California governor candidate Matt Mahan unveils authorities reform plan

When he entered the race for California governor, San José Mayor Matt Mahan pitched himself as a practical Democrat who would prioritize bettering residents’ high quality of life and authorities effectivity.

He unveiled a key a part of that promise on Tuesday with an expansive plan to reform state authorities, together with tying pay raises for elected officers and different high leaders to enhancements on key points, and pledging to not approve any tax enhance till the state proves “that we are able to ship higher outcomes with the {dollars} we have already got.”

Mahan additionally delivered a blistering rebuke of ballooning state spending — which, as he typically factors out on the marketing campaign path, has elevated almost 75% during the last six years. In 2020, amid the COVID-19 pandemic and accompanying financial uncertainty, California lawmakers accepted a no-frills state price range that got here in at $202 billion. Gov. Gavin Newsom’s newest spending proposal is almost $349 billion.

“We now have fallen into this lazy, reflexive mindset of all the time going again to voters and telling them that the one answer to each downside is a tax enhance or a brand new bond or a brand new rule coming down from Sacramento,” Mahan mentioned in an interview. “We have to step again and take a very exhausting have a look at our current spending and enhance the extent of transparency and accountability in authorities.”

His eight-page plan contains methods to measure and monitor accountability, a few of that are drawn from insurance policies in different states. They embody lobbying reforms, following up on audit suggestions and overhauling the state’s digital infrastructure and its procurement course of — companies Mahan described as “clunky and cumbersome.”

He additionally proposed a “California Efficiency Overview,” impressed by a comparable effort in Texas all through the Nineteen Nineties, that will evaluation state businesses and solicit enter from workers to remove waste and inefficiencies.

However close to the highest of the listing is a proposal to tie pay raises for state officers together with the governor, lawmakers and 1000’s of gubernatorial appointees to “measurable outcomes” in areas resembling decreasing homelessness and unemployment.

“Folks in the true world don’t get raises in the event that they don’t do a great job,” Mahan mentioned, “and I feel it ought to be the identical for the politicians and senior directors who’re allocating budgets, main initiatives, making the massive selections on behalf of the individuals of California.”

Although the benchmarks could be created with enter from the state Legislature, Mahan floated one instance: decreasing unsheltered homelessness by 5% to 10% inside one yr, one thing he mentioned he’s completed three years in a row in San José.

It’s an answer one would possibly count on from a former entrepreneur and mayor of a metropolis within the coronary heart of Silicon Valley. Mahan made an analogous proposal on the native degree final yr, nevertheless it was rejected by the Metropolis Council.

“Tying pay to efficiency is nothing wanting revolutionary in authorities. It’s a private-sector mannequin that’s overdue,” mentioned former state Sen. Steve Glazer (D-Orinda), a Mahan supporter who sponsored a number of payments aiming to extend transparency in authorities.

Dozens of tech firm executives are backing Mahan within the race for governor and have collectively donated tens of millions to his marketing campaign, in addition to two impartial expenditure committees supporting him.

That has raised issues from some voters, and criticism from a few of Mahan’s opponents, that he could be beholden to their pursuits and veto future rules on tech or synthetic intelligence corporations.

Mahan has sought to dispel these issues, arguing that he believes AI and social media platforms ought to be regulated. Of his plan to overtake state data expertise techniques and infrastructure, he mentioned that “at any time when we spend public {dollars}, we’ve got to run open, clear and aggressive procurement processes that guarantee greatest worth for the taxpayers.”

Although Mahan didn’t specify how he would hyperlink authorities outcomes to pay raises, state lawmakers have largely panned his marketing campaign and are unlikely to get on board. The change most likely would additionally require voter approval.

Presently, annual raises for elected officers are decided by a citizen fee that was added to the California Structure in 1990. Altering how that panel works or imposing limits on when it could possibly approve raises would require a constitutional modification, which requires voter sign-off.

However Mahan contended it could be one of many quickest methods to repair a system that he says works for particular pursuits on the expense of working individuals.

“I’m beneath no phantasm that this might be straightforward, however I feel it’s a vital realignment of incentives,” he mentioned. “We now have to make ourselves as accountable to the individuals as we probably will be.”