More Great State Budget Ideas

Our state grapples with a growing budget deficit this year that has reached the tens of billions of dollars. It will require serious attention and a true budget review. However, some members just don't get it.

It seems freshman Assemblymember Joel Anderson has proposed savings $34 million a year by eliminating 117 state boards, committees and commissions. Boards and commissions like:

• Contractors State License Board
• Medical Board of California
• Board of Pharmacy
• Board of Podiatric Medicine
• Board of Psychology
• Registered Nursing Board
• Veterinary Medical Board
• Board of Forestry and Fire Protection
• Building Standards Commission
• California Inspection and Maintenance Review Committee

Who thinks there should be no oversight for medicine or fire and building safety? Instead he wants to cut revenue by eliminating fees collected from park passes and offering more tax breaks during a state deficit. These might be great ideas, but during a budget crisis the legislature needs to cut the program that would lose the revenue, before cutting the revenue.

I don't think these are the first steps, but the last ones. Instead let's call for a real review of each dollar the state spends and each dollar of revenue it has coming into its coffers.