In CA, It's Not Always Who Wins That Matters
Most decisions about discretionary federal spending depend on who wins elections. Eg, the climate-related provisions in the Inflation Reduction Act would not have become law had Democrats not controlled the presidency and Congress. But the same dynamic doesn’t apply to most discretionary state spending in California. As one example, consider the following.
Among the competitors for discretionary state spending are California State University and prison employee unions. For the current fiscal year, lawmakers awarded $5.1 billion to CSU, which serves nearly 500,000 students. That’s less than half the more than $11 billion in salaries and benefits lawmakers awarded to 65,000 prison employees attending to 96,000 inmates. That outcome wouldn’t be materially different if Republicans controlled the state government or if different Democrats prevailed in state elections. That’s because state lawmakers of all stripes are supported by and fear retribution from prison employee unions but not CSU supporters. That changes only if CSU supporters are as persistently active in the State Capitol as prison employee unions.
Don’t blame prison employee unions for maximizing value for their stakeholders. Blame CSU supporters for not maximizing value for CSU stakeholders. That’s why supporters of the public interest must always have the backs of lawmakers who govern in the public interest. That doesn’t take a lot of money, just a lot of persistence.