Dave Cox Senate Report: February 2007

California Owns Too Much Land

As of the most recent tally, private property owners now possess just 50.1% of all acreage in California. In some counties in the 1 st Senate District, such as Alpine and Mono, the percentage of publicly owned land is 95% or more. As government quietly becomes the majority landowner in the state, it is well past time to re-consider whether public land acquisition is benefiting the environment and the taxpayers who pay to protect those lands.

Over the last ten years, the State of California has spent billions of dollars to buy land. Voters approved $11 billion in bonds for resource-related projects between 1996 and 2004. In November 2006, voters approved another $5 billion resources bond. More than half this funding may be used for land acquisition, assuring that the buying spree will continue for some time.

However, unlike most landowners, the State seems to have little idea how to manage or maintain the land it buys. And, in recent years, it has not shown much concern for getting a good price on the purchase. The result is the misuse of both the land and the money used to purchase it.

The most glaring example of public land mismanagement is certainly our forests, where poor maintenance is often the official policy. Slightly less than 40% of California land is forested and a majority is owned by federal, state, or local entities. Where they exist, efforts to manage forests properly and reduce fuel levels are usually thwarted by environmental regulation or litigation. A 2003 report by the federal General Accounting Office found 68% of all fuel reduction activities were stalled by legal action. According to the California Forest Products Commission, this “hands-off” approach to forestry kills three times more trees than are harvested.

The increased fuel load from dead trees can cause devastating wildfires, as we saw across Southern California in 2003. Today, forests in the Lake Tahoe basin are so overgrown that many stands in the Tahoe National Forest are an estimated 82% denser now than in 1928, and tree mortality in some stands approaches 80%. Overall, Tahoe forests are 33% dead. Some experts believe the forests in the Tahoe Basin are as ripe for a major forest fire as the San Bernardino Mountains were three years ago. While most conservation and erosion control efforts at Tahoe focus on regulating private activities, public ownership may be doing the worst damage.

In California the drive for preservation is fueled by an urban majority and generally opposed by the rural minority.  The reason is simple: urban voters do not suffer regulatory hardship, limits on commerce, a declining local tax base, or live under an increased threat of fire when the government increases its land holdings. This dynamic was demonstrated by the most recent resources measure, Proposition 84 last November. The measure was rejected by 41 of 58 California counties, but approved by Los Angeles County and eight of nine Bay Area counties.

Until voters appreciate the full costs of mismanaging both public lands and the money used to purchase them, the tragedy of California’s commons will continue.

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Community College Completion Study

The Institute for Higher Education Leadership and Policy at Sacramento State University has just released a study of completion rates at California Community Colleges, and the news is not encouraging.

For many years, I have been an advocate of our community college system. I attended what was then called a “junior college” early in my collegiate career. I have always felt that the community colleges needed to shift away from the Proposition 98 funding that they receive from the state’s General Fund into a separate entity such as the University of California and the California State University systems. There is a ballot initiative pending, sponsored by the Community Colleges, that will provide Community Colleges with a separate funding mechanism from the other university systems and the K – 12 schools. It also limits the fees paid by community college students and provides a stable source of funds for community colleges in the state. If this initiative has gathered enough signatures, it will be on the next statewide ballot.

The Sacramento State study on the community colleges points out some important facts. Forty percent of students entering community colleges do so not to pursue a college degree, but to obtain basic job skills or for personal enrichment. However, of the 60 percent who enter intending to obtain a degree, only 24% of them actually do so.

The study blames this fact on the “barriers to completion” that are inherent in the community college system. This means that the system encourages access to community colleges but does not encourage students to pursue a path to obtaining a degree. It recommends changes in community college policies that discourage students from completing their community college education with a degree such as incorporating incentives toward graduation, and modifying fees and financial aid to encourage more students to attend full time.

To obtain a copy of the Institute for Higher Education Leadership and Policy study you can go to:
http://www.csus.edu/ihe/

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Transportation Facts And Figures

The Office of the State Legislative Analyst has recently released a report on the current trends in transportation and issues regarding the financing of future transportation improvement projects. It is interesting reading and I recommend it to our constituents in the First Senate District.

The Legislative Analyst points out something that we have known for some time – that the state’s investment in additional highway mileage has not kept pace with California’s population growth or the growth in the amount of miles traveled. This has led to a measurable increase in traffic congestion, especially in our growing inland areas. Congestion costs us over $5.9 billion a year in wasted time and fuel.

This is the reason the Legislature, the Governor and the voters approved Proposition 1B last year, which invests $20 billion of new money into the transportation system in our state.

We continue to spend large amounts of money in public transit, even though figures show that unlike automobile usage, trips on public transit are static and not growing. A notable exception to this trend is the use of Amtrak intercity rail transit, especially on the Capitol Corridor between Auburn and San Jose. In addition, the recent Folsom and South Line extensions of Sacramento Light Rail continue to see increased ridership.

The Legislative Analyst has many suggestions for future improvements in the way California spends money on transportation. One of them is the use of Design/Build contracting, a streamlined method of planning and constructing new road or transit projects. In addition, to provide a stable supply of professional engineers to design the projects, the Analyst suggests the continued use of private sector design firms as well as professionals employed by Caltrans.

You may obtain a copy of this Leg Analyst report by going to:
http://www.lao.ca.gov/2007/ca_travels/ca_travels_012607.aspx

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It's Tax Time Again

The usual date for paying our taxes is April 15 th of each year. This year the state and federal deadline is April 17 th, because the 15 th is on a Sunday and the District of Columbia, the home of the United States Capitol, celebrates “Emancipation Day” on April 16 th. In addition, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts celebrates “Patriots Day” as a holiday on the 16 th of April, and the Internal Revenue Service has a processing center in Massachusetts. The state Franchise Tax Board always conforms to the federal tax deadline.

Emancipation Day is the anniversary of the date in 1862 that President Abraham Lincoln signed the Compensated Emancipation Act, for the release of certain persons held to service or labor in the District of Columbia. The Act freed about 3,100 enslaved persons in the District of Columbia nine months before President Lincoln issued his famous Emancipation Proclamation, which freed all slaves in the rest of the nation. Patriots Day is celebrated on the third Monday of April in Massachusetts and Maine to celebrate the April 19, 1775 victory of the Minutemen in the battles of Lexington and Concord in the Revolutionary War.

The California Society of Enrolled Agents has an excellent website that gives practical advice to California taxpayers on tax matters. One of their guides, the Disaster Preparation Guide, lists the type of documents that families should keep in an easy-to-carry box or an off-site location from their home in case of a natural disaster. These documents, such as past tax returns and final escrow documents, will assist families in recovering from the disaster.

The enrolled agents web site is at http://www.csea.org/ The information is located in the “Taxpayer Help” area.

Individuals can get federal tax forms online at: http://www.irs.gov/

State tax forms can be obtained at: http://www.ftb.ca.gov/

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Quotes Of The Week

In Honor of Abraham Lincoln:

“Whenever I hear anyone arguing for slavery, I feel a strong impulse to see it tired on him personally.”
- Abraham Lincoln

In Recognition of Valentine’s Day:

“Nothing takes the taste out of peanut butter quite like unrequited love.”
- Charles M. Schultz (Peanuts)

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