Did the Budget Produce Enough Reform?

Details of the budget agreement reached over the weekend are dribbling out. The key question: given the pain caused by the record-long delay in reaching an agreement, was the wait worth it?

We'll have to see. Republicans say they prevented taxes from going up, and Democrats blunted some spending cuts. But the bigger question is: reform. Is there enough here?

Early details suggest there were small, important reforms, but nothing game-changing. The Sacramento Bee reports Tuesday that Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who was demanding budget and pension reforms, received commitments to cut pay for current workers and to put another measure on the ballot to improve the state's "rainy-day fund." That's not nothing, but it's thin gruel. Particularly when you consider that voters turned down an opportunity to create a more robust rainy day fund just last year.

The key to deal may be the details of the changes in pensions. On a trip Monday to Sacramento, I heard that pension benefits will be smaller for future state employees as part of the agreement. That would mean the establishment of a two-tier pension system -- with one set of rules for current workers and another set for future workers. Unfortunately, such systems have proven to be politically unstable, and over time, the pressure builds to merge the two systems back into one.

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