Brown's budget plan gets good marks from from key analyst

It's called a "good starting point" in a report just issued by the non-partisan Legislative Analyst's Office. Enactment of the plan would go a long way towards ridding the state of the monster deficit.

The Governor's proposals to "realign" state and local program responsibilities and change local economic development efforts have much merit. His realignment proposal would shift $5.9 billion in state program costs to counties and provide a comparable amount of funds to support these new county commitments. We believe that this type of decentralization of program delivery and authority could promote innovation, efficiency, and responsiveness to local conditions. The Governor also puts forward dramatic changes in the area of local economic development by proposing the elimination of redevelopment agencies. We think this makes sense, as the state's costs associated with redevelopment have grown markedly over the years even though there is no reliable evidence that the program improves overall economic performance in the state.

For all the bluster about too much cost-cutting and too many taxes, Brown's budget is getting mostly favorable reviews among the clear-thinkers. In a nutshell, it's harsh but necessary. The problem, of course, is that it relies on voters signing off on a five-year extension of emergency tax increases (and that's assuming Brown can get a two-thirds vote in the Legislature to even get it on the ballot). Given the public's disaffection with government - and given the fact that special elections typically draw low numbers of voters, many of them opposed to most any kind of tax increase - it's just hard to believe that he can pull it off.