Assemblyman Leland Yee: Tackling the State's Budget Crisis

Those of us who serve in the California Legislature have been called into Special Session to help resolve the worst financial crisis in California's history.

As a newly elected member of the Assembly, I admit that the task of finding a solution to a $35 billion deficit is daunting. As I am sure you have read in the newspapers, if we were to fire every college professor in California, every prison guard and every park ranger we would still be $20 billion short!

California's budget problems are not unique. Nearly every state in the nation is experiencing huge deficits due to the lingering national recession, the collapse of the stock market and, particularly for California, the failure of the high tech industry to rebound. These other states are searching for a balanced approach to their problems.

As 2002 ended and 2003 began, governors and legislatures around the country, Republican and Democrats alike, have begun slashing spending and raising taxes. There have been additional taxes on cigarettes and alcohol and there have been proposals to increase the tax rates of the most wealthy to cover program shortfalls and protect vital government services. I support such a balanced approach because it's time to recognize that we won't solve this problem with a single approach. That is, we cannot manage with only tax increases or only with program cuts but need careful examination of both methods to resolve the deficit.

We must be judicious in our approach. Given the depth of our problems, we must make hard choices and cut spending where we can. The governor's proposals make deep cuts in aid to the poor, in health care and education. The Assembly began hearings in December to take a close look at those proposals and to hear from those who will be most affected. By the time you read this we will have conducted many of those hearings and we will have listened to our constituents but, in the end, all must understand we will have to make deep cuts because we have no choice.

But I firmly believe that we cannot ask for sacrifices from those who can't afford it, while asking nothing from those who can. So at the same time we are making the hard choices of which services to cut, we must also consider making the hard choices of which taxes to raise, or at least which ones to restore.

When faced with choices such as increasing class size, closing the doors to our colleges, cutting off medical care to those who can't afford it and slashing support to cities and counties who pay the bills for police and fire protection, I know Californians want us to explore every option, and this includes raising taxes.

When I was sworn in I had every hope that we could put partisan rhetoric aside and reach across party lines to get the job done. I believed then - and still do - that it is time for members of the Republican Party to put aside their "no new taxes" mantra and consider every option to solve this problem.

Unfortunately, the chair of the Republican Party has another idea. In an address to the Sacramento Press Club, Chairman Shawn Steel said the Republican Party would launch a recall effort against any Republican member who votes for a tax increase. He said: "This is my pledge. Any Republican member who votes for a tax increase - this party will start an effort to recall that person, and he or she will be out of office in 180 days."

That kind of non-productive approach will not solve California's budget crisis. That kind of political threat has no place in the thoughtful and difficult debate we must have if we are to resolve this crisis. In the course of this budget debate, we will be forced to decide who sees a doctor when they're sick, which school doors will be kept open and who will have enough food to eat.

Californians deserve to have us make those decisions without being under the thumb of political extortionists. I urge my Republican colleagues to reject the extreme partisan call of their party chair and listen to the voices of their constituents. The campaigns are over. This is not the time to revisit the battlegrounds; this is the time to seek a common ground.

For the sake of every Californian, young and old, I hope reason, comity and balance will prevail - that is what I will be working towards as your representative.

Assemblyman Leland Yee is the newly elected Assemblyman from the 12th Assembly District and a former San Francisco supervisor.