Heralded just months ago as the organization that could pull California from the ills that have befallen it, California Forward has introduced a number of initiatives to the Attorney Generals office to begin the process that may ultimately become a signature gathering effort and ballot measure in 2010. The measures focus on reforming the state budget process and the state and local government relationship. However, after much ado it seems that opinion leaders in the state are beginning to see that there is much there there in Caliofrnia Forwards local government protection measure.
In the words of a San Jose Mercury News Editorial "The remedies California Forward has proposed so far fall short of that hope — although that probably says more about the magnitude of the problem than the organization's hard work. It's pitching two initiatives for the November 2010 ballot. One would improve the way the Legislature operates. The other tries to address the needs of local governments, but it is flawed."
Local government officials throughout the state have taken pause and considered the weak (if existent) protections California Forwards measures provide cities and counties and increasingly are finding them to come up short. Indeed, there are no protections at all for transportation funds or gas tax monies - certain to be among the first revenues to be taken as the state grapples with a continuing multi-billion dollar shortfall in its budget.
Perhaps of greater concern is that in these politically precarious times the measure calls for a new regional taxing authority - likely a political non-starter - whereby cities and counties could levy a new tax to pay for new services that a majority of the municipalities agree on.
A new taxing authority? Didn't the states voters just send a message to Sacramento that politicians aren't to be trusted with new taxes?
CCN believes that Californians want REAL protections for local government, not the chimera of reform that preserves the status quo. We believe that the time is now to re-establish the primacy of local government in the lives of Californians and that that reform is better than any that has been put on the table by any group - beyond California Forward - as the last best hope for the Golden State.
Time to go back to the drawing board California Forward - we have one opportunity to make the changes our state needs - we can't afford not to get it right.