California is facing an uncertain future – and it’s not an earthquake, despite a current blockbuster movie. There’s a water crisis, an education system declared woeful by a state judge and soaring costs on all levels – water, utilities, energy, housing and taxes. These could all be eclipsed by the huge elephant in the room – unfunded pensions and health care for state and local government employees that could be $1 trillion or more.
What are our public officials doing? As was recently reported, there are no fewer than a dozen proposals in the legislature to increase taxes AND spending, despite the massive underfunding of pensions and health care. The governor crows about a California ‘comeback’ but he almost completely ignores the trillion dollar bomb expected to hit over the next 20 years. This government employee pensions and healthcare bomb only gets worse, as life expectancies expand and investments underperform the rosy scenarios built into their projections.
Take heart, California, there is change coming and it’s not the San Andreas splitting apart. It will be a political earthquake and it’s called the Neighborhood Legislature (NL). It will replace the dysfunctional and practically corrupt (if not actually corrupt in some cases) California legislature. We just received Title and Summary and we have built a professional plus volunteer organization that will soon be circulating through the neighborhood precincts of California to collect signatures and build support for this groundbreaking proposal.
Why is this such a political earthquake? Because it holds real promise that it will return power to actual representatives of the people, citizen legislators, who will be able to explore and implement the important reforms unimpeded by the allure and/or sting from special interest money spent to protect the status quo. These citizen legislators will replace the professional fundraisers and special interest representatives we currently endure.
