CA politicians have a habit of ignoring the disadvantages

From And WaltersCalmness

This comment was originally published by CalmattersS Register about their ballots.

California governors and legislators have a number of annoying habits such as Using a mean tactics to adopt legislation with little or no public notice, or free of the rules that rule others.

However, Topper is their tendency to adopt extensive programs or policy decrees that promise positive benefits without completely weighing the risks.

Thehe State Train project for bullets is a case. Blithe promises the voters for the costs and dates of the completion, they turned out to be inaccurate. Nearly two decades after approval of the bond issue, the project is a zombie, Neither dead nor completely aliveS

The annual budget process is an example of the syndrome, as the recent history emphasizes. A A huge mistake in revenue predictions Three years ago, it led to a cost jump, which cannot be covered, leading to chronic deficiency.

Last year, governor Gavin Newo and the legislature shortened to expand the Medi-Cal Health Care coverage for almost everyone in the state, including undocumented immigrants Now unacceptable to federally funded benefits.

Expanding costs were estimated at $ 6.4 billion but The real costs are almost twice as highS NEWSOM had to borrow $ 3.4 billion to cover the extra costs, and then demanded the legislature for another $ 2.8 billion for a total of $ 6.2 billion. So already unbalanced budget is in a much deeper hole.

Another example of ignoring the negative consequences has recently emerged: legislation that Newsom signed in 2019 to significantly expand the ability of childhood sexual assault victims to bring a claim for decades after abuse.

Among other things, Assembly Bill 218 expanded potential responsibility – previously limited to churches and other private entities – to public agencies such as schools, Facilities to hold a minor and children’s care centers.

Representatives of these agencies told the legislators before passing AB 218 that they could be struck by very expensive allegations that they could not oppose the time. Six years later, thousands of cases have been filed against school districts, cities and cities and the potential for many billions of dollars payments is at home.

“Many Claims are in Various Stages of Litigation; Thus, It is Impossible to Project the Extent of Total Liability, WHETHER CLAIMANTS WILLNE, OR WHAT THE OF AGET Be, “The Fiscal Crisis and Management Assistance Team, and State Agency That Monitors School Finances, said in a January reportS “Even with missing details, we can conclude that the fiscal impact is and will continue to be significant and will affect programs and services.”

The Los Angeles County itself has 7,000 upcoming AB 218 claims. In the Supreme Court, its lawyers said that “if all these cases continue to be present, the estimated responsibility can be in tens of billions of dollars and go bankrupt in the county.

And then there is Assembly Bill 306which moves through the legislature at a base speed.

The measure, advertised to facilitate victims of recent fires in Los Angeles, restore their homes, will ban local authorities from changing their construction codes for six years.

However, freezing will be applied to every corner of the state, not just to the communities affected by the fires, and therefore can undermine the state’s efforts to increase the construction of housing. One aspect of this aspiration is forcing local communities with many restrictive construction standards to make them more comfortable for construction.

So far, Newsom and legislators have rejected warnings about this unwanted consequence in jealousy to put burned homeowners, in particular the wealthy and influential Pacific inhabitants.

This article was Originally Published on CalMatters and was reissued under Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Noderivatives License.