Mandatory Overtime

I remember how those words used to strike fear and pain into me in my days as an hourly employee. Sure I wanted to make the money, but somehow those hours after five, and those days after Friday held special resonance for me. They were not working hours. When I became salaried, I reconciled myself to the idea that part of the job was going to be giving up a few hours here and there to keep the machine running. For the past month, those who look after California's budget have been working past their deadline.
Sunday night was going to be "it." The Big Five, the Governator, Assembly speaker, Senate leader and Republican leaders of both houses of the Legislature, were supposed to get together to pound out the last little differences in language that have been keeping the state of California without a budget for more than a month. According to the official budget process, "(t)he Constitution also requires that the Legislature pass the bill by June 15." And we all know what kind of trouble you can get into when you mess with the constitution, even if it's just the state constitution.
The meeting didn't happen Sunday night due to "scheduling conflicts." All parties agreed to get right back at it bright and early on Monday morning, or by eleven. Even legislators need to get an eye-opener, right? At stake is the twenty-six billion dollar shortfall that has to be made up before the budget can be signed and enacted. Meanwhile, California's bond rating continues to sink, and IOU's are being passed out while state workers continue to add furlough days to their calendars.
To borrow a budgeting term, that's the real bottom line. While the DMV is closing its doors three times a month, the powers that be in Sacramento meander toward their eventual conclusion. While teachers and policemen are laid off, legislators and the governor's staff make weak stabs at solving the problem. None of them are being furloughed. None of them have been laid off. They will not be paid with IOU's. I do not claim to have the answer to California's fiscal woes. I know that it will take more than a weekend meeting to unscramble the mess that has been made over the past thirty years. But where's the urgency? The budget has only been ready on time four times in the past twenty years. With that kind of track record, wouldn't you expect some all-nighters? Put a cot in the back room folks, it's going to be a late one.
Better yet: Start now. Making sense of an economy as complex as California's takes time. Lots of it. While the money keeps leaking out through the cracks, the clock is ticking.