[courtesy of California Progress Report]

Tip of the Iceberg in California’s Local Governments Trying to Maintain Public Safety Spending With Federal, State, and Local Cuts

By Robert Cruickshank

After months of wrangling and negotiating the city of Vallejo has voted to declare bankruptcy. And to hear the local media tell it, like the San Francisco Chronicle, it is the fault of public workers, not poor political leadership:

“After about four hours of discussion and public comment from the standing-room-only crowd, the council voted 7-0 to approve Tanner's recommendation to declare Chapter 9 bankruptcy protection as a means to reorganize its finances, which have been shattered by spiraling public employee salaries and the plummeting housing market....

“The city and its public safety unions have been at the bargaining table for about two years. The city is asking for its police and firefighters to take salary, benefit and staff cuts, while the unions say any further cuts would endanger public safety as well as the safety of the police and firefighters.

[courtesy of California Progress Report]

By Ted Lieu
Chair
California State Assembly Banking and Finance Committee

Last year, the State Controller audited the California Public Utilities Commission’s accounting and collection procedures and found that more than $32 million in fines and restitution have gone uncollected since 1999. This audit found that the CPUC did not aggressively pursue collection efforts and that a vast majority of the uncollected fines were levied against telecommunication companies that CPUC launched investigations or imposed fines for fraudulent or questionable activities. Those companies either ceased to operate or filed for bankruptcy immediately after the investigations had commenced.

At a time when California is dealing with a huge budget deficit that could cripple our state, we cannot afford to let utility companies get away without paying their fair share. It is not acceptable for these companies to skate any responsibility by declaring bankruptcy or simply closing shop.