Digital News Report – Senator Mark Wyland (R-Carlsbad), a member of the Select Committee on Improving State Government, today issued the following statement in response to the budget reform package that was presented in the Select Committee earlier this morning:
“Although I appreciate the hard work and genuine efforts of the majority party and California Forward for tackling the problems facing our state, the measures fall short of the structural transformation necessary to move California in the right direction,” said Senator Wyland. “Their proposals simply do not go far enough.”
“You’ve heard me say it before and I will say it again: the reality is that this Legislature is operating in a bill factory. Instead of spending our time evaluating the most important responsibility of government—crafting a balanced budget—lawmakers are consumed with introducing bill after bill. Instead of continuing to drown in the mounds of paper that is Sacramento, we must start conducting thorough performance audits of government programs, demanding accountability for taxpayer dollars and increasing oversight.”
Senator Wyland has introduced budget reform measures aiming to solve the structural budgetary problems plaguing California. Senate Constitutional Amendment 2 requires that the Legislature spend the first year of every two year session working on nothing but the budget and oversight, leaving the second year for all other legislative business. A companion measure, Senate Constitutional Amendment 28, would require the State Auditor to conduct a performance evaluation of every state government program and expenditure, and release those results to both the Legislature and the public.