In January, the 2022-23 Governor’s Budget will be made public, after which public hearings will commence, followed by public distribution of the May Revision to the Governor’s Budget and public enactment of the budget by June 30. Guess what’s not public during that period? Political donations from beneficiaries of budget spending.
Last year, during the period the budget was negotiated and enacted, beneficiaries of billions of dollars of state spending such as Centene, Anthem, Molina, California Hospital Association, California Medical Association, California Nurses Association, Service Employees International Union, California Teachers Association, California Correctional Peace Officers Association, California Federation of Teachers, and Professional Engineers In California Government donated more than $1 million to lawmakers, none of which was disclosed to the public until after the budget was enacted.
We believe political donations should be disclosed immediately. That rule should apply to all (during that same period the GFC Network donated $662,000 to lawmakers, all of which we would’ve been happy to see immediately disclosed) and especially in the case of corporations, unions and members of associations collecting money from the budget*. The legislature should make immediate disclosure of political donations a top priority.
*GFC also favors a ban on donations by any providers doing business with the state. Only residents and taxpayers, not providers, should be the focus of legislators’ attention when enacting budgets.
