One Step Forward, Two Steps Back for California
I was encouraged that California voters decided on Tuesday to fix a major structural defect in the state budget process, approving Proposition 25, which will allow the legislature to pass a budget by simple-majority vote rather than requiring a two-thirds supermajority. The trouble is, though, that Prop 25 does not lower the threshold for raising taxes; so the effect is that cuts on the spending side of the equation will be easier, while the revenue side will remain basically untouchable.
And, in fact, the state’s revenue picture just got a lot worse, thanks to a severe case of electoral schizophrenia. Kevin Drum writes:
On Tuesday, following our habit of the past few decades, we approved Proposition 22, which limits the ways the legislature can allocate property tax funds, and Proposition 26, which essentially eliminates the legislature’s ability to levy new fees on businesses [by requiring a two-thirds vote for passage of any new fee]. Today, we will undoubtedly return to our usual hobby of yelling and screaming that the legislature isn’t doing enough to balance the budget and make government work. For the past 30 years, in election after election, we have relentlessly reduced Sacramento’s ability to raise money at the same time that we’ve piled on an endless series of new spending requirements — and as the cherry on top, insisted that this citizen-created circle be squared by a bunch of term-limited amateurs who have no idea how the machinery of the state really works. And then we wonder why things aren’t going so well.
We are insane.
At a minimum, we are generous with other people’s money, selfish with our own, and insufficiently attentive to the value we all derive from public goods. But yeah, basically we’re crazy.
IRV in Berkeley, Sort of
The City of Berkeley rolled out its new instant-runoff voting (IRV) ballots for the election of the city auditor yesterday. IRV is a form of ranked-preference voting designed to determine the winner of an election in which three or more candidates have substantial voter support but none wins a majority on a traditional (“first past the post”) ballot. In other words, IRV is suited for situations where third-party candidates are in play.
In passing, I’d mention that there’s a case to be made that Condorcet voting is superior to IRV. But with respect to yesterday’s ballot in Berkeley it wouldn’t have made a difference. Actually, given the candidate field, there is no conceivable electoral method which could have possibly made any difference in the outcome of this particular race. That’s because (a) there were no third-party candidates for the office of Berkeley auditor; and (b) there were no second-party candidates for the office of Berkeley auditor. There was just one candidate: the incumbent, Ann-Marie Hogan, running unopposed.
The ballot looked like this:
Presumably IRV was introduced for the office of auditor as a test-run or just to help people become familiar with the IRV ballot before it is introduced in other races. I’m sure we all get it now.
From One Broken State to Another Really Broken Mega-State
Kevin Drum says my next home is in a state that is hopelessly bungled and broken, which is about how it seemed when I left in 2003. Georgia is screwed up in all sorts of ways, but California is systemically, inexorably, and constitutionally screwed up. I mean, the government of Georgia consistently exercises terrible judgment, but California’s government is actually programmed to do so automatically. And it does so on a truly frightening scale. California’s budget deficit of $19.1 billion is larger than the entire budget of the state of Georgia.
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