Speech in Opposition to Ab 425

Speech in Opposition to AB 425 (Oropeza) (Budget Act)
Senate Floor

"Last year and the year before last, we warned you that if you spend every dime that comes in during the good years, you'll be in serious trouble in the bad ones. You ignored those warnings and this was the genesis of the crisis we now face.

"But here are two more warnings. I don't believe they'll be heeded. But they need to be stated for the record:

"First, raising taxes in a soft economy will further depress the economy and reduce projected revenues.

"Second, employing one-time fixes and book-keeping gimmicks rather than the structural reforms that have been proposed now guarantee future budget deficits with a reduced ability to meet them.

"The First Law of Holes is, "When you're in one, STOP DIGGING." The tragedy of this budget is that the Davis regime continues to dig - and attempts to hide the hole with Anderson-type bookkeeping tricks.

"Which means that the next legislature - and the next governor -- will be called upon to address a continuing hemorrhage of red ink with fewer options and a weakened economy. I fear that this vote now sets those events in motion, and leads directly to a day of reckoning that will require far better leadership than that which now plagues our state."