Editorial: Kill these turkeys before they gobble up taxpayers

Sounds of “gobble-gobble” in Sacramento can be heard throughout California.

Not to slander the noble bird, but a Legislature dominated by the Democratic Party has cranked out turkeys that serve no other purpose than to keep their friends in the public-employee unions happy.

And if Gov. Jerry Brown wants to stand up for taxpayers and transparency in government, he’ll take the veto ax to at least four bills.

But before we proceed, allow us to repeat what we say at the end of every legislative session: California doesn’t need hundreds of new laws; our lawmakers instead should turn over the seat cushions in the Capitol and find budget dollars to enforce good laws already on the books.

Turkey No. 1 is Senate Bill 376 by Sen. Ricardo Lara, D-Bell Gardens. It might as well come with jellied cranberry sauce for members of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, which represents many University of California employees.

This dreadful bill would ban the UC from outsourcing full-time jobs to companies whose benefits don’t match the university’s wage and sweet benefit plans for comparable employment.

UC estimates that the bill would cost $36 million a year, plus another $12 million to $24 million to boost the wages of new employees. That would be significant for a system that turns away qualified children of taxpaying Californians because there aren’t enough slots.

SB 331 by Sen. Tony Mendoza, D-Artesia, is a cynical bill that goes by the disingenuous title Civic Reporting Openness in Negotiations Efficiency Act. It’s an Orwellian name for a bill that would limit sunshine.

Mendoza pushed this turkey because in recent years, a handful of municipalities had the temerity to adopt ordinances requiring additional public disclosure of labor contracts with public-employee unions.

A plate of pumpkin pie to AFSCME and the Orange County Employees Association, this bill would require those municipalities – and only them – to adopt ordinances requiring greater disclosure of any contract worth $50,000 or more.

The Fresno Bee editorial board supports transparency. But SB 331 requires information that already is generally public. And if it’s such a great idea, Mendoza should have attempted to apply it to all local governments. He didn’t; that’s not his goal, nor that of his benefactors.

Assembly Bill 1293 by Assemblyman Chris Holden, D-Pasadena, and SB 682 by Sen. Mark Leno, D-San Francisco, seek to restrict the ability of state agencies and the court system from entering into contracts for services that are or could be performed by court or state employees.

Holden’s bill, which restricts the state’s ability to retain contractors, is more mashed potatoes and gravy for the Service Employees International Union. Leno’s court bill is a big slab of ham to AFSCME, Orange County employees and the SEIU.

Common themes run through these bills. Republicans oppose them, and Democrats voted almost in lockstep for the turkeys. Indeed, we counted only one Democrat who voted against each of the four, Sen. Steve Glazer of Orinda.

We understand that public employee unions are Democrats’ biggest benefactors. But when legislators go out of their way to intervene on their behalf, taxpayers end up paying.

Gov. Brown needs to spoil the Democrats’ annual Thanksgiving in September party with these unions.

This story was originally published September 17, 2015 at 9:25 AM with the headline "Editorial: Kill these turkeys before they gobble up taxpayers."