Rasmussen Reports: Public Sees Spending as Chief Budget Problem

According to a Rasmussen Reports survey taken before last week's election in California, 77 percent of U.S. voters see government spending as a bigger problem than voter reluctance to pay more in taxes. By that measure, you could argue that it was surprising that the budget-fixing ballot measures rejected by California voters only went down by 2-1 margins. Read the short Rasmussen piece for more insight into perception gaps between mainstream voters and political insiders.

Speaking of budgets, last week's bill signing will almost certainly not be the last word on the 2009-2011 budget. As The Daily News editorial board writes,

...declining revenue forecasts could render it obsolete almost before the ink on the governor’s signature dries. The state revenue projection for coming months is a moving target. It’s moved downward by nearly $100 million in the two months since the Legislature approved the budget. If the projection falls below what the governor believes could be covered with reserves, legislators will almost certainly be called back to Olympia this year to write a more frugal spending plan.

And they properly note the longer-term challenges:

A lot of state programs and services have been maintained with revenue that will disappear in two years or less. Almost half of the $9 billion shortfall was filled with this way. Lawmakers used some $3 billion in federal stimulus money and diverted almost $1.5 billion from off-budget accounts, according to Woodward. Most of that money will sustain jobs and services that are not slated to go away in two years.

Good coverage of Gov. Gregoire's comments and reactions from Rich Roesler.

From the misery-loves-company file, MSNBC notes the pervasiveness of state fiscal stress (h/t Dave Fisher). Using California as the poster child, Alex Johnson reports:

it is only a funhouse mirror distortion of what is happening in nearly all of the other states, which face critical budget gaps of their own.

The site has handy links to brief accounts of each state's budget situation.

And for fans of ballot box budgeting, a nice assessment from Sacramento Bee columnist Daniel Weintraub of how constitutional restrictions have hamstrung California legislators when it comes to addressing the budget shortfall.

And, although many disagree, lawmakers argue that Initiative 960, requiring a supermajority vote for tax hikes, did not influence them this year. I think they have a point. Although there was a lot of Democratic interest in raising taxes, I doubt than any specific tax plan had simple majority support. Of course, the real test comes next year.

MORE My column in The News Tribune looks at how Medicaid has magnified state budget problems.