The Shape of the State

Gov. George Deukmejian’s third State of the State address to the Legislature Tuesday evening was a generally straightforward assessment of the reality of California in 1985. We can afford to spend some more on public works. We need to continue to be tough on criminals. We need to push forward on control and cleanup of toxic wastes.

The part that we liked best involved schools. “One area where we are determined to shine is education,” he said. We welcome that emphasis, in view of the state’s increasing financial role in the life of local school districts and in consideration of the Reagan Administration’s deemphasis of federal assistance to education.

Deukmejian found the state to be on a sound financial footing, but his insistence on keeping a healthy reserve fund in the event of a flattening economy and a reduction in income was an obvious warning to the Legislature not to load up the budget with frills.

The address was not what one would call a bell-ringer, but then that is not Deukmejian’s style. In fact, California State of the State addresses in recent memory, even those of Ronald Reagan, have tended to be more recitation than rhetoric. They also provide a vehicle for a chief executive to take some credit for his initiatives, and no one would begrudge Deukmejian’s claims of an improved education establishment in California.

We also welcome the governor’s pledge to appropriate all of the $100 million in bond funds approved by the voters last November for the cleanup of toxic wastes in California, and his creation of a single Department of Waste Management to deal with the issue. Some critics have claimed that Deukmejian’s embracing of the toxic-waste issue is an easy way to build political capital. The reason is not important if real action is achieved.

The address from a conservative Republican governor makes it apparent that California continues to have activist, relatively progressive state government. There is a considerable contrast, for instance, between Deukmejian’s lead in education finance and the Reagan years in Sacramento, when new money for education was extracted from the governor’s office only with the greatest of difficulty. Deukmejian’s approach makes much better sense--a fact that will be increasingly appreciated with each new graduating class.