion proposals (AB 8, SB 48, SB 236, SB 840, the governor's plan) will be passed and signed by the governor?
-- Linda Baker, Phoenix

Answer: Less than 50-50 not only because of the complexities of the issue itself, but because there are legal impediments that the politicians have not yet acknowledged, such as a two-thirds vote on new taxes and conflicts with federal ERISA.
--Dan Walters

Question: Have the courts made any deccission on prison overcrowding? They were supposed to have a hearing on June 11.
-- Loretta Mancuso, Gadsden, Ala.

Answer: Three judges are having hearings. Decisions probably weeks, if not months, away.
--Dan Walters

Question: Every year about this time, the legislature is a flurry of activity trying to pass a huge number of bills, the majority of which fall into the "who cares" or "goofy" categories. Obviously our legislators have too much time on their hands, and they don't use the excess time to carefully review the bills that come up for vote or give them the common sense test. Is there any thought to significantly increase the efficiency of the legislative process by returning to a part-time legislature?
-- Robert Pierce, Oroville

Answer: No. Voters decreed a full-time Legislature four decades ago on the virtually unanimous recommendation of all leading political figures, including both Ronald Reagan and the man he was seeking to unseat, then-Gov. Pat Brown. A full-time Legislature would be more responsive and efficient and less beholden to special interests, advocates said. Few, if any, of those benefits came to pass but changing back to a part-time Legislature would require another ballot measure and there's no one out there willing to spend the $10 million or so it would require to qualify such a measure and campaign for it.
--Dan Walters

Question: At this point, how would you rate the odds of the California budget being passed prior to July 1?
-- James Cranwill, Gig Harbor, Wash.

Answer: Probably 75-80 percent.
--Dan Walters

Question: In the issue of redistricting, have the lawmakers had any discussion about adding members to the Senate and Assembly? If there has been any discussion which legislators have favored an increase and which legislators have been opposed? (My gut feeling is that both parties oppose an increase. That is too bad when looking at the ratio of citizens to reps. CA has the worst ratio in USA) In Big Bear, we have never had a state legislator that has lived within 50 miles of Big Bear. That is a shame.
-- Gary Carlson, Big Bear Lake

Answer: There have been no such discussions nor is it likely there will be. Not only would incumbent officeholders not be interested in diluting their power but enlarging the Legislature probably would entail a constitutional revision, not merely an amendment. That said, enlarging the Legislature probably would be a good concept to explore (300 members?), along with a unicameral (one-house) Legislature, the encouragement of more political parties and perhaps a parliamentary form of state government. Clearly the current structure is inadequate, and I have argued may make California fundamentally ungovernable.
--Dan Walters

Question: Is there any way to find out if transportation bond money used to improve/construct infrastructure on our southern border around San Diego will be also spent on projects on the Mexican side of the border?
-- Anne Blake, Danville

Answer: Bond money probably will be used to help finance a new U.S.-Mexico border crossing southeast of San Diego, and a highway connector to the crossing, to ease border traffic jams at two existing sites that can delay vehicles for hours. But state transportation officials say that Baja California and/or the Mexican national government will pay for the portion of "Otay II" on its side of the border, probably with a private-public partnership of some kind.
--Dan Walters

Question: How are members of the University Board of Regents chosen? Are there any student representatives?
-- Doug Brown, Thousand Oaks

Answer: This from the Board of Regents website should answer the question:

The board consists of 26 members: 18 regents are appointed by the governor for 12-year terms, one is a student appointed by the Regents to a one-year term. Seven are ex-officio members -- the Governor, Lieutenant Governor, Speaker of the Assembly, Superintendent of Public Instruction, president and vice president of the Alumni Associations of UC and the UC president. In addition, two faculty members -- the chair and vice chair of the Academic Council -- sit on the board as non-voting members.

The Governor is officially the president of the Board of Regents, but in practice the presiding officer of the Regents is the Chairman of the Board, elected from among its body for a one-year term, beginning July 1. The current Chairman is Regent Richard Blum. The Vice Chairman is Regent Russell Gould.
-- Dan Walters