The Suspended Mandate Process Must Stop

摘要

California voters signaled the need for change in state government during the recent recall election. That change includes stopping the Legislature's questionable process of suspending state mandates. Many legislators probably don't even know what it means to "suspend a reimbursable state mandate." It's likely even fewer are aware that when they voted for the state budget last summer, some last-minute Senate amendments stopped the requirement for local agencies to implement Megan's Law and the so-called "Animal Adoption Program" (which resulted from a 1998 statute requiring cities to keep animals longer in hopes of increasing adoptions), as well a series of other state mandates. The few legislators who did understand what had been done probably figured that due to possible legal issues and public pressure associated with discontinuing the programs, cities would have no option but to continue carrying out these mandated programs despite the lack of funding.