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Green Watchdog 2001: 14 recommendations to save Californians money and save California's environment 5/1/2001 Green_Watchdog_2001.pdf

Executive Summary

As the new home of CALPIRG's environmental work, Environment California can be contacted with any questions regarding this report.

Just a few months ago, most analysts predicted that California would be awash in budget surpluses. Now that electricity deregulation has unraveled and there are signs the economy is slowing down, budget forecasts have tightened and become uncertain. Instead of focusing primarily on how to spend the expected surplus, policy makers have been forced to look for savings.

New budget scrutiny, however, could be the silver lining in the cloud that deregulation has produced, not just for taxpayers but for the environment as well.

Twenty environmental, consumer and taxpayer groups have reviewed state spending and formulated the Green Watchdog report to provide a menu of budget cuts and tax loophole closures for policy makers to consider adopting this year, as well as to encourage a longer term rethinking of how the budget impacts the environment. Green Watchdog recommends fourteen cuts and policy changes that could save state taxpayers more than $23 billion while making a major contribution to improving our environment.

Underpinning this report is the belief that success depends on finding areas of agreement — agreement between fiscal watchdogs and environmentalists and agreement between Democrats and Republicans. Both Democrats and Republicans helped to create the programs targeted for reform in Green Watchdog. The same parties that cooperated to start these programs and loopholes must now cooperate to end them. Taxpayers and environmentalists demand it.

California Green Watchdog part of national Green Scissors campaign

The recommendations in this report are modeled on similar efforts designed to help frame national public policy debates and push budget cuts that help both the environment and taxpayers. In the past five years, more than $25 billion in wasteful programs and subsidies have been eliminated from the federal government as a result of the Green Scissors Campaign. Similar state level reform efforts have been undertaken in Minnesota, Michigan, Washington, and North Carolina.

How were the programs selected?

The Green Watchdog recommendations were chosen by participating groups after consultation with a variety of experts, agencies, and advocates, in addition to independent review of the state budget. Many of these programs involve highly complex issues that will require structural reform or are connected to larger debates and controversies. The fourteen issues highlighted here were compiled working on a very limited time line and budget, and are not intended to be fully inclusive. They represent just the tip of the iceberg and we recommend further investigation in the future. We look forward to working with Governor Davis, the state legislature, and other fiscally responsible leaders in the future.

Savings figures in Green Watchdog are taken from current appropriations or budget proposals and include state spending only. One-time, annual, and five-year savings are provided as applicable.

Principles at Stake

The recommendations in this report are based on several principles that would help create a more environmentally responsible budget.

Stop Boondoggles
Tax dollars should not be spent on environmentally harmful and excessively expensive projects when cheaper alternatives exist.

No Pork Barrel Spending
Tax dollars should be spent for the public good, not the benefit of a few special interests, especially those that pollute.

Fair Return from Public Assets
Whether it is oil and gas on public lands or the air we breath, taxpayers should receive a fair return for use of their assets and charge accordingly. If the public does not properly capture the value of its assets then costs, such as dirty air or environmental cleanups, are usually passed along to taxpayers and to future generations.

Eliminate Counterproductive Policies
Government policies should work in conjunction towards a common goal, but sometimes it seems as if the government’s left hand doesn’t know what the right hand is doing. For example, several of the programs targeted in this report promote sprawl and automobile use even as tax dollars are being spent to limit sprawl and promote public transportation.

Polluter Pays
Polluters, not current or future taxpayers, should pay to clean up pollution. Fees should cover the expenses of environmental regulation and mitigation so that the cost of cleaning up is treated as an ordinary cost of doing business, like payroll or rent.