Governor’s Consultant Addresses Board of Governors
Paul Navarro, Deputy Legislative Secretary for Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, addressed the Board of Governors (BOG) on Monday, November 3, 2008, regarding the current year’s State Budget deficit. Navarro has a deep understanding of California’s education budget, having served as chief budget consultant and chief education advisor to the California Assembly Republican leader from 2000 to 2003, and, prior to that, as chief Republican fiscal consultant on K-12 and higher education for the Assembly Budget and Assembly Appropriations Committee, from 1997 to 2000.
Unfortunately, Navarro did not share details of the Governor’s proposal to address the current year deficit, but indicated that the Governor would release his proposal within the next couple of days, after Tuesday’s General Election. Navarro did say that the Administration’s proposal protects education as much as possible, but that everyone is going to share the pain and must pay a fair share. Revenue enhancement is necessary, according to Navarro, but Navarro did not say whether the Governor’s proposal will go beyond the one-cent sales tax increase the Governor had proposed in August. Navarro stated that the Administration does believe that California Community Colleges (CCC) are needed to turn around the economy, but we hesitate to read too much promise into that statement. The Administration’s approach, according to Navarro, will be to allow individual entities as much flexibility as possible. In other words, the Governor wants to allow the Chancellor’s Office and local districts to make decisions. Whether the Legislature will approve of this approach remains to be seen. Though Navarro’s statement lacked detail, BOG members expressed appreciation for the visit and update, and we think the public relations value of the visit was invaluable.
We will have more detail on Thursday, November 6. The Governor is expected to delay issuance of the proclamation calling the special session until that day. We expect the Administration to release information regarding the size of the current year Budget deficit at the same time, along with the Governor’s proposed solution to the Budget mess. The Senate is tentatively scheduled to hold an organizational meeting on November 6, assuming the Governor issues his order, with subsequent floor sessions dependent upon negotiations and how quickly bills can be drafted.
Navarro did say, “The problem is real and the problem is huge.” Stay tuned as we at SSC keep you abreast of developments . . .
—Deborah Harmon