California State Budget Crisis: Fiscal Responsibility—More Than Just Balancing a Budget

I believe, as do many other advocates that the legislature and governors over the years have taken a real honest to goodness non-partisan approach sometimes in cutting spending to needed services for people with disabilities and seniors and mental health needs (think about cost of living for SSP for instance) citing different reasons and calling it different things.

So this commentary recognizes that fact but focuses today on the issue of the budget delay (as opposed to calling either party in the Senate "terrorists" which I will safely leave them to continue doing in their on-going delicate budget negotiations.)

Fiscal Responsibility Means Other Things

The Senate Republicans, led by Senate Republican Leader Dick Ackerman (Republican - Tustin) made a point of talking about "fiscal responsibility" and there are many valid points regarding the problems of declining revenues and the growth in spending that need to be addressed.

Advocates, including disability, senior and those dealing with mental health needs, low income families, feel the budget process generally sucks, and it sucks big time. It doesn't matter what party or philosophy one believes in to simply believe that.

But the Senate Republicans are losing people who might have believed in some of the original points they have made because there are also -39 days later, other things to believe and remember:

Fiscal responsibility also means that a Legislature pass a budget on time. Making a point of fiscal responsibility somehow loses value when California now is over a month without a budget and then claim there is no impact. The Legislature has missed not one, but two deadlines to pass the budget in the State Constitution causing enormous impact that grows each day. Some Senate Republicans make a point of the impact of a budget that is not really balanced, or the impact of growth not matched by revenues. And then dismiss the impact of no budget. It’s sort of responsibility by omission. Well, that would be almost as silly as saying there would be no impact on California if there was no State Legislature (I am assuming there are many who would like to give that a try)

Fiscal responsibility is not just one aspect of a budget - passing one on time is at least also an important measure - if only because thousands of providers and hundreds of thousands of Californians depend on it.

How the State treats its low income seniors, how it treats people with disabilities, how it treats its children and low income families, how it treats people with Alzheimer's and MS, and with mental health needs, people with traumatic brain and other injuries is also a matter of fiscal responsibility.

Fiscal responsibility doesn't just mean balancing the budget in terms of dollars - but a balance that also recognizes needs and priorities of children, seniors, people with disabilities, the blind, people with mental health needs, low income families, the deaf, people with MS and other health needs and others. That doesn't happen in many of the budgets passed in recent years - but delaying a budget compounds the injury - not only with the insult said by some that a delay harms no one, but the impact of people scrambling to somehow make things work when the State cannot pay its bills.

Fiscal Responsibility and the Analogy of the Family Checkbook

Some will say the threat of closure or reduction of programs caused by the delay in the budget is not true or exaggerated or not widespread. The only people who say that are those who have no stake in the consequences.

Those same people will talk about the dire consequences of over spending, of growth, of real and supposed shortfalls - but dismiss the impact of a late budget. Is that a balanced view? Is that a fiscally responsible view?

Some Senate Republicans who warn that the Senate Democrats and members of both parties in the Assembly are ignoring a real budget shortfall and the reality of spending that outpaces revenues somehow lose their credibility when Senate Republicans also dismiss the impact of a budget delay as untrue or exaggerated.
Fiscal responsibility isn't picking out certain consequences in delaying a budget or making reductions - while ignoring others. Democrats have sometimes been guilty of that - but this time, this particular time, it is the Senate Republicans who are doing it.

Some Senate Republicans say there is a need to cut spending and use the analogy of a family budget and balancing the family checkbook - except if you were the parent of such a family facing a drop in income or new expenses to cover healthcare, do you really cut spending on the things your child or other family members need to stay alive or to remain in the home?

If you use the analogy of the family checkbook - do you stop paying bills for , food or utilities, the car or house payment, because the family budget for the year doesn't balance right?

Would a person really threaten the well being or health of their own child or other family member because the checkbook wasn't balanced?

Is there a different way to solve those problems?

(Note: there is always a danger in using analogies because at some point it becomes unusable. I don't recall too many families whose checkbook was out of balance by $5 billion, though maybe Bill Gates when he was tired and forgot to note he bought an item on e-bay.)

Eyes Wide Shut: Truth in Budgeting

Policy makers from both parties often move on issues with eyes wide shut. Few legislators from either party are often forthcoming in describing their actions in the budget. That needs to change before anything else - and delaying the budget doesn't do that - it perpetuates the dishonesty that I assume is not intended.

Some Senate Republicans may insist that the budget passed July 20th by members of both parties in the Assembly, is not honest or truthful in its assumptions. But neither is the Senate Republican proposal offered up on July 25th, for more cuts - or their reasons for delaying the budget.

Well, as a statesman once said "you can only be a virgin once" (another analogy yes, but this one works, especially given the statesman).

People on the Senate floor who claim to be talking honestly and truthfully about the budget - and yet use words and expressions that are hardly those things. It may be politics - but it's not fiscal responsibility either and it is certainly not telling the truth. Both parties are guilty of this - and sometimes even us advocates.

• Using the word "savings" instead of "cuts"
• Using the term "cost avoidance" instead "cutting use or utilization of services"
Using the term "cost containment" instead of "spending reductions"
• Using the term "quality assurance" instead of "cost controls"
• Using the term "delaying or suspending cost of living" increase instead of "cutting cost of living"
• Using the term "enhancing revenues" instead of "raising taxes"
• Using the term "purchase of services standards" instead of "limiting utilization of services"
• Using the term "studying an issue" instead of the word "inaction"
• Saying that a budget delay is okay instead of recognizing that it hurts people.

When people who decide policy use terms like these, there is little to wonder why no one in or outside the Capitol believes what the other is really saying anymore. The talk on most lately on the Senate floor (and on the Assembly floor with some exceptions) often disguises the consequence or meaning of what is meant.

I am not sure if the disguise is meant for us as much as it is meant for them (not unlike telling a child of the family dog who is really sick and needs to be put to sleep, that instead the pet was given to a nice family on a distant, sunny farm where he could roam free and be happy. It makes everyone feel better - except perhaps the family dog)

Future Reduced To Days and Weeks for People Impacted

Now we are told that the cuts don't hurt us, and the budget delay doesn't harm us.

Now the budget delay itself threatens programs and services no matter what is in the actual budget itself.

Policy makers - mostly from the Senate Republican at this point, discount fears of the budget delay - including some newspaper columnists.

Not everyone is plugged into what is going to happen next - and when. It is not right or fair of policymakers or newspaper columnists to assume so. Being threatened with a cut-off of services because the State cannot pay its bills because the Legislature cannot do its job, is a real, live impact.

Hundreds of thousands of Californians, who depend on the State to do its job, can only go on to what is said in public announcements released by the State Controller, or by Medi-Cal and other government officials. Those announcements talk about what bills the state can pay - and the many bills it cannot. Not much detail, nothing about what people are supposed to do to meet this crisis and to avoid panic.

People have a right, given this threat, to be concerned, worried and angry.

When a person is told that a facility or program may have to close within weeks - or days - what is a person or family supposed to do? How do you plan on a "maybe" and not even sure "when"? And then - how do you find alternatives - when nearly all of those are faced with the same situation. What do you do? What is a family to do? What are the workers supposed to do, who have homes to pay for, families to support too?

What is a provider to do? Some providers can manage for awhile - but there are thousands of community-based providers and organizations that cannot. With already limited resources and for some, licensing requirements governing staffing, etc, what are they to do? Take out expensive loans with no idea when this budget stand-off will end? Use up cash reserves that in many cases are depleted because of low reimbursements? How do you plan for reductions or closure in a way that doesn't harm people when you have no idea - and given almost no information - about when the Legislature will resolve this situation? How do you measure the impact of a threat that is largely controlled by what some do in Sacramento? When you are told that it could be days, weeks or even months.

Doesn't this violate other critical obligations of the State that are just as compelling and important as fiscal responsibility and a balanced budget? What about the Americans with Disabilities Act and the 1999 US Supreme Court Olmstead Decision requiring states to take measures to avoid the unjustified institutionalization of people with disabilities, mental health needs and seniors? What about the Lanterman Developmental Disabilities Services Act?

Fiscal responsibility is ultimately about all of those things - as much as it is about balancing a budget and producing savings.

It is passing one on time, it is making sure dollars are spent wisely, it is making sure that funding for programs produce good outcomes, it means making sure the State keeps its promises and obligations, and making sure that people are being served.

It is about making sure that the State doesn't cause harm to people who are not at fault for a budget Its about knowing when it is time to take the next step.

NEXT STEPS

State Senate:

Pass the budget.

Many advocates (disability, senior, parents of children with special needs under the Adoption Assistance Program, low income, mental health, transportation, healthcare, etc.) have many problems with the Assembly passed version of the budget - but the delay is causing additional problems to the same communities. There are different ways for any of us to focus on issues we don't like or want addressed without delaying the budget.

Senator Abel Maldonaldo, a Republican senator representing San Luis Obispo and also Santa Cruz (explaining district boundaries and why the sky is blue is another issue for another day) on August 1 voted for the budget - the only member of the 15 State Senate Republicans to do so. It took courage to do so - not because he was "giving in" to Democrats or to the Governor - but he was remembering the Californians in his district and everywhere else who are being harmed or are being threatened by further delay. And he was willing to face the disapproval and anger of his colleagues among the Senate Republicans. People of both parties, no matter what philosophy, should thank him on this issue for showing that courage.

Senate President Pro Tem Perata should also be recognized for leadership in responding to controversial budget related legislation that many believed would cause more problems (okay, he said it looked like it was typed by "chimpanzees"), and also for pushing hard for passage of the budget and to oppose further cuts to health and human services.

CDCAN will be issuing a separate alert on this issue - and also will be scheduling a special CDCAN Townhall Telemeeting, open to anyone, focusing on the impact and providing information on what people can do. If you are interested in participating or have a story to tell, please send email to me: martyomoto@rcip.com

Governor: Needs to Issue Executive Order Ensuring People Are Not Harmed

The Governor should immediately, as he has done in the past for other potential and actual threats to health and public safety, issue an executive order ensuring that those Californians who depend on vital state services are not harmed because the Legislature is not able to pass the budget. He has not done this during this crisis yet.

That order should include a directive that the Secretary of the Health and Human Services Agency bring together so the public is assured, that all resources of every departments, especially Department of Health Care Services, Department of Social Services, Department of Developmental Services, Department of Rehabilitation, Department of Mental Health, Department of Public Health, Department of Aging - to ensure that Californians in nursing homes, in health facilities, or relying on services or supports that are or could be threatened by the delayed budget. Other agencies - Housing and Community Development, Department of Education, also need to be included to make sure no one in our communities are being harmed.

The Governor acted quickly in marshalling the state's resources to respond to the crisis of Medicare Part D - when the federal government failed to protect people when that plan was implemented. Hundreds of thousands of people with disabilities and seniors could have been harmed. Stan Rosenstein, now the new Chief Deputy Director of Health Programs under the Department of Health Care Services and others in the Medi-Cal program were particularly responsive during that emergency - and that response probably saved thousands of lives, and eased the panic of hundreds of thousands more.

During the heat wave, during the fires, during freeze - government sometimes is there to take preventative measures ahead of disaster threats - or in response to any unforeseen circumstances.

This threat exists now. And California - all of us - needs help.

Is this premature? Hardly.

If your own child, own sister or brother, grandparent, father or mother or friends depended on critical services in a health facility , nursing home or hospital - or in some other program that is threatened with shutdown or reduction in services - if you were a worker in those facilities or programs - many who are not paid well - and have to pay for your own housing, bills and food for your children, you would wonder why anyone would delay in acting.

How long would you wait before you took action if you or your family were the ones being threatened? Until someone died? Until someone was actually put out on the street? Never mind the morality of the question, is that fiscal responsibility?

There are those who say this is not being realistic or pragmatic, dismissing the impact of the budget delay as the proverbial "end of the world" scenario that they say is played out in every budget year. Fine, but for now, please consider being pragmatic and realistic on another day - not on the lives of our community.

It is true that the larger issues of growth and spending need to be looked at it in a real way. Senate Republicans have brought up some good issues. But we are now beyond the point where holding up passage of the budget makes sense or has anything to do with fiscal responsibility.

This particular crisis caused by the budget delay can be ended if certain people in the legislature remembered that fiscal responsibility means more than just balancing a budget. It means passing it on time.

It means really understanding all the consequences - and not just some.

It means remembering that California can be better than this.

The California Disability Community Action Network, is a non-partisan link to thousands of Californians with developmental and other disabilities, people with traumatic brain injuries, the Blind, the Deaf, their families, community organizations and providers, direct care, homecare and other workers, and other advocates to provide information on state (and eventually federal), local public policy issues.