Written by Michael Palomba
Last month, Governor Gavin Newsom gave his 2020 State of the State address, and it began by boasting that “by nearly every recognizable metric, the State of California is not just thriving but, in many instances, leading the country.”
I suppose this is true if you take a look at homelessness rates, in which California is the national leader by a long shot. That, of course, is not what he was talking about.
He touted the state’s GDP growth, jobs, and the “huge well of debt” that is gone.
However, according to the California Policy Center, that debt is not gone and “places California distressingly close to peripheral Eurozone countries that faced financial crises in 2011 and 2012.”
This is because the state’s long term obligations far exceed the projected revenue collections. Those long term obligations include $1 trillion in unfunded pension liabilities alone.
Bill Fletcher and Marc Joffe, authors of the California Policy Center report, breakdown how much of this debt each California taxpayer is responsible for: $74,000.
California has also been shedding residents. From 2011 to 2016, California had a net loss of 243,000 people, with an annual income in excess of $7.7 billion. The Sacramento Bee reported that an estimated 691,000 people left California in 2018, creating a net loss of 190,000 people for that year alone.
Newsom spent most of his speech discussing the state’s homelessness problem which he referred to as “a disgrace.” He also, in typical Democrat fashion, made homelessness a race issue. He cited a poll that claims almost half of Latinos are worried they or a family member could become homeless.
“Homelessness impacts everyone, but not equally,” he said.
Newsom talked about solutions like bringing emergency travel trailers to more counties and identifying hundreds of parcels of land for potential housing. However, he went a step further to float “use it or lose it” rules for local government’s homelessness money.
“The theme, for better or worse, is that the hand of the State of California is going to be more forceful in getting results,” he said.
State Senator Brian Jones commented, “What Governor Newsom presented today was another expensive vision, but, before he proposes more, where did last year’s $1.2 billion go, and when can Californians expect to see results?”
State Senator Pat Bates said, “The governor is right when he says it is disgraceful that the state is failing to address homelessness and noted many contributing factors to the crisis. Those factors combined with recent soft-on-crime measures and more than nine years of one-party control of state government have led us to where we are today. However, I look forward to working with the governor on solutions that will provide shelter and services to those in need and making our streets cleaner and safer.”
Senator Bates makes a very good point. Years of one-party control in California has led to many of the problems we see in the state today, which include not just homelessness, but the ever-increasing cost of living, crumbling roads, a failed high-speed rail, and much more.
So, while Governor Newsom can talk highly of California and state statistics with no context, that will not change the fact that the state is not doing all that well. What we need in the California Legislature is an end to one-party control. Nine years of unified Democratic rule has taken a harsh toll, and Californians need to take this great state back before it’s too late.
