The following recommendations were developed by the DCC’s issues committee and accepted by its Executive Committee.  They have been submitted to various members of the California legislature and to local news media.  The letter submitting them to Assembly Speaker Karen Bass is attached here as a preface.  These recommendations are also likely to be used by the club as its submission to the state party’s attempt to develop a program in opposition to the Governor’s budget slashing.

May 29, 2009

Honorable Karen Bass
Speaker of the California State Assembly
Sacramento, CA

Ms Bass:

The Executive Committee of the Democratic Club of Claremont wants to make the following recommendations for (helping to) balance the state budget following the defeat of the propositions on the recent ballot.

The Governor and the Republicans want only to slash spending causing huge harm to the state and its citizens.  The Democrats in the legislature have already accepted the need for reduced spending in this economic crisis.  And given the current situation you and your Democratic colleagues may well have to accept further cuts. 

But there are many ways in which receipts can be increased without adopting the conservatives slash and burn strategy.  We have recommended some, but only some, of the possible ways of raising revenue.

Moreover, we are recommending one way of reducing spending which would save a great deal of money without causing as much harm to the state as what the Republicans are considering.

We have not here weighed in on long term changes which are necessary to the salvation of the state:  getting rid of the two-thirds rule, also revising proposition 13 regarding commercial property and improving the ability of local governments to collect revenue from property taxes, changing the term limits law and no doubt others.  The recommendations here have only to do with the current financial crisis, not with the causes of it.
 
Sincerely,

Zephyr Tate-Mann
President
Democratic Club of Claremont



A. Institute new fees:

1. A fee of $100 or 0.5% (whichever is less) on all civil and criminal fines levied by courts in California.  The fees will be used (a) to support law enforcement at all levels of government and (b) to help cover the costs of public expenditures to ameliorate the costs of crime.
2. The State will impose a 0.5% fee on all punitive damages levied by the courts to be used for the same purposes as in 1.
3. Increase civil court fee of 0.5% for both plaintiff and defendant, especially the filing of additional motions (a favorite trick of deep-pocket defendants to bankrupt less-wealthy plaintiffs and delay/avoid accountability), to more fully cover the costs of operating civil courts.
4. Levy health and/or pollution and/or environmental degradation mitigation fees upon polluting and otherwise unhealthy activities: mining, oil and natural gas extraction, shipping of containers in/out of CA ports, purchase of gas-guzzlers, construction of mansions, etc. Fee revenue will be utilized for mitigation of all forms of pollution.
5. Establish or increase fees upon socially undesirable and unpopular businesses: card clubs and other forms of gambling, fortune telling, adult bookstores, massage parlors, etc.. Use fee revenue to pay for sanitation, police, hospital emergency rooms, and other negative externalities associated with these industries.
6. Impose a 3% fee upon any business payrolls for employees who earn less than a living wage. Use the fee revenue to mitigate the costs of welfare, food stamps, crime, foreclosures, loss of property and sales taxes, and other effects of poverty.
7. Charge a fee of 1.0% of assessed value to any mortgage lender that forecloses upon a property, in order to mitigate the tax losses incurred when property values are driven down and to encourage responsible lending. Fees utilized to offset lost property tax revenues.
8. Institute a $20 fee be charged to insurance companies when requesting police reports, including officer time and equipment/tech support, regarding automobile crashes and thefts and home burglaries, with the proceeds to be used for highway and community safety.
9. Legalize recreational marijuana use by adults, regulate distribution, and tax purchases heavily. Utilize tax revenue for: police, hospital emergency rooms, rehabilitation of drug and alcohol addicts, and drug education in high schools.
   

B. Reducing State Services:

1. Release from state prison non-violent convicts, especially any incarcerated for drug use or street-level drug vending, and non-felons over the age of 55, except any deemed a threat to society. Estimated savings: $2 billion dollars a year.
2. Close redundant prisons and discharge redundant prison guards pursuant to B1 above.
   

C. Temporary Salary Cuts for State Employees

1. Mandate a progressive temporary roll back in all state employee salaries, 0.25% for those earning less than  $30,000, 1% for those earning $30-70,000, 2% up to $71- $100,00, 3% for those earning $101 - 199,000; 4% rising to 20% for those above $200,000.  Those temporary rollbacks shall be on marginal income, not gross income and slated for automatic expiration in two years.

D. Obtain Money from the Federal Government

1. Demand that the Governor and State Assembly develop a specific State stimulus package that would match with federal money some portion of the State cuts and new user fees.