By failing to control excessive spending, implement structural reform including 2-year budget, spending caps, pension reform, and civil service reform, along with eliminating and consolidating agencies, departments and the state’s 339 boards and commissions, the Governor continues our state’s multi-billion dollar deficit denying job creation and vital resources for every school district, city and county.
California spends about $45,000 per year on each prison inmate — the highest among the 10 most populous states whose average is just over $27,000. The LA Times reported that a partially-paralyzed, 57-year-old prisoner shackled to his bed in a Sacramento-area hospital requires the presence of two prison guards and a supervisor — costing California taxpayers about $800,000 a year.
The media show is over — it is time to act. The Governor must break the shackles of the old “tax and spend” mentality and tackle the state’s budget crisis head-on.”