[courtesy of California Progress Report]

By Anthony Wright
Executive Director of Health Access California

Conservative blogger Jon Fleischman at the FlashReport has a post attacking the "unelected" Legislative Analyst's Office (LAO) about their "alternative budget" proposal that includes revenue increases, not just cuts. The Sacramento Bee's Dan Weintraub defends the LAO and its role.

There are several issues here: the substance of the LAO's proposal, how the recommendations should be considered by the Legislature, and the LAO's overall role in the budget process.

Weintraub is right that the LAO has put forward policy and budget proposals all the time, but for some reason, probably political, people have invested the office with a more mythic role recently. The LAO has no more power than any other analyst outside the Capitol, does not have make decisions or cast votes, and is not accountable to anybody if it gets things wrong. Fleischman is right that the LAO has no more claim to the truth. Rather, it is there to provide advice to the Legislature, just like other think tanks, consumer groups, and specific interests do.