VICA to the rescue- California on the brink

July 1, 1:40 PMSan Fernando Valley ExaminerWyatt Shev

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FOR SALE- one red bridge, v. good condition. Call Arnold for details.

The Valley Industry and Commerce Association (VICA) has a plan to rescue the beleaguered state of California.

It's no great secret that California is in some serious trouble. Today (July 1st) marked a deadline for the state to close a $24 billion gap between revenues and expenditures. If this gap isn't closed, the government will run short on operating cash- which means the Golden State will be more or less crippled.

As of the time of writing this article, that multi-billion dollar gap remains a massive thorn in California's side.

The Governator, Arnold Schwarzenegger, has proposed some radical last-ditch ideas to help pull his state out of the red, including the sale of the San Quentin prison facility and the L.A. Memorial Coliseum. He's also toying with eliminating welfare programs, permanently closing and/or selling state parks and- naturally- releasing thousands and thousands of prison inmates. 

In other words, California could soon be absolutely screwed.

In March, VICA assembled a group of financial experts, economists and speculative academics, with the aim of developing long-term reforms to drag California from the mire. A report was released yesterday that outlines twelve separate long-term reforms intended to save the Golden State from financial destruction.

VICA's recommendations follow...

1. Reduce the voting threshold required to pass a state budget from a supermajority of two-thirds to 60 percent.

2. Pass legislation that would institute performance-based budgeting, which uses statements of missions, goals and objectives to explain why the money is being spent.

3. Pass a constitutional amendment that would have the Legislature pass only one budget per cycle.

4. Institute zero-based budgeting as a method of reigning in state spending, which requires a description of each appropriation, the legal basis for performing the activity and an itemized justification for the amount requested to perform the activity.

11. Reform mandatory prison sentencing requirements.

12. Reform public employee pension plans and move from defined benefit to defined contribution.