Located in its Western part, California is among the largest states in the USA and has got a flourishing economy. But due to some issues that have remained unsettled over the last few decades often keep the political scenario of California disturbed. Agitations, revolt and political debates in California often features in the news headlines. In the last 60 years, California has been ruled by both Democrats and the Republicans but none of the party has been able to fix the political issues. With the 2010 Governor election round the corner, California is going through a very critical stage at present, thanks to the failure of the state Governor Mr Arnold Schwarzenegger to rule the state properly and the century’s worst financial crisis. However, to get out of the crisis, several propositions have been kept in front of the government by the public bodies and different committees. Budget problem being one of the major issues that California has been fighting with for a long time, a majority of the California propositions that have been made, focus on it. Lets discuss the latest California propositions or California state propositions in brief
As expected, a strong demand has been made to change the California budget process. The government has been urged to limit the expenditure of the state and to raise the ‘rainy day’ budget stabilizing fund. According to financial analysts and economists, change in the state budget process could limit the future deficits and spendings by raising the state’s ‘rainy day’ fund. It has been urged to deposit all above-average revenues into it so that it can be used to tackle crisis like economic downturns.
Education has always been a very critical issue in California and this time it has been proposed to increase the state’s education funding. Demand has been made to provide supplemental payments to the local schools, district and community colleges to help them carry on their activities despite the budget cuts.
Proposition has also been made to modernise the Lottery Act. It has been urged to the state of California to modernise the state lottery and to help it improve its performance with increased payouts, effective management and better banking facilities. To do that, the state requires to maintain the ownership of the lottery and to authorize extra accountability measures. The state has also been urged to protect the funding levels for the schools and institutions provided by lottery revenues. According to the proposition, increased lottery revenues will be used to tackle the current budget deficit and it will also help in minimizing the need to increase percentages of taxes and cuts to state programs.
A strong demand has been made in favor of protecting the children’s services funding. According to the proposition, protecting the children’s services funding will one hand provide better flexibility in funding for preservation of health and human services for young children and on the other hand will help the state budget to maintain its balance in difficult economic situation, like the one the country is going through right now.
Another propositions that has been made to helps the state budget maintain it balance is the amendment of Mental Health Services Act. The state has been suggested to transfer all the funds for two years and to pay for mental health services that are provided through diagnosis, early and periodic screening and treatment programs for children and teenagers.
The state has been urged not to increase the salary of the elected officials during budget deficit years. All members of Legislature, statewide constitutional officers and even the state Governor has been included in the list of elected officials. According to the propositions, it is another move to maintain the balance of the state budget.
However, it has to be mentioned here that such propositions are often made and the majority of them are not approved by the local government. This time also almost all the propositions have been rejected by the government except the one that urges the state of California not tom increase the pay of elected officials in the years of budget deficits, which is quite surprising. So the present scenario indicates that California is not on its way to get rid of the financial and political crisis despite the 2010 Governor Election knocking at the door.
