On: California once had mobile hospitals, ventilator s...

[WalterBright]

The idea is to bank the surplus during the fat years. But no politician was ever re-elected for having a budget surplus.

[Gibbon1 → WalterBright]

Reminds me. Prop 13 was passed in the 70's when Brown was governor. One of the things the proponents hammered on was Brown's budget was running a surplus.

[thedance → WalterBright]

Jerry Brown passed the California "rainy day fund" in November 2014 on the same ballot on which he was re-elected. Literally re-elected on a budget surplus platform.

[_fq4v → thedance]

Too bad the surplus came from cutting the emergency preparedness programs that ought to have been funded by a surplus.

[WalterBright → thedance]

Having a budget surplus platform is not at all the same thing as having a budget surplus.