Councilman Bill Rosendahl will take place in a public town hall meeting at Santa Monica College this Friday at 6:15PM to discuss the California Constitution Reform. The official press release with a listing of other speakers and event info is after the jump.
ROSENDAHL TO DISCUSS STATE CONSTITUTION REFORM AT TOWNHALL
Public Invited
Who: Los Angeles City Councilmember Bill Rosendahl
State Assemblymember Julia Brownley
Santa Monica Councilmember Michael Feinstein, former mayor
Santa Monica Councilmember Pam O’Connor
Nancy Greenstein, Santa Monica College Board of Trustees
Jim Wunderman, president of the Bay Area Council
Steve Hill, New America Foundation
Mark Paul, New America Foundation
Robert Stern, president of the Center for Governmental Studies
Dan Walters, columnist for the Sacramento Bee
When: 6:15 p.m. – 9:30 p.m.
Friday, July 17, 2009
Where: The Broad Stage at Santa Monica College
1310 11th Street
Santa Monica, CA 90401
What: Councilmember Bill Rosendahl will join community leaders for a discussion on California’s need for a constitutional convention and the impacts it would have on the state’s economy and its ability to function.
On July 1, the State of California entered a new fiscal year without having enacted a budget to fund state services. As a result, the state has been forced to issue IOUs to contractors and municipalities, at a great cost, both financially and in terms of service, to California taxpayers. To prevent similar budget crises in the future, Rosendahl will discuss the merit of a California Constitutional Convention to enact necessary reforms to the state constitution.
In 1978, the passage of Proposition 13 greatly redefined California’s budget process. Along with its reduction in state revenue through property taxes, the proposition imposed a 2/3-majority in both Houses of the State Legislature in order to pass a budget. As a result, the state has not had an on-time budget for the last several decades. In 1990, term limits were imposed on legislators by voters, further complicating the budget process.
Discussion of these issues and many others, their impact on the budget process, and the potential and need for reform will be highlighted at the forum. It will provide the public an opportunity to weigh in on the issues, and to address whether California should hold a constitutional convention in the near future to reform the process.
