LEGISLATIVE INTERVIEW
WITH STATE SENATOR ABEL MALDONADO
Each year, League members interview their state legislators, giving the League and legislators a chance to exchange ideas before we focus on specific legislation. The LWVC Board's Program Committee for 2006 developed the questions. These interviews cover all three of the Issues for Education and Advocacy chosen by LWVC convention delegates last May. In particular, the question on redistricting will be valuable in advancing the LWVC position that redistricting reform should be placed on the ballot by the legislature this year.
Note: Senate District 15--which Senator Maldonado represents--includes the counties of Santa Cruz, Monterey, and San Luis Obispo; the southeast portion of Santa Clara County; and the northern portion of Santa Barbara County.
Question: California continues to face the problem of a gap between revenues and state expenditures. While the current Legislative Analyst's report indicates that state revenues are up at the present time, it is expected that the gap of the past few years will continue. In general, three strategies can be found to deal with this gap:
- Cut state spending
- Raise revenues through tax or fee increases or by discontinuing certain tax expenditures (i.e., tax credits, exemptions, deductions and other special tax breaks or incentives)
- Generate revenue by floating state general obligation or revenue bond issues.
Which of these would you choose? If you favor cuts in state spending, please indicate exactly where you would cut. If you favor raising taxes or other revenues, please indicate specific items (e g., income tax, sales tax, user fees) you would vote to raise. If you favor a bond measure, please indicate the amount you feel the state should borrow and the specific purposes for the funds (e.g., transportation, Delta levees, etc.).
Senator Maldonado favors "slowing spending" in the budget sector that the legislature still controls. He believes the cuts should be "across the board" and acknowledges that they will most impact the poor. He decried the budget being on "auto-spend" due to ballot box initiatives that reduce the discretionary portion of the budget. He thinks the legislature should have more control over the budget and that the initiative process removes flexibility and is overused.
He thinks revenues can be increased by streamlining government, thereby stimulating the economy. He used the recent Workman's Compensation reform as an example and believes that further reform (a look at full disability benefits) is needed. He thinks decreasing regulations on small family businesses can stimulate the economy. According to his website, excessive regulations (and bureaucratic inefficiency) on his family farming business prompted him to enter politics.
Senator Maldonado does not favor increases in taxes or fees. He did not give his position on reviewing tax expenditures as a revenue source. We sent a specific request about this item after our meeting but did not receive an answer.
He is "concerned" about bond measures, both their repayment and passing the debt onto our children. He stressed that the Governor's huge bond proposal is only a proposal and the legislature will review and modify it. He returned to his ideas on reducing waste, fraud, and abuse within the government as a potential revenue source and expressed frustration that his bill requiring a statewide audit did not even get a hearing.
Question: What should the legislature do to ensure that all Californians have access to health care?
Senator Maldonado said that the legislature should try to provide healthcare to uninsured citizens. He suggested the following: find out the total current cost to California of health care provided for the uninsured and divide by the number of uninsured. The state could pay for private insurance premiums for the uninsured at lesser cost than the current spending figure calculated by this method. He would not include undocumented workers in this plan as they are here illegally. He did acknowledge that doctors have a moral imperative to treat these workers, regardless of their legal status. Maldonado favors a "guest worker" program in which the temporary worker's payroll deductions for unemployment and social security (not applicable to a temporary guest worker) would be redirected to provide medical coverage.
Senator Maldonado stated that he voted against SB 2 because it would have a negative effect on small businesses and the state's economy. He said that he is not familiar with SB 840--Kuehl's single payer health insurance bill, the California Health Insurance Reliability Act--and did not want to discuss it. He favors Heath Savings Accounts and thinks they stimulate the economy. He acknowledged previously that the budget cuts he favors would severely impact health care for the neediest.
Question: Would you support a legislative effort to place a proposal on the ballot to vest authority for redistricting in an independent commission? What specific provisions would you like to see in such a proposal?
Senator Maldonado chose to begin our interview with this question by stating that his district is "the poster child for redistricting reform as it stretches from Los Alamos in the south several hundred miles north to Santa Clara." There are many different communities with widely varying interests. The Senator was strongly in favor of the redistricting proposal Proposition 77 in the special election, November 2005. He favors the idea of a panel composed of three independent judges chosen by the California Supreme Court. He stated that Proposition 77 was voted down because of the large amounts of money spent to "confuse voters."
He does not support the bipartisan commission described in Section 3 of the LWVC position on redistricting as he thinks it would be politicized and unworkable. When asked to define his idea of independent judges, he said he likes the method used in 1994 when "special masters" were appointed to a redistricting commission. Maldonado agreed that both parties politicize the process, while protecting their incumbents and strongly believes it needs reform. Senator Maldonado wants the redrawn districts to have "nesting"--each district should have one senator and two assemblymembers.
Senator Maldonado mentioned (and dislikes) the trade-off being discussed in the legislature that would extend term limits in exchange for a panel of three judges. He believes in a "citizen legislature", not career politicians and feels that an experienced staff can train a novice legislator adequately within existing term limits. Senator Maldonado would extend the Assembly term to equal the Senate term because as an Assemblymember, he had to start fundraising for his next election as soon as he was elected. AB 583 was mentioned in this context and he declared himself unfamiliar with the Clean Money bill and did not know that it had passed the full Assembly. He mentioned that he strongly favors full disclosure and a ban of donations in the last few days of a campaign because voters should know who all of the campaign donors are, prior to casting their ballot. A Clean Money information packet was provided to his staff.
Question: What are the major issues that you see the legislature must deal with in 2006? What are your personal priorities?
Senator Maldonado said the issue of the year is the proposed bond measure. He does not want a "Christmas tree" bond with earmarks for every legislator. He thinks a statewide "strategic plan" is needed, prioritized for the best interests of the entire state. Yet he brought up that he voted against the high-speed train because it did not benefit his constituents directly and it might therefore hurt him politically. He acknowledged the problem of getting a strategic plan if every legislator reacts politically. He suggests creation of a bipartisan strategic plan, followed by educating constituents on its benefits.
Senator Maldonado's personal priorities relate to his assignments on Senate education and health committees. He wants to "clean up" the University of California system by making personnel expenditures more transparent. He has written two bills that will require the California Postsecondary Education Commission to produce a report on academic and executive salaries from all three sectors of the state system (UC, CSU and CC). He believes the UC system--"a $20 billion enterprise with no oversight"--needs review. He also wants to investigate fraud and abuse in the state run health care systems (MediCal).
--Government Director
