California has had continuous fiscal troubles since 2000. Every year, despite the rhetoric on all sides, the Legislature and Governor have eventually balanced the budget and moved forward. Unlike in years past, California can no longer rely on easy fixes and short-term band-aid solutions, and must instead focus on a solution that addresses the deep flaws within the budget process itself.

Our chronic boom-and-bust budget cycle is rooted in a simple problem: Californians generally believe in government and want it adequately funded -- so much so that they repeatedly have voted for laws or constitutional amendments that lock in guaranteed spending on programs like education or transportation. At the same time, the state's revenue system is antiquated and volatile. It is heavily reliant on income taxes, for instance, and so the pains of an economic downturn have a magnified effect on state revenue. It needs to be fixed.

Despite what the Governor and Legislative Republicans insist, cuts and spending caps alone won’t fix things. In fact, many state services are already reduced to a thread-bare basic-minimum level. Social Security supplements and cost-of-living-adjustments (COLAs) have been delayed or suspended. California is spending less on public assistance: for the past 10 years the number of people enrolled in these programs is down 50%. Public transportation took a $1.3 billion hit in the 2007-08 budget.

Other state priorities have only had modest growth, if any at all. Primary education is only funded to the Proposition 98 minimum - about 40% of the general fund. Money for higher education, substantially offset by increases in student fees, only grew to address a boost in enrollment, while funding for health care needs has increased moderately to reflect increased caseloads, federal requirements and rate increases.

Legislative Republicans would have you believe that the state’s expenditures have increased way beyond our means. This tired approach is not only factually inaccurate—it is blatantly misleading.

Even in light of this, the Governor proposes even more cuts: to our schools, law enforcement, and to our most vulnerable citizens.

But with a deficit this large, even if every public university was closed, every Medi-Cal patient was kicked out of their nursing home, and every state nutrition program for children was shuttered—there would still be a serious budget gap. So, the Governor was right to declare a fiscal emergency—but it is only a starting point in the conversation to reform California’s budget process.

We need a bipartisan and balanced approach to this year's budget that will bring long-term spending and revenues into balance. A fair budget for California can be accomplished by asking—and answering—the following questions:

• What permanent budget reductions should be considered?
  
  
• How can tax revenues be made more stable to avoid the boom-and-bust cycle?
  
  
• What tax loopholes can be closed that will not negatively affect the economy?
  
  
• Can we identify one-time revenues and dedicate them for one-time purposes or to a budget reserve fund?