Special Session To Fire Teachers

So with state revenues falling off the cliff, the Governor is calling a special session the day after the election to add new changes to the budget that can be implemented immediately to cover the shortfall. Let's set the scene: The day after the election is November 5. New legislators are sworn in December 1. The Democrats are going to take a minimum of 2 and as many as 7-plus Assembly seats, and could get a 2/3 majority, meaning they wouldn't have to deal with the Yacht Party on budget or tax matters.

And Arnold thinks he can push this through NOW? The entire political dynamic will change in 6 days. I know he's trying to strongarm the legislature by saying "things will get much worse if we don't act," but a lame duck session three weeks before swearing-in makes no sense whatsoever.

As for his proposals, the Governor is looking to increase the state sales tax, which is totally regressive. I can live with it, we need the revenue. But he also wants to slash public education, which is completely unacceptable.

Reporting from Sacramento -- Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger told education leaders Tuesday that he would push for a tax hike and deep cuts to schools to help close the state's yawning budget gap, according to several participants in a meeting with him.

The news, delivered in a conference room outside the governor's office, came as a shock to the educators, who were told to prepare for immediate cuts in the range of $2 billion to $4 billion.

"There is just no way we would be able to cut that much," said Scott Plotkin, executive director of the California School Boards Assn., who was at the meeting. "For virtually every district I know of, this would be catastrophic."

Like Kevin Drum, I have a better idea - restore the Vehicle License Fee as a first step to responsible budgeting.

Golly, governor, California already has the highest state sales tax in the country, but I can think of at least one other broad-based revenue source that could be brought on line fairly quickly: an increase in the vehicle license fee that returns it to the same rate California had for virtually its entire history — had, that is, until you demagogued your way into office on a platform of slashing it by two-thirds and stopping all that "crazy deficit spending," a promise that you broke almost instantly when you asked the voters to replace the lost revenue with heavy borrowing in the middle of our last budget crisis. Increasing the VLF back to its historical 2% rate would bring in about $5 billion or so and could be enacted right away. How about it?

This would be something of a band-aid without bringing revenues fully in line with 21st-century reality, and also reforming the horrible budget structure that has become so constrained by the ballot box. But it's a hell of a lot better than firing a bunch of teachers, is mildly more progressive than a sales tax, and would cost an average of about $12 a month.