Editorial: Big state, with big problems

Cities, including Laguna Beach, won’t be as hard hit by the state’s budget-balancing act as previously believed. Instead of taking away an estimated $1 million in gas tax funds intended for street improvements, in the end the budget “” signed and red-penciled by Gov. Schwarzenegger “” leaves those funds intact. But it does take $2 million in property tax revenues from city coffers at a time when the local economy is struggling.

Why the state can’t seem to make sound fiscal decisions is one for the economists and psychiatrists to weigh in on. But here’s our analysis: A deeply partisan legislature, outmoded voting requirements for the budget, and politicians held in thrall by special interests, unions, the initiative process and term limits all add up to a dysfunctional government that has been careening like an out-of-control roller coaster for many years now.

Some are now calling for a constitutional convention to fix the problems. In other words, start from scratch and build government from the bottom up. That may be the only way to get at the root of the systemic problems we have created. In the meantime, however, the state needs to continue to function if we are to have roads, schools, parks, beaches and higher education, not to mention a financial and health-care safety net for people without adequate resources.

California traditionally has had the most powerful economic engine in the U.S. “” said to rank sixth in the world if it were its own country. Yet this big, important state has been brought to its knees, reduced to issuing IOUs. It’s appalling.

The scariest thing about the new state budget is the plan to release thousands of prisoners into communities that will now have fewer resources to cope with them.

It’s unconscionable that legislators in Sacramento, far removed from the issues they face at home, can take resources away from local governments at will. That’s something to look at it during a constitutional convention.

Forcing the state to keep its own accounts solvent “” or else “” could help to put legislators on the right track.