Fiscal conservatives have long wanted a state spending cap with teeth. They believe the state had one, three decades ago, but it eroded over the years. Now, Jon Coupal with the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association says the state needs a hard spending cap based on population and inflation.
Coupal: "Without some sort of constitutional restraint, California will be in this endless cycle of deficit and then overspending, deficit, overspending. And it's just a loop like Groundhog's Day and it needs to stop."
Coupal doesn't expect the proposed constitutional amendment to get very far in the Democratic-controlled legislature. Instead, he's planning a ballot initiative for next year. Meantime, a spending cap has been one of the issues in on-again, off-again budget talks between Governor Brown and five Republican Senators.
