As the Stomach Turns - The CA Budget Fight

TV soap operas are where make believe people try and solve torrid love affairs, financial woes, and family tragedies.   The good news - at the end of the day - is that the aforementioned issues are all phony and are simply there for your viewing pleasure.

Unfortunately, the CA “budget soap opera” being played out in Sacramento is all too real.  As I talk with my political contacts in the Capitol, it is my fear that not only is the CA OHV Program in potentially grave trouble, but many non-park related state programs, government employees, and public services will face the budget axe in the near future as well.

HQ believes it is fool hardy for lawmakers to propose an increase in taxes as a tool by which the state can be rescued from running off the proverbial cliff.   Appropriating funds from successful self-funded user-pay/user benefit programs such as OHV is one of the surest signs that the legislature is mentally bankrupt and is not able or willing to make the cuts needed to bring California back from this fiscal crisis.

Basing California’s future on the current fiscal house of cards (increased taxes, taking money from programs such as OHV, etc.) only acts as a catalyst that motivates a growing number of residents to leave the state for greener pastures.     

Be assured that HQ is acutely aware, engaged, and monitoring Parks (will Ruth Coleman stay or be replaced and by whom) and OHMVR (will Daphne come back or who will take her spot)? Will the OHV grants program become a casualty in this budget fight?   There is a lot that will shake out in the next few days and weeks.

This political soap opera is all too real and nobody that I know of (including Donstradamus) has a crystal ball.