Evans now in the center of budget storm

Local legislator becomes fiscal leader at rough time

By JILLIAN JONES
Register Staff Writer

Noreen Evans just inherited an emergency.

On Monday, the Democratic Assemblywoman representing Napa County and other parts of the North Bay was sworn in as chairwoman of the California State Assembly Budget Committee. The swearing-in ceremony was tempered by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s declaration that California is in the midst of a fiscal emergency. For Evans, now tasked with paving the way to a solution, the outlook is especially grim.

California is grappling with an $11.2 billion budget deficit. That deficit is expected to grow to $28 billion in 2009 if lawmakers cannot reach a compromise on ways to cut spending, raise revenues or both. The state risks running out of money by February.

“Aside from raising my children, this is probably the biggest responsibility and biggest challenge I’ve ever faced in my life,” Evans said.

Schwarzenegger declared the fiscal emergency under Proposition 58, which requires the Legislature to find a way to close the current year’s deficit in the next 45 days. The announcement came while lawmakers were still in session on the Assembly floor.

“Without immediate action, our state is headed for a fiscal disaster, and that is why with more than two dozen new legislators sworn in today, I am wasting no time in calling a fiscal emergency special session,” Schwarzenegger said in a prepared statement.

Emergency measure

The economic turmoil puts an even heavier burden than usual on the shoulders of the Assembly’s Budget Committee and its chairwoman.

“It’s always been critically important because the budget of the state is so critically important … (but) it is a more challenging office right now because of the fiscal crisis,” Evans said.

As chairwoman of the Budget Committee, Evans will hold public hearings on the governor’s budget proposal, and help the Assembly craft its own proposal in response.

That proposal is likely to look similar to the budget plan proposed by Democrats during the last special session to discuss the budget, Evans said. The package, which was rejected by Republicans, would have balanced the budget with a roughly equal combination of taxes and cuts to services.

“The governor’s starting in the same place, and we’re starting in the same place,” Evans said, referring to Schwarzenegger’s proposal Monday to cut services and raise the state sales tax. The proposal resembles his last budget plan, which was ultimately rejected.

The Senate and Assembly will hold a rare joint session to discuss the budget within the next two weeks, she said.

“The state has been in this kind of economic crisis before and has weathered it,” Evans said. “My job … is to make sure we get through it this time.”

Three goals

Evans said she has three goals as chairwoman of the Budget Committee. The first is to balance the budget for the current fiscal year, and the second is to balance the budget for the equally dire subsequent year.

Finally, Evans said she plans to travel around the state “and help ordinary Californians understand how we got into this fiscal crisis … and how we can get out of it.”

She attributes the financial crisis to a combination of voter-mandated spending initiatives, a population that is not only growing but aging, and a rising unemployment rate due to the economic recession.

“In addition, during the last 15 to 20 years, we have had numerous tax cuts in good times, but those revenues have never been restored during bad times,” Evans said.

Evans has also called for a reformed budget process that would require a majority vote in order to pass a budget, rather than the two-thirds super-majority currently required.

“I’m already involved in that discussion,” she said Monday.

Evans was appointed to the office by Speaker Karen Bass, D-Los Angeles.

“Karen is one of my best friends and I was helpful in getting her elected to the speakership,” Evans said. She said she asked to be appointed to the position “given the fact that I have had experience in local government serving on budget committees.”

Before being elected to the Assembly, Evans served on the Santa Rosa City Council, where she participated in several budget committees.

“The main difference is the number of zeroes,” she said.

Evans said she will probably hold the office for the next two years, though the decision is ultimately up to Bass.

The budget crisis will likely take up most of Evans’ time during her third and last term, she said.

“I think it’s budget all the time,” Evans said. “Because it’s such a big challenge, because it’s such a huge deficit, and because this is a global crisis, I think there’s not going to be much else that’s taking my attention during the coming year.”

Right now, Evans said her priority is “trying to get the state of California through this budget with a minimum of long-term damage.”

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