From the same governor who brought you the illegal fire tax now comes a plan to blow the top off California’s spending cap and leave taxpayers on the hook for tens of billions in extra taxes. It’s a bad idea that fractures the faith between citizens and government and spells trouble for California’s fiscal future.

With California’s runaway spending, it’s hard to believe the state even has an expenditure limit. But in 1979, a year after signing off on the revolutionary Prop. 13, voters passed Proposition 4, implementing the “Gann Limit,” which would peg California’s state spending to the 1978-79 level and only let it grow adjusted for inflation and population.  State revenues above the voter-approved limit actually had to be refunded to taxpayers, an event that would cause panic attacks in today’s money-hungry capitol.

In 1986-87, a boon year for tax revenues, the state issued more than one billion dollars in rebates to relieved taxpayers who finally had some protection from an insatiable Sacramento.

Alas, it was too good to go on forever. Proposition 111 in 1990 defanged the Gann Limit, weakening its terms, and it now rarely factors into budgeting decisions.

But, weak as it is, it’s still on the books, and there is no ceiling too high for the Democrats when it comes to government spending. Governor Brown’s new budget proposal is straining against even the wilted Gann Limit, and he’s going to do something about it.

Is he going to cut spending? Is he going to refund taxpayers? Or is he going to manipulate the budget to carve out more room to spend?

If you went with manipulate, I’ve got a job in the California Department of Finance for you.

Brown proposes taking $22 billion off the Gann Limit books this year. The money would not be accounted for as state spending or as local spending, as required in the original Proposition. For Gann Limit purposes it would just disappear, like the hopes of fiscal conservatives all around the state, if his scheme is successful.

In essence, he would open up an avenue for another $22 billion in spending by reclassifying the current $22 billion. He would not spend less, he would not adhere to the even the watered-down mandates of the 1979 Gann Limit reform, he would just trick his way around the spending cap.

Try this sort of deception on your tax return to see how the state normally views creative exemptions of the sort they are practicing now.

Spending is taxes. The two can’t be separated, and Governor Brown’s bad-faith end-run around the Gann Limit guarantees a heavier load for California taxpayers and a California perpetually stretched to its fiscal limit.

I have a novel idea: Live up to the law. If taxpayers deserve rebates, give them rebates! Don’t twist and distort or outright ignore the law just because it lets taxpayers keep more of their money. They earned it in the first place; it’s not a gift that a benevolent government doles out.

If the state is bringing in too much money and spending too much, get rid of the illegal fire tax or cut the Vehicle License Fee. Cut tax rates! That would put more money back in people’s pockets without putting the government in the way as a rebate middleman.

The Gann Limit has been little more than a rumor for decades, but it is a rule passed by the people to protect them from just the kind of spending excess proposed by Governor Brown. It’s a sad commentary on our state, but when it comes to raising your taxes, rules seem made to be broken.

Senator Ted Gaines represents the 1st Senate District, which includes all or parts of Alpine, El Dorado, Lassen, Modoc, Nevada, Placer, Plumas, Sacramento, Shasta, Sierra and Siskiyou counties.

Seemingly aware of the long-standing perception by some that Sacramento County’s outlying communities often receive a smaller share of both attention and services, Sacramento Mayor Darrell Steinberg served as the guest speaker Tuesday at the Carmichael Chamber of Commerce monthly luncheon at Christ Community Church, where he delivered a three-pronged platform for change that included the elimination of what he called “artificial boundaries” between the city proper and its neighboring communities.

The former state senator, elected in June of 2016 to serve as the city’s 56th mayor, said Sacramento’s tradition of operating as a “government city” is at odds with his broad-range goals, which include addressing homelessness, ramping up the region’s economic base and bolstering education.

“I want to put a point of emphasis on what I believe to be an undeniable fact that we are a single region,” said Steinberg, just after jokingly referring to himself as the “Out-of-Town Mayor.”  “Our challenges and our problems know no artificial boundaries,” he said.

Steinberg said being in local government affords a new opportunity to put his issues of concern into action and track his progress more closely.

“I focus on three things,” Steinberg said, beginning with economic diversification, which he says has already begun and involves selling the city as, not just a government town and region, but one that is evolving rapidly as an arts and entertainment destination.

“Sacramento, and Carmichael and our greater region have long-been known as a government town,” Steinberg said. “But our future lies not just in being the center of public service, but in building a highway to private sector economy.”

Steinberg indicated a priority to expand the programs offered at U.C. Davis to create jobs and further educational opportunities. “We need to bring U.C. Davis across the river and we need to be partners in research and entrepreneurial activity and economic growth,” he said.  As for tech jobs and the economy, he added that he’s been courting companies and entities across the bay area and beyond in an effort to expand the city’s economic base.

“We need jobs,” said Steinberg.  “The only way we’re going we’re going to afford to do the things that I want to do is to build a highway to a tax base that is sustainable and to define and declare our own destiny. And so I’m constantly selling the city.”

Next on his list was homelessness. Steinberg said he will be working to expand the County Board of Supervisors’ recent bid to create roughly 1,755 housing units for homeless individuals and extending the existing network of mental health and substance abuse programs for the county’s homeless population, which is now tipping the 3,500 mark.

“We must tackle the homeless problem in our city and in our region in a more effective and systemic way,” said Steinberg. “And by the way, not only is that issue a humanitarian issue first and foremost, but it also has an undeniable connection to our business climate everywhere we go.” He said the issue is no longer a Sacramento center issue, but one of deep concern across the county, adding that “the numbers validate the fact that this is an issue that is getting worse, not better.”

He said the county was failing to provide enough emergency shelter to meet the demands to service the roughly 3,500 people estimated to be living on the streets each night.  Existing programs and more housing are needed to make a dent. As State Senator, Steinberg authored a measure, Prop. 63, which taxes earnings over $1 million at 1 percent.  He said that program is currently generating $2 billion a year for funding of mental health, case management and substance abuse programs for the homeless, but needs back up in the way of sufficient affordable housing.

“We know it works, but what we lack is the inventory and the capacity to help more people with what we know works,” Steinberg said.

Steinberg also said funding for these programs must be renewable in order to avoid a cycle of homelessness going forward and to protect those “living on the edge” of homeless “so they don’t become homeless.”

“Our goal needs to be to get at least 2,000 homeless people off the streets now” Steinberg said, adding “I don’t know what the end result of all these efforts will be, but I’m very confident that, while we won’t cure this, we can make it much better. And we at least ought to do our very best,” he said.

Finally, Steinberg announced the city has received $2 million in funding thus far to support an internship program for 1,000 area high school juniors. The program, set to begin this summer, will provide eight weeks of paid training for students in a partnership with local employers.  Steinberg did not say how those 1,000 students would be selected, but added that the program provides a critical pathway for getting graduates into the workforce.

“We need to begin educating and training our young people for these jobs of the future,” said Steinberg.  “For many young people, being exposed to the workforce is transformational in terms of their life direction.”

When questions came from the audience, it was clear the growing issue of homelessness remains a top concern among business leaders and residents alike.  One of the individuals who spoke directly to Mayor Steinberg’s plans for addressing the issue was Fred Rivas, now a partner at a Folsom-based electrical company, but also a recovering addict who was once himself homeless.

“Jobs are key,” said Rivas.  “They are not just a hand out, but a hand up.”

When asked if there was any room for homeless individuals in need of a job in his high school workforce internship program, Steinberg agreed that having a job was an important part of “reclaiming life,” but said the funding this time around was earmarked for the student internship program only.  “Not in the first (pot) of money, but subsequently,” he said.

Steinberg was asked about the viability of code changes to allow for the legalization of tiny home communities as an affordable option for housing the area’s homeless, similar to models up-and-running in other states and an idea he said he supported.

“The one thing about tiny homes is that you can get them on line faster,” said Steinberg.  “We can’t afford to wait three to four years.  These are human beings.”

After the event, Steinberg addressed the growing concern by communities pondering the impact of the legalization of marijuana. He said regulation and oversight of the tax benefits from the sale of marijuana must be channeled into city services to support enforcement of the laws and the related impact of drug addiction.

“We need to regulate it very strongly,” said Steinberg.  “It’s a significant revenue opportunity for city services, but as the industry develops we need to make sure that those revenues are used for law enforcement and drug treatment and other things.”

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