The Senator Reports

August 6th, 2009

Summer District Work Period
By Senator Mark Wyland (R-Carlsbad)

After being elected to the Legislature, it is the nature of the job to spend a great deal of time working in Sacramento. But every so often, the Legislature breaks for district work periods, when we return to our hometowns and listen to our constituents. Since we've recently passed yet another state budget (for now, anyway), legislators are at home for our summer district work period. Since I've been back, I've been hearing the same mantra from almost every constituent I connect with: when is the Legislature going to address the structural deficit that plagues California and seriously reform our broken budget system?

I couldn't agree with my constituents more. Nothing is more urgent than reforming our budget system right now, and I believe the Legislature should follow my constituent's lead and spend our immediate time focusing on nothing but our state's finances.

Senator Mark Wyland represents the people of the 38th Senate District, which includes cities in north San Diego County and the south Orange County cities of San Clemente and San Juan Capistrano.

Senator Mark Wyland
1910 Palomar Point Way, Suite 105
Carlsbad, California 92008
760.931.2455 Office
email: senator.wyland@sen.ca.gov

Reducing Wasteful Spending
By Assemblyman Martin Garrick

Throughout California’s budget debate, there has been a call to turn the crisis into an opportunity. While Democrats have called for massive tax increases and decried cuts to social programs, my Republican colleagues and I have fought to rid our budget of waste, fraud and abuse. One prime example of that waste was the Integrated Waste Management Board (IWMB). The IWMB meets only twice a month yet its five board members make $132,000 a year!

According to the Department of Finance, abolishing the board would save $2 million a year. While $2 million may only be a sliver of our entire budget, those are dollars that could be used to keep our state parks open or new textbooks for our school children. Senate Bill 63 effectively did away with the IWMB and I was proud to support it. I believe that this type of legislation is exactly what is needed during this extremely difficult financial situation.

Assemblyman Martin Garrick serves the communities of Carlsbad, Del Mar, Solana Beach, Encinitas, Rancho Santa Fe, San Marcos, Vista, and portions of San Diego, Escondido and Oceanside as the Assemblyman for the 74th District.