Issues
Budget Reform
This year’s three-month budget standoff made it clear that politics as usual in Sacramento is not just a problem – it’s a crisis. The gridlock pushed the state to the brink of insolvency - threatening to bring infrastructure projects to a halt and cut services to the most vulnerable. In 2009, California's bond rating dropped lower than any other state's in the wake of the budget crisis.
Fundamental reform is needed. Gavin Newsom is committed to comprehensive budget reform in Sacramento – starting with eliminating the antiquated 2/3 majority vote requirement for budget approval and convening a Constitutional Convention to explore reforms to California’s ballot initiative process. To fix California’s budget crisis, Gavin Newsom believes that all options must be on the table.
In San Francisco, Mayor Gavin Newsom has put politics aside to balance the city’s $6 billion-plus budget every year for the past five years. Because of sound fiscal policies and a healthy Rainy Day reserve, San Francisco's bond rating has increased. By bringing in all stakeholders, Mayor Newsom has created lasting reforms to streamline the budget process, to cut waste and increase efficiency in government.
Local Economic Stimulus: Even while San Francisco’s economy has remained one of the state’s strongest, Mayor Newsom introduced an aggressive, five-part local economic stimulus package to help drive the local and regional economy forward. Newsom’s plan focuses on revenue growth and job creation through expediting infrastructure projects, granting no-interest loans and tax credits to local businesses and expanding financial literacy and work training programs.
Rainy Day Fund: Together with local leaders, Mayor Newsom expanded the city’s Rainy Day reserve to set aside money in good times to prepare for difficult budget years. Most recently, Mayor Newsom used the fund to save the jobs of hundreds of public school teachers due to budget constraints.
Consolidation of City Departments: Mayor Newsom has consolidated 16 city departments and entirely eliminated four, which has reduced the city budget and created more efficiency. In part, Mayor Newsom has consolidated and restructured the offices of Transportation, Emergency Services and Economic and Workforce Development to create synergy between agencies with similar missions and to eliminate redundancies.
Pension Liability Reform: Working with the Board of Supervisors, Mayor Newsom was a vocal leader in the plan to restructure San Francisco’s city worker benefit program. The retirement program had ballooned to an unfunded liability of $4.2 billion and was threatening to bankrupt the city budget. The reform package, passed by voters in 2008, included making annual city investments in retiree health care, requiring workers to contribute a portion of their pay to the benefits program and limiting the benefits to 20-year employees only.
Civil Service Reform: To improve accountability and efficiency in government, Mayor Newsom instituted mandatory performance evaluations for all city employees, amended civil service rules to ensure faster hiring practices and instituted performance-based pay and mandatory training for all city employees.
Waste and Inefficiencies: Mayor Newsom launched SFStat in 2004, a central database to track and report how well city departments are performing their missions. Mayor Newsom regularly meets with city departments to track overtime spending, improve inter-departmental cooperation and improve delivery of city services.
Join Our Policy Team: Gavin Newsom believes that the best plan is a better idea. If you would like to share your ideas and insights on how to reshape California's Budget Reform policy, please email us at issues@gavinnewsom.com.
