State spending spree reliant on budget tricks

Governors often have to deal with tough spending decisions over scarce resources, but the state is enjoying a $76 billion surplus and an influx of pandemic-related federal aid. This year’s $262 billion budget plan, which Gov. Gavin Newsom signed several days before the constitutional deadline, was the kind of opportunity that politicians dream about.

How many governors have the chance to go on a spending spree and need only negotiate with members of their own party? How many have the resources to tackle their state’s systemic problems?

Yet several days after Newsom’s bill signing, we couldn’t even find an official press release about it. The reason, of course, is that the budget isn’t really a done deal, even though it meets the contours of legal decisions determining when budgets must be passed. There’s little to celebrate at this point.

“The lack of the usual bravado indicates that ... significant negotiations will continue,” CalMatters reported. It adds that some of the toughest political battles — over childcare spending, healthcare expansions and homelessness — will trickle out “later this summer through a special kind of legislation known as ‘budget trailer bills.’”

Calling this “special” legislation is one way of putting it. We describe the process as a “sham.” This expands upon the long-running Sacramento budget sideshow, whereby lawmakers shepherd through a skeletal budget, then pass additional spending measures in a piecemeal fashion.

There are many reasons this is a bad idea, even if Newsom is hardly the first governor to abuse the system. A budget is a blueprint for the state’s spending — a way legislators can pick among spending priorities. It’s one thing to say, “We need more money here, so we’ll spend less money there,” and another to pass ad hoc spending bills without sufficiently examining their overall impact.

Lawmakers also are notorious for inserting into these trailer bills controversial policy issues that aren’t actually related to the budget, and approve them quietly. That’s less of an issue now that Democrats control supermajorities and don’t need GOP votes for legislation that requires supermajorities, but it’s a bad habit. Budget bills should deal only with budget matters.

Passing state budgets this way is a clear effort to convince the public that the Legislature is doing its job, when it isn’t complying with the spirit of the budget deadline. It’s harder for the public (but not special interest groups) to monitor a budget that’s passed in dribs and drabs. This process is inexplicable this year, given that revenues are plentiful.

On a substantive note, Newsom appears to be putting the fundamental responsibilities of the state government on the backburner. “The governor has misrepresented his accomplishments and even disinvested in wildfire prevention,” according to an investigation by CapRadio and NPR.

We’ve noted that the governor’s spending plans to deal with drought and transportation seem inadequate and too focused on tangential issues. Others say the governor is not sufficiently addressing shortfalls in the unemployment insurance fund or pensions.

The unexpectedly large windfall provides an unprecedented opportunity for Newsom to upgrade California’s long-neglected infrastructure, fix its debt problems and place it on a sustainable path. Instead, he has cobbled together a budget that’s focused on new social-service spending — and is not even doing that in a transparent and timely manner.