To: senator.ducheny@sen.ca.gov, senator.leno@sen.ca.gov, senator.dutton@sen.ca.gov, senator.liu@sen.ca.gov, senator.alquist@sen.ca.gov, senator.lowenthal@sen.ca.gov, senator.ashburn@sen.ca.gov, senator.negretemcleod@sen.ca.gov, senator.cogdill@sen.ca.gov, senator.padilla@sen.ca.gov, senator.desaulnier@sen.ca.gov, senator.simitian@sen.ca.gov, senator.harman@sen.ca.gov, senator.wright@sen.ca.gov, senator.huff@sen.ca.gov

Date: Friday, April 2, 2010, 3:29 PM

Dear Members of the Senate Committee on Budget and Fiscal Review,

Saving California Communities is a Davis coalition that brings together local elected representatives and a wide cross-section of community members. We advocate for the resources necessary to support strong, healthy communities.

Our organization endorses the package of state government reform proposals introduced by California Forward that we believe will create more responsive, representative, and cost-effective government.  These include:

• Responsible budgets on time, with proposals to identify stable funding for state programs, continue only those programs proven effective, and reduce the legislative vote requirement for approving the state budget to a simple majority while retaining the two-thirds threshold to raise taxes.
•  Government that is closer to the people, including proposals to give communities more control by preventing state borrowing of local revenues, and lowering the vote threshold for local tax measures. 

Although this package represents only first steps in needed reform, we believe that improving our governance structures is essential for the success of the state and the well-being of its citizens.  The status quo is simply not acceptable to us.

Saving California Communities endorses SCA 19 as consistent with our own guiding principles of healthy communities, responsive government, stable revenue, and alignment of resources, responsibility, and accountability.

We encourage the Subcommittee to support this bill.

Respectfully,

Members of the Saving California Communities Coalition (e-mail addresses copied herein):

Bob Agee

Jan Agee

Sheila Allen

Barbara Archer

Ruth Asmundson

Jorge Ayala

Rick Baker

Robert Bakke

Janet Berry

Kay Bogart

Mark Braly

Daniel Braunstein

Davis Campbell

Nancy Cole

Delaine Eastin

Rebecca Edwards

Glen Erickson

Lucas Frerichs

Julie Gallelo

Cathy Haskell

Jackie Hausman

Anne Hawke

Jim Herrington

Jim Hopp

Karen Hopp

Sara Husby

Christopher Kelsch

Jonathan London

Susan Lovenburg

Joel Mandel

Betsy Marchand

Jerry Marr

Kathy Marr

Rita Montes Martin

Jenny Melton

Kingsley Melton

Karen Mo

Joan M. Moses

Don Palm

Richard Reed

Karl Reinking

Ada Rinne

Sarah Rock

Don Saylor

Richard Seyman

Daniel Sharpe

Jill Miller Theg

Dan Wolk

Pauline Wooliever

Jay Ziegler